Or 
~J 
CHINESE CHRONOLOGY. 
The Chinese Institution of Historiographers. 
3. But there is no question about the chronology of China 
since the rise of the Han dynasty in B.c. 206. Every reign 
and the length of it are well authenticated. Between 20 
and 30 different dynasties have occupied the throne during 
the 2,096 years that have elapsed; but the clue that has 
dropped from the grasp of one House has immediately been 
* seen ia that of another. Two or more pairs of hands occa- 
sionally appear together, one trying to keep its hold of the 
clue, and the others to snatch it to themselves; but the 
narrative of the continuance of the government is unbroken. 
How was it, however, in the earlier times? Did Ch’ien 
derive his records from other documents contemporaneous 
with the events which they described? And how far 
back and with what precision of detail and date did such 
documents extend? To these questions answers can be 
given more full and satisfactory than might be expected. 
Ma Twan-lin, the encyclopedist, whose great work was 
published by imperial command in 1319, has stated as the 
result of his researches, that the office of historiography was 
instituted by Hwang Ti, and that its action may be traced 
down through the dynasties of Hsia and Shang.* I have not 
succeeded to my satisfaction in substantiating this state- 
ment; but I take occasion from it to refer to that office as 
existing certainly more than a thousand years before the 
time of Chien. The testimonies of the Shai Ching, the 
Chau Kwan, and the Confucian Analects; the supplements to 
the Ch’un Ch’ii, and the narratives of the States, place this 
beyond a doubt. By means of the members of this body, 
who are variously denominated by translators,— recorders,’ 
‘annalists,’ and ‘ historiographers,—provision was made at 
the Royal Court of Chau, from the commencement of the 
dynasty in the 12th century B.c., for the preservation of 
royal charges and ordmances, of accounts of the operations 
of the general government, and the histories of the different 
States; and also for the preservation and explanation of 
documents purporting to be come down from more ancient 
times, And as there were those officers at the royal court, 
there were similar functionaries at the courts of the various 
feudal princes. Of how these historiographers had been in 
the habit of discharging their duties we have the testimony 
of Confucius, that he had seen the time when one of them 
* See the 51st chapter of Mé’s work, Article 7th. Read also the 
Ist section of the 1st chapter of my prolegomena to the Shi. 
F2 
