XXXVIII IXTRODUCTIOX. 



symbolically, by the adoration of light which, in all religions, has been considered as His 

 essence. 



The members of this league use the character >gh (inundation) indiscriminately for the cha- 

 racter %{£ (red): the words Hung-kia (gfe 0g) could, therefore, be rendered by the expression 

 the „Red-fellows"; and red being the colour of the sim — the light — by the „ Light -fellows." 

 We think that the characters 0£j j|Jj occurring so oft in this league ought, perhaps, nofc 

 tobe translated by the Ming-dymsty , but by the Reign (dynasty) of Light (Ming). The following 

 legend would seem to go far to prove this supposition. 



Tradition says that Shun-ti (j|f| *ffi) or Tolwan-Timur, last emperor of the Mongol-dynasty, 

 dreamt one night that ants and wasps tilled the harem. Ha ving ordered his attendants to sweep 

 the Hall, there started forth from the South a man dressed in purple, who bore on his lefö 

 shoulder the sign of the Sun, and on his right, the Moon. The Emperor hastily asked, who 

 are you? The stranger did not answer, but drew his sword and made towards the Emperor. 

 Wishing to avoid him, he endeavoured to run out of the palace, the door of which the man 

 clad in purple immediately shut. The frightened monarch called out for assistance and awoke. 

 Aboufc the same time the abbot of a temple in the province of Kiang-su, near Tung-yang-fu, 

 had a vision, in which he saAv the council of Gods deliberating who shoulcl settle again the 

 Middle Kingdom. Tvvo star-genii, in the neighborhood of the constellation Ursa-major, took 

 the Sun | Q j and the Moon ( H) in their hands and put them together f B|j Ming), intima- 

 tmg by this that the principles of Dualis m in nature, Tin and Yang ( l ), should rule the world 

 m righteousness. When the priest woke from his trance a poor man with his pregnant wife 

 requested admittance to his temple, being driven from their home by the Mongol soldiery. Here 

 the mother was delivered of the babe, who should, affcerwards, become the first monarch of 

 the glorious dynasty of Ming, Hung-wu. ( 2 ) His father going to bathe, saw a beautiful piece of 

 red sa tin floating clown the river. He picked it up and made a dress of it for the babe. The child 

 became afterwards a cow-boy; but, for some misdemeanour, he was turned away by his em- 

 ployer. He just laid down on mother earth to sleep and dreamt that he saw a throne of scarlet 

 colour, on which two images ( 3 ) were seated; and then again came some persons who presen- 

 ted him with a purple robe. Hung-wu carried in all his battles a red flag as his principal Stan- 

 dard. ( 4 ) 



We see here that red, purple, scarlet, are mentioned afc every important phase of Hung- 

 wu slife. His name, which has been translated sometimes by ,/Knight of inundation" ( 5 ), must, 

 we think, be rendered by the v Red knight" ( G ) which is, must surely, intended by the two 



O See p. xiii. (2) Comp# p _ 3 (3) yin and Yang or Sun and Moon. 



t 4 ) Chinese Eepository, Vol. VII, p, 353, seq., translated from the $fc 3$ i flï or //Complete 

 History of Hung-wu." 



( 5 ) & *e ( 6 ) |r n 



