Ancient China Simplified | Page 8

First August Emperor--The First Emperor's putative father--His works--Eunuch witnesses assassination of Second August Emperor--General employ of eunuchs in China--Human sacrifices in Ts'in and Ts'u: also in Ts'i--Doubts as to its existence in orthodox China--Han Emperor's prohibition-- No fruit wine in ancient China--Spirits universal--Vice around ancient China rather than in it--Instances of heavy drinking in Ts'i and Ts'u--Tsin drinking--Confucius and liquor--Drinking in Ts'in--Ancient Chinese were meat-eaters--Horse-flesh and Tartars-- Horse-liver in Prussia--Anecdote of Duke Muh and the hippophagi-- Bears' paws as food--Elephants in Ts'u--Dogs as food.
CHAPTER XXXV
KNOWLEDGE OF THE WEST The Emperor Muh's voyages to the West in 984 B.C.--The question of destroyed state annals-Exaggerated importance of the expedition, even if facts true--King Muh's father was killed in a similar expedition--Discovery of the Bamboo Books of 299 B.C. in 281 A.D.-- Imaginary interpretations put upon King Muh's expedition by European critics--The Queen of Sheba--Professor Chavannes attributes the travels of Duke Muh of Ts'in 650 B.C.--Description of first journey--Along the great road to Lob Nor-Modern evidence that he got as far as Urumtsi--Six hundred days, or 12,000 miles-- Specific evidence as to distance travelled each day--Various Tartar incidents of the journey--The Emperor's infatuation on the second journey--Lieh-tsz, the Taoist philosopher, on the Emperor Muh's travels--Arguments qualifying M. Chavannes' view that Duke Muh, and not the Emperor Muh, undertook the journeys.
CHAPTER XXXVI
ANCIENT JAPAN Wu kingdom--Name begins 585 B.C.--This is the year Japanese "history" begins--The first king and his four sons--Prince Ki- chah--War with Ts'u and sacking of its capital--King Fu-ch'ai and his wars against Yiieh--Offered an asylum in Chusan--Suicide of Fu-ch'ai--Escape of his family across the seas to Japan--China knew nothing of Japan, even if Wu did--Story reduced to its true proportions--Traces of prehistoric men in Japan--Possible movements of original inhabitants--Existing evidence better than none at all--East from Ningpo must be Japan--Like early Greeks and Egyptian colonists--Natural impulses to emigration--Refugees from China compared to Will Adams--Natural desire to improve pedigrees-- No shame to Japan's ruling caste to hail from China--European comparisons--How the Japanese manufactured their past history-- Imagination must be kept separate from evidence.
CHAPTER XXXVII
ETHICS Peculiar customs--Formalities of surrender--A number of instances of succession rules--Status of wives-Cases where the Emperor himself breaks the rules--Instances of irregular succession in various states--Customs of war--Cutting off the left ear as trophy--Rewards for heads--Principles of facing north and south-- Turning towards Mecca--Left and Right princes--Modern instances of official seating--North and south facing houses--Chivalrous rules about mourning--Funeral missions--The feudal yearnings of Confucius explained--Respect even of barbarians for mourning--Many other quaint instances of funeral and mourning rules--Promises made to a dying non compos of no avail--Mencius and the diplomatists.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
WOMEN AND MORALS Rights of women in ancient China--The legal rule and the actual fact--Instances of irregularity in female status, both in ancient and modern China--Instances of incest and irregular marriage even in orthodox states-Women, once married, not to come back--The much-married Second Protector--Hun and Turk customs about taking over Wives--Clan marriages of doubtful legality--Succession rules-- Ts'u irregularities and caprice--Elder brothers by inferior wives--Paranymphs, or under-studies of the wife--Women always under some man's power--Incestuous fathers--Lex Julia introduced into Yiieh by its vengeful King--The evil morals of the Shanghai-Ningpo region of ancient Yiieh--No prostitution in ancient China, except perhaps in Ts'i--No infanticide--Incest and names.
CHAPTER XXXIX
GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE Orthodox China compared with orthodox Greece--Our persistent "traditions" about the Tower of Babel and the Tarim Valley-Wu, Yiieh, and ancient traditions--The "Tribute of Yii" says nothing of Western origin of Chinese--No ancient knowledge of the West, nor of South China--The Blackwater River and the Emperor Muh--The "Tribute of Yii" says nothing of the supposed Western emigration of the Chinese--Some traditions of Chinese migrations from the south--Traditions of enfeoffment of vassals in Corea, about 1122 B.C.--Knowledge of China as defined by the First Protector, and as visited by the Second in the seventh century B.C.--Evidence of the Emperor's limited knowledge of China in 670 B.C.--Yiieh first appears in 536 B.C.--Tsin never saw the sea till 589 B.C.--Ts'i's ignorance of the south-u, Yiieh, and Ts'u all purely Yang-tsz riverine states--Ts'u alone knew the south--CH��NG's ignorance of the south--Ts'u and orthodox China of the same ancient stock-- Tsin's ignorance of Central China--Tsin defines Chinese limits for Ts'u--Ancient orthodox nucleus was the "Central State," a name still employed to mean "China" as a whole.
CHAPTER XL
_TOMBS AND REMAINS._
Evidences still remaining in the shape of the tombs of great historical personages--Elephants used to work at the Wu tombs-- Royal Ts'u tomb desecrated--Relics of 1122 B.C. found in Lu--Ts'in destitute of relics--Confucius and the Duke of Chou's relics--Each generation of Chinese sees and doubts not of its own antiquities-- No reason for European scepticism--Native critics know much more than we do.
CHAPTER XLI
THE TARTARS From ancient times Tartars intimately connected with the Chinese-- How the Chou state had to migrate to avoid the Tartars--Chou ancestors had originally fled from China to the Tartars--Chou family's