Ancient China Simplified | Page 2

the Chinese
themselves to construct a series of historical lessons, adequate to guide
them in the conduct of modern affairs, out of so heterogeneous a mass
of material. This difficulty is, in the case of Westerners, more than
doubled by the strange, and to us inharmonious, sounds of Chinese
proper names: moreover, as they are monosyllabical, and many of them
exactly similar when expressed in our letters, it is almost impossible to
remember them, and to distinguish one from the other. Thus most
persons who make an honest endeavour by means of translations to
master the leading events in ancient Chinese history soon throw down
the book in despair; while even specialists, who may wish to shorten
their labours by availing themselves of others' work, can only get a firm
grip of translations by comparing them with the originals: it is thus
really impossible to acquire anything at all approaching an accurate
understanding of Chinese antiquity without possessing in some degree
the controlling power of a knowledge of the pictographs.
It is in view of all these difficulties that an attempt has been made in
this book to extract principles from isolated facts; to avoid, so far as is
possible, the use of Chinese proper names; to introduce these as
sparingly and gradually as is practicable when they must be used at all;
to describe the general trend of events and life of the people rather than
the personal acts of rulers and great officers; and, generally, to put it
into the power of any one who can only read English, to gain an
intelligible notion of what Chinese antiquity really was; and what
principles and motives, declared or tacit, underlay it. It is with this
object before me that I have ventured to call my humble work "Ancient
China Simplified," and I can only express a hope that it will really be
found intelligible.

EDWARD HARPER PARKER.
18, GAMBIER TERRACE, LIVERPOOL, May 18, 1908.

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: