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The National Geographic Magazine 



honor is given to many others and 

 claimed by more. Hwangti's capital 

 was in Honan, and he is described as 

 extending the empire from Pechili to 

 the Yangtze, while his son even extended 

 the boundaries into Manchuria on the 

 north and Tonkin on the south. 



He is given the credit of originating 

 the famous ' ' Cycle of Cathay, ' ' the ar- 

 bitrary period of sixty years, in honor 

 of the sixty-first year of his reign ; and 

 he established a regular calendar. But 

 a greater deed was the regulation of 

 weights and measures according to the 

 decimal system. He carried the same 

 principle into the government of his 

 kingdom, making ten towns one dis- 

 trict, ten districts one department, ten 

 departments one province, and ten prov- 

 inces one empire. He built highways 

 upon land, and boats to navigate the 

 rivers, and generally was a wise and 

 progressive monarch. 



He was following in the footsteps of 

 Fuh-hi, who instituted the laws of mar- 

 riage and methods of agriculture and 

 fishing. 



The lyre and lute were invented b^^ 

 him to make his people cheerful and 

 content. Chinese characters were de- 

 vised and family names were then first 

 known. 



While all these stories of providing 

 the necessities and of adapting the real- 

 ities of life suggest a degree of truth, 

 there is woven in with them a large 

 measure of romance that colors their 

 historical value. Fuh-hi attributed all 

 his successes and glorious achievements 

 to the dragon-horse that came out of 

 the Yellow River bearing a scroll on its 

 back, and possibly in this fable we have 

 the crystallization in legendary history 

 of the dragon conception, which plays 

 so important a part in contemporary 

 Chinese romance and reality — which 

 adorns their flags and clothing, is the 

 central figure of their art, and is remem- 

 bered in their prayers. 



But the glory of Fuh-hi and Hwangti 



is overshadowed by the renown of that 

 galaxy of Chinese heroes, the Emperors 

 Yao, Shun, and Yu, whom Confucius 

 and Mencius, China's two greatest sages, 

 have made immortal. Yao and Shun 

 reigned approximately B. C. 2350-2200, 

 and ' their names and deeds are known 

 to every Chinese boy and girl. The 

 child of mandarin or coolie will glibly 

 describe their greatness, as the son of 

 millionaire or pauper in America will 

 tell you about Washington or Lincoln. 



It is well to note in this connection 

 that the characters which are admired 

 and remembered in China todaj'- as in 

 the past are generally men of highest 

 attainments and lofty motives. The 

 sterner records of history tell of evil as 

 well as good men, but the popular nar- 

 ratives, songs, and poems, together with 

 the deep philosophic works of China's 

 wise men, give little consideration to 

 other than the great and good. Thus 

 has there been a continuous and notable 

 influence for the development and bet- 

 terment of the Chinese peoples from the 

 earliest times, which has had a marked 

 effect upon the life of the empire 

 through its ups and downs of the past 

 centuries. It elevates the Chinese far 

 above and beyond any position as bar- 

 barians. It demonstrates the existence 

 of a powerful civilization more years 

 before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth 

 than have elapsed since that chief event 

 in all histor}^ startled and amazed the 

 pagan world. 



After Yao and Shun came the mighty 

 Yu, during whose reign were two events 

 that will never allow it to sink into en- 

 tire oblivion. The first was the terrible 

 inundation of the greater part of the 

 then inhabited empire by China's sor- 

 row, the Yellow River. The second 

 was the discovery of the manufacture of 

 wine. Which has been the worst for 

 mankind might be difficult to determine! 

 Yu, after he had enjoyed his first ex- 

 perience with the beverage, sagely re- 

 marked, ' ' The days will come when 



