Introduction 
VER since the Original Hundred Families 
wandered eastward from Central Asia into 
the land now known as China, and settled in the 
broad and fertile valley of the Wei River in the 
present province of Shensi, forming the nucleus 
of the Flowery Kingdom, its people have been 
harassed continually by the ravaging hordes of 
Tartary. 
The frontiers between the two races, one peace- 
ful and addicted to the practice of the Arts, the 
other warlike, and caring only for plunder, 
rapine and conquest, have always been marked 
by scenes of bloody conflicts, ruthless raids and 
brutal massacres ; yet, strange though it may seem, 
it has been the peaceful nation which has won in 
the end, and continually the Sino-Mongolian 
boundary has been pushed further to the north. 
The Chinese have repeatedly been conquered 
by the Tartars, and subjected toa rule of tyranny 
and oppression; but it has always ended in the 
same way—either the absorption or the ejection of 
the Tartar conquerors, and a further advance 
of the Chinese upon the acknowledged territories 
of these predatory Nomads. 
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