Vol. XII, No. 6 



WASHINGTON 



June, 1901 



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CHINA: HER HISTORY AND DEVELOP- 

 MENT 



By John Barrett, Formerly Minister to Siam 



MYTHOLOGY plays an impor- 

 tant part in the ancient histor}' 

 of China, as it does in that of the 

 older European nations. Going back to 

 the fabulous times of 500, 000 to 1,000,000 

 years, it first begins to tell a story of 

 some truth about thirty-three centu- 

 ries before Christ. Fuh-hi, who reigned 

 2900 B. C, is commonly regarded as the 

 first real man whose name stands out in 

 the long dim line of ancient kings. Be- 

 fore him as a human monarch were 

 ages of supernatural giants. There was 

 Pwan-ku, who formed cosmos from 

 chaos. For 18,000 years he labored 

 chiseling into definite form the rude, 

 shapeless earth. He was followed by 

 three sovereigns who, during another 

 period of one hundred and eighty cen- 

 turies, prepared the earth for ordinary 

 life. Under the suggestive and appro- 

 priate names of the Celestial, Terrestrial, 

 and Human, their deeds are sung in 

 Chinese legends. In these tales .we are 

 told how they evolved the relations of 

 the sexes, government, and order, and 

 taught men to eat, drink, and sleep. 

 They enticed fire from heaven, and with 



it cooked the raw food of the soil for 

 the better support of their proteges who 

 were populating the valleys and plains 

 and mountains they had created. There 

 are no more interesting mj'ths in the 

 poetry and song of the ancient Greeks 

 and Romans than can be found in the 

 fanciful narratives of the Chinese ro- 

 mancers ; and, if we investigate care- 

 fully the relations of China in the re- 

 mote past to western Asia, we may be 

 even convinced that the legendary lore 

 of the former antedates the latter in its 

 inspiration and first rehearsal to charmed 

 and credulous ears. 



EIGHT GREAT EMPERORS 



Fuh-hi, the first landmark of histor}^, 

 and his seven successors held sway for 

 nearly eight hundred years, an average 

 of a century each. The atmosphere of 

 m3'th still remains here, unless in the 

 repeated songs of their achievements 

 some lesser lights of their dynasty are 

 forgotten. From the number stands out 

 Hwangti, "the founder of China," as 

 he is often portrayed, although the same 



