464 The National Geographic Magazine 



succeeding dynasties to the present day. 

 The period embraced in that record 

 covers the existence of all the great 

 reigns of Egypt from the fourth dynasty 

 onward to their close. It includes the 

 rise and fall of the Chaldean, Assyrian, 

 Babylonian, Persian, and Alexandrian 

 empires of western Asia. Compared 

 with it, the record of Greece and Rome 

 is modern history, and the annals of 

 the nations of Western Europe are but 

 the events of yesterday. 



It is not to be understood, however, 

 that this national history of more than 

 forty centuries is an unbroken record 

 of prosperity and governmental order. 

 There has been the same experience 

 which marked the lot of the people of 

 Egypt, of western Asia, of Greece, 

 Rome, and modern Europe — wars, civil 

 and foreign ; rebellions and conquests ; 

 change of rulers and dynasties ; periods 

 of disorder, anarchy, corruption, and 

 decay ; famine, pestilence, financial ruin 

 and industrial distress ; religious perse- 

 cution and social unrest ; prosperity 

 and depression ; the golden era of litera- 

 ture and the dark ages of learning. But 

 while all the other nations of the earth 

 have fallen and ceased to exist because 

 of these varied assaults, the Chinese 

 Empire entered upon the nineteenth 

 century stronger, more expansive, and 

 more populous than ever before in its 

 history. 



Next to its antiquity, that which most 

 impresses us is its enormous popula- 

 tion. No other government of ancient 

 or modern times has embraced so many 

 people, and these in contiguous territory 

 and ruled by the same system of laws 

 and polity. The nearest approach in 

 this respect is the British Empire; but 

 its territory is scattered over the face 

 of the globe and its system of laws is as 

 varied as its possessions. 



But this great population has been a 

 slow growth. Even in its recorded his- 

 tory it goes back to a period of con- 

 tracted territory and a comparatively 



feeble people. But it has shown a 

 marvelous power of assimilation. The 

 Chinese race, as it brought under its 

 sway the adjoining peoples, absorbed 

 them by commingling their blood and 

 engrafting on them their language and 

 customs. Not even the foreign con- 

 queror appears to have had the slight- 

 est influence on their racial character- 

 istics and very little on the government. 

 In modern times they have been twice 

 completely subjugated — by the great 

 warrior Genghis Khan in the thirteenth 

 century and by the Manchus in the 

 seventeenth century — but in each in- 

 stance the population experienced no 

 essential change ; the language, govern- 

 ment, religion, and customs continued as 

 before ; the conquerors were absorbed 

 by the conquered. 



While it is the most numerous popu- 

 lation under one government, it is also 

 the most homogeneous. Throughout 

 its whole extent there is but one written 

 or printed language ; the religious prac- 

 tices, the social ethics, the literature, 

 and the system of education are the 

 same. In these respects it is in marked 

 contrast with India — a country of mixed 

 races, languages, and religions. As a 

 consequence, while China has had a con- 

 tinuous existence as a nation and has 

 enjoyed more fully than most nations 

 the blessings of peace, the history of 

 India has been one of almost continual 

 turmoil, alternately rent asunder by the 

 rivalry of domestic rulers and laid waste 

 by invading armies, until it fell an easy 

 prey to Great Britain, whose firm but 

 beneficent rule has given it, for the first 

 time in its history, the blessings of peace 

 and good government. 



This homogeneity of the Chinese has 

 contributed largely to the permanency 

 of the nation; but another characteristic 

 must be noted in this connection — the 

 durability of the race. It has been said 

 that of all the peoples mentioned in an- 

 cient history, only the Jews and Chinese 

 remain ; but the Jews have long ago lost 



