Ancient China Simplified
Public-domain ebook
Ancient China Simplified
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In: Children's History·History - Ancient
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #6624.
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Aids to Memory
There is much repetition in the book, the same facts being presented, for instance, under the heads of Army, Religion, Confucius, and Marriages. This is intentional, and the object is to keep in the mind impressions which in a strange, ancient, and obscure subject are apt to disappear after perusal of only one or two casual statements.
The Index has been carefully prepared so that any allusion or statement vaguely retained in the mind may at once be confirmed. The chapter headings, or contents list, which itself contains nearly five per cent of the whole letterpress, is so arranged that it omits no feature treated of in the main text.
In the earlier chapters uncouth proper names are reduced to a minimum, but the Index refers by name to specific places and persons only generally mentioned in the earlier pages. For instance, the states of Lu and CHÊNG on pages 22 and 29: it is hard enough to differentiate Ts'i, Tsin, Ts'in, and Ts'u at the outstart, without crowding the memory with fresh names until the necessity for it absolutely arises.
The nine maps are inserted where they are most likely to be useful: it is a good plan to refer to a map each time a place is mentioned, unless the memory suffices to suggest exactly where that place is. After two or three patient references, situations of places will take better root in the mind.
The chapters are split up into short discussions and descriptions, because longer divisions are apt to be tedious where ancient history is concerned. And the narrative of political movement is frequently interrupted by the introduction of new matter, in order to provide novelty and stimulate the imagination. Moreover, all chapters and all subjects converge on one general focus.
On page 15 of "China, her Diplomacy, etc." (John Murray, 1901), I have confessed how tedious I myself had found ancient Chinese history, and how its human interest only begins with foreign relations. I have, however, gone systematically through the mill once more, and my present object is to present general results only obtainable at the cost of laboriously picking out and resetting isolated and often apparently unconnected records of fact.
Names of Chief Localities
CHOU: at first a principality in South Shen Si and part of Kan Suh, subject to Shang dynasty; afterwards the imperial dynasty itself.
TS'lN: principality west of the above. When the Chou dynasty moved its capital east into Ho Nan, Ts'in took possession of the old Chou principality.
TSIN: principality (same family as Chou) in South Shan Si (and in part of Shen Si at times).
TS'I: principality, separated by the Yellow River from Tsin and Yen; it lay in North Shan Tung, and in the coast part of Chih Li.
TS'U: semi-barbarous principality alone preponderant on the Yang- tsz River.
WU: still more barbarous principality (ruling caste of the same family as Chou, but senior to Chou) on the Yang-tsz embouchure and Shanghai coasts.
YÜEH: equally barbarous principality commanding another embouchure in the Hangchow-Ningpo region. Wu and Yüeh were at first subordinate to Ts'u.
YEN: principality (same family as Chou) in the Peking plain, north of the Yellow River mouth,
SHUH and PA: in no way Chinese or federal; equivalent to Central and Eastern Sz Ch'wan province.
CHÊNG: principality in Ho Nan (same family as Chou).
SUNG: principality taking in the four corners of Ho Nan, Shan Tung, An Hwei, and Kiang Su (Shang dynasty family).
CH'ÊN: principality in Ho Nan, south of Sung (family of the Ploughman Emperor, 2250 B.C., preceding even the Hia dynasty).
WEI: principality taking in corners of Ho Nan, Chih Li, and Shan Tung (family of the Chou emperors).
TS'AO: principality in South-west Shan Tung; neighbour of Lu, Wei, and Sung (same family as Chou).
TS'AI: principality in Ho Nan, south of CH'ÊN (same family as Chou).
LU: principality in South-west Shan Tung, between Ts'ao and Ts'i (its founder was the brother of the Chou founder).
HÜ: very small principality in Ho Nan, south of Cheng (same obscure eastern ancestry as Ts'i),
K'I: Shan Tung promontory and German sphere (of Hia dynasty descent); it is often confused with, or is quite the same as, another principality called Ki (without the aspirate).
The above are practically all the states whose participation in Chinese development has been historically of importance,
Names of Chief Personages
CONFUCIUS: after 500 B.C. premier of Lu; traced his descent back through the Chou dynasty vassal ruling family of Sung to the Shang dynasty family.
TSZ-CH'AN: elder contemporary of Confucius; premier of Cheng; traced his descent through the vassal ruling family of Cheng to the Chou dynasty family: date of death variously stated.
KWAN-TSE: died between 648 and 643 B.C., variously stated; premier of Ts'i; traced his descent to the same clan as the ruling dynasty of Chou.
YEN-TSZ: died 500 B.C.; premier of Ts'i; traced his descent to a local clan, apparently eastern barbarian by origin.
WEI YANG: died 338 B.C.; premier of Ts'in; was a concubine-born prince of the vassal state of Wei, and was thus of the imperial Chou dynasty clan.
SHUH HIANG: lawyer and minister of Tsin; belonged to one of the "great families" of Tsin; was contemporary with Tsz-ch'an. HIANG SÜH: diplomat of the state of Sung; pedigree not ascertained,
KI-CHAH: son, brother, and uncle of successive barbarian kings of Wu, whose ancestors, however, were the same ancestors as the orthodox imperial rulers of the Chou dynasty; contemporary of Tsz- ch'an.
NAMES OF THE SO-CALLED "FIVE PROTECTORS"
(ONLY THE TWO FIRST OF THE FIVE WERE SO OFFICIALLY; THE TWO LAST WERE SO, EVEN OFFICIALLY, THOUGH NEVER COUNTED AMONGST THE FIVE.)
1. MARQUESS OF Ts'i (not of imperial Chou clan, perhaps of "Eastern Barbarian" origin).
2. MARQUESS OF TSIN (imperial Chou clan).
3. DUKE OF SUNG (imperial Shang dynasty descent),
4. "KING" OF T'SU (semi-barbarian, but with remote imperial Chinese legendary descent).
5. EARL OF TS'IN (semi-Tartar, with legendary descent from remote imperial Chinese).
6. "KING" OF Wu (semi-barbarian, but of imperial Chou family descent).
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