ETHNOLOGY, ETC., OF CHINA. 179 
to have more affinity to the people of Luzon, and thence 
southward, than to the Chinese. 
The Tanka, or Boat population, constitutes in a sense a class 
apart. They exist on rivers near the chief cities, more parti- 
cularly Canton, where they inhabit ‘‘ the flower boats,”’ at one 
time so well known there. ‘Two hundred years B.C. Loo Tsun, 
a general in the Chinese army of that day, and chief of a clan, 
raised the standard of rebellion, succeeded in capturing Canton, 
which city he held for thirty years and until his death. His 
descendants were persecuted by the Chinese, and forced to 
seek safety away from land; during many centuries succeed- 
ing generations of their countrymen continued similarly to 
act towards them, nor was it until A.D. 1730 that their lot 
was ameliorated, the Emperor Yuna Curve having then issued 
a proclamation in their favour. Of late years their numbers 
have diminished, but they are still looked upon as a pariah 
class. In physique and in general appearance, however, more 
particularly of their women, they are much superior to the 
dwellers on land. 
In concluding this section, here is the picture presented to us 
of domestic and social life among the early immigrants, whose 
_ descendants were to become the people to whom we now apply 
-the term Chinese :— 
“The people principally applied themselves to the education 
of their children, and to agriculture. They were laborious 
to excess. ‘The judges and governors of provinces were grave 
and sober, and by equity of their decisions gained the love and 
respect of the people. The Emperor placed his highest felicity 
in rendering his subjects happy, and did not so much consider 
himself the sovereign of a great empire as the father of a 
numerous family.” 
CHRONOLOGY. 
Students of Chinese chronology divide the history of that 
people into periods, arbitrary in themselves, but convenient for 
purposes of investigation.* The following enumeration of 
those periods will best suit our present purpose, viz.:— 
1. The mythological,—its date uncertain and vague. 
2. The traditionary,—connecting the preceding with :— 
3. The period of ancient history beginning with the institu- 
tion of the Hea dynasty B.C. 2356, and ending with the Han 
dynasty, A.D. 265. 
4. The middle ages, from the commencement of the Tsin 
dynasty, A.D. 265, to the end of the Yuen dynasty, A.D. 1367. 
* By Gutzlaff into 4; by Medhurst into 3., 
