A General History for Colleges and High Schools | Page 8

and in accordance with the ancient customs and
laws.
The Chinese have books that purport to give the history of the different
dynasties that have ruled in the land from a vast antiquity; but these
records are largely mythical and legendary. Everything is confused and
uncertain until we reach the eighth or seventh century before our era;
and even then we meet with little of interest in the dynastic history of
the country until we come to the reign of Che Hwang-te (246-210 B.C.).
This energetic ruler strengthened and consolidated the imperial power,
and executed great works of internal improvement, such as roads and
canals. As a barrier against the incursions of the Huns, he began the
erection of the celebrated Chinese Wall, a great rampart extending for
about 1500 miles along the northern frontier of the country. [Footnote:
The Great Wall is one of the most remarkable works of man. "It is,"
says Dr. Williams, "the only artificial structure which would arrest
attention in a hasty survey of the globe." It has been estimated that
there is more than seventy times as much material in the wall as there is
in the Great Pyramid of Cheops, and that it represents more labor than
100,000 miles of ordinary railroad. It was begun in 214(?) and finished
in 204(?) B.C. It is twenty-five feet wide at base, and from fifteen to
thirty feet high. Towers forty feet high rise at irregular intervals. In
some places it is a mere earthen rampart; in others it is faced with brick;
and then again it is composed of stone throughout.]
From the strong reign of Che Hwang-te to the end of the period covered
by ancient history, Chinese dynastic records present no matters of
universal interest that need here occupy our attention.
CHINESE WRITING.--It is nearly certain that the art of writing was
known among the Chinese as early as 2000 B.C. The system employed
is curiously cumbrous. In the absence of an alphabet, each word of the
language is represented upon the written page by means of a symbol, or
combination of symbols; this, of course, requires that there be as many

symbols, or characters, as there are words in the language. The number
sanctioned by good use is about 25,000; but counting obsolete
characters, the number amounts to over 50,000. A knowledge of 5000
or 6000 characters, however, enables one to read and write without
difficulty. The task of learning even this number might well be
hopeless, were it not that many of the characters bear a remote
resemblance to the objects for which they stand, and when once
explained, readily suggest the thing or idea represented. The nature of
the characters shows conclusively that the Chinese system of writing,
like that of all others with which we are acquainted, was at first purely
hieroglyphical, that is, the characters were originally simply rude
outline pictures of material objects. Time and use have worn them to
their present form.
This Chinese system of representing thought, cumbrous and
inconvenient as it is, is employed at the present time by one third of the
human race.
Printing from blocks was practised in China as early as the sixth
century of our era, and printing from movable types as early as the
tenth or eleventh century, that is to say, about four hundred years
before the same art was invented in Europe.
CHINESE LITERATURE: CONFUCIUS AND MENCIUS.--The most
highly prized portion of Chinese literature is embraced in what is
known as the Five Classics and the Four Books, called collectively the
Nine Classics. The Five Classics are among the oldest books in the
world. For some of the books an antiquity of 3000 years is claimed.
The books embrace chronicles, political and ethical maxims, and
numerous odes. One of the most important of the Classics is the
so-called Book of Rites, said to date from 1200 B.C.
The Four Books are of later origin than the Five Classics, having been
written about the fifth and fourth centuries before the Christian era; yet
they hardly yield to them in sacredness in the eyes of the Chinese. The
first three of the series are by the pupils of the great sage and moralist
Confucius (551-478 B.C.), and the fourth is by Mencius (371-288 B.C.),
a disciple of Confucius, and a scarcely less revered philosopher and

ethical teacher. The teachings of the Four Books may be summed up in
the simple precept, "Walk in the Trodden Paths." Confucius was not a
prophet, or revealer; he laid no claims to a supernatural knowledge of
God or of the hereafter; he said nothing of an Infinite Spirit, and but
little of a future life. His cardinal precepts were obedience to superiors,
reverence for the ancients, and imitation of their virtues. He himself
walked