China | Page 2

the present age are in all essential
points identical with those of the time of Confucius, and there is no
reason to doubt that before his time the Chinese national character had
been thoroughly formed in its present mold. The limits of the empire
have varied from time to time under circumstances of triumph or
disunion, but the Middle Kingdom, or China Proper, of the eighteen
provinces has always possessed more or less of its existing proportions.
Another striking and peculiar feature about China is the small amount
of influence that the rest of the world has exercised upon it. In fact, it is
only during the present century that that influence can be said to have
existed at all. Up to that point China had pursued a course of her own,
carrying on her own struggles within a definite limit, and completely
indifferent to, and ignorant of, the ceaseless competition and contests of
mankind outside her orbit, which make up the history of the rest of the
Old World. The long struggles for supremacy in Western Asia between
Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian, the triumphs of the Greek, followed
by the absorption of what remained of the Macedonian conquests in the
Empire of Rome, even the appearance of Islam and the Mohammedan
conquerors, who changed the face of Southern Asia from the Ganges to
the Levant, and long threatened to overrun Europe, had no significance
for the people of China, and reacted as little on their destiny as if they

had happened in another planet. Whatever advantages the Chinese may
have derived from this isolation, it has entailed the penalty that the
early history of their country is devoid of interest for the lest of the
world, and it is only when the long independent courses of China and
Europe are brought into proximity by the Mongol conquests, the efforts
of the medieval travelers, the development of commerce, and the wars
carried on for the purpose of obtaining a secure position for foreigners
in China--four distinct phases covering the last seven centuries--that
any confidence can be felt in successfully attracting notice to the affairs
of China. Yet, as a curiosity in human existence, the earlier history of
that country may justly receive some notice. Even though the details
are not recited, the recollection of the antiquity of China's institutions
must be ever present with the student, as affording an indispensable
clew to the character of the Chinese people and the composition of their
government.
The first Chinese are supposed to have been a nomad tribe in the
province of Shensi, which lies in the northwest of China, and among
them at last appeared a ruler, Fohi, whose name at least has been
preserved. His deeds and his person are mythical, but he is credited
with having given his country its first regular institutions. One of his
successors was Hwangti (which means Heavenly Emperor), who was
the first to employ the imperial style of Emperor, the earlier rulers
having been content with the inferior title of Wang, or prince. He
adopted the convenient decimal division in his administration as well as
his coinage. His dominions were divided into ten provinces, each of
these into ten departments, these again into ten districts, each of which
held ten towns. He regulated the calendar, originating the Chinese cycle
of sixty years, and he encouraged commerce. He seems to have been a
wise prince and to have been the first of the great emperors. His
grandson, who was also emperor, continued his good work and earned
the reputation of being "the restorer or even founder of true
astronomy."
But the most famous of Hwangti's successors was his great-grandson
Yao who is still one of the most revered of all Chinese rulers. He was
"diligent, enlightened, polished and prudent," and if his words reflected

his actions he must have been most solicitous of the welfare of his
people. He is specially remarkable for his anxiety to discover the best
man to succeed him in the government, and during the last twenty-eight
years of his reign he associated the minister Chun with him for that
purpose. On his death he left the crown to him, and Chun, after some
hesitation, accepted the charge; but he in turn hastened to secure the
co-operation of another minister named Yu in the work of
administration, just as he had been associated with Yao. The period
covered by the rule of this triumvirate is considered one of the most
brilliant and perfect in Chinese history, and it bears a resemblance to
the age of the Antonines. These rulers seem to have passed their leisure
from practical work in framing moral axioms, and in carrying out a
model scheme of government based on the purest ethics. They
considered that "a prince intrusted with the