CHINA: HER HISTORY AND DEVELOP- 

 MENT* 



By John Barrett, Formerly Minister to Siam 



DYNASTY upon dynasty, includ- 

 ing the great Sung, from 960 to 

 1 1 26, followed. In this period 

 were wars of the Chinese against the 

 Khitans and the Kins, until finally the 

 invincible Mongols commenced their 

 conquest, and the way was prepared for 

 those famous men of Chinese history, 

 Genghis and Kublai Khan. No more 

 interesting chapter in the history of any 

 nation can be found than the record of 

 the conquering armies of these Mon- 

 golian Alexanders or Caesars or Napo- 

 leons. It is doubtful if any one of these 

 three was a greater man than Genghis 

 or Kublai Khan. Genghis, his son 

 Okkodai, and his grandson Kublai were 

 natural leaders of men and possessed 

 rare military genius. They made in- 

 vasions and conquests equal in danger 

 and difficulties to that of Hannibal into 

 Italy, Alexander into India, Caesar into 

 Great Britain, and Napoleon into Egypt 

 or Russia. Marco Polo has sung the 

 praises of Kublai, but the records of 

 China tell likewise of his reign. Gsnghis 

 and Kublai Khan, with Confucius, Men- 

 cius, and Li Hung Chang, are the five 

 great names of Chinese history that 

 come readily to our minds. 



The Khitan Tatars, who had harassed 

 the Chinese and were in turn harassed by 

 the Khin Tatars, went down with the 

 Khins before the Mongols under the 

 leadership of Genghis. He extended 

 his empire from the Caspian to the China 

 Sea. His sway embraced forty con- 

 quered kingdoms, and he was making 

 war on the Chinese when he died — about 

 nine hundred years ago —and ordered 

 his valiant son Okkodai to continue his 

 labors. 



Okkodai was pursuing the invasion of 

 China with slow but sure results, for the 

 Chinese resisted with wonderful brav- 

 ery, when he died, and was succeeded 

 by the might}^ Kublai. He was the real 

 conqueror of China. At Yaishau he 

 fought the greatest battle in the annals 

 of China ; 200,000 men were killed, in- 

 cluding Ti Ping, the last emperor of the 

 Sung dynasty. It was fortunate for his-, 

 torical record that Marco Polo was in 

 Asia during the reign of Kublai ; other- 

 wise the foreign world would never have 

 appreciated the greatness of the man 

 and his kingdom. When he passed 

 away, in 1224, at the ripe age of 83, he 

 was absolute autocrat of the most ex- 

 tensive empire of all time. 



THE MONGOL SWAY 



Thus in China there sat upon a throne 

 almost in modern days an emperor who 

 practicall}^ held all Asia and part of 

 Europe in his grasp. No Roman, no 

 Greek, no ancient or modern European 

 king has ever held such sway ; and yet 

 some superficial critics class China as a 

 land of barbarians, without history or 

 civilization which can be compared with 

 that of Europe or America. It is sug- 

 gestive of later events that his only 

 signal defeat was experienced when he 

 strove to annex Japan. Two great ex- 

 peditions against the intrepid islanders 

 suffered disaster, and Japan remained in- 

 dependent. Kublai even favored Chris- ' 

 tianity. He was a good monarch, and 

 ruled his people with kindness, but his 

 successors were not equal to their re- 

 sponsibilities. 



Thus again history repeated itself. 



* Concluded from the June number. 



