China | Page 7

policy and ordered that no
time should be lost in executing the necessary measures. All books
were proscribed, and orders were issued to burn every work except
those relating to medicine, agriculture, and such science as then existed.
The destruction of the national literature was carried out with terrible
completeness, and such works as were preserved are not free from the
suspicion of being garbled or incomplete versions of their original text.
The burning of the books was accompanied by the execution of five
hundred of the literati, and by the banishment of many thousands. By
this sweeping measure, to which no parallel is to be found in the history
of other countries, Hwangti silenced during the last few years of his life
the criticisms of his chief enemies, but in revenge his memory has had
to bear for two thousand years the sully of an inexcusable act of
tyranny and narrow-mindedness. The price will be pronounced too
heavy for what was a momentary gratification.
The reign of Hwangti was not prolonged many years after the burning
of the books. In 210 B.C. he was seized with a serious illness, to which
he succumbed, partly because he took no precautions, and partly, no
doubt, through the incompetence of his physicians. His funeral was
magnificent, and, like the Huns, his grave was dug in the bed of a river,
and with him were buried his wives and his treasure. This great ruler
left behind him an example of vigor such as is seldom found in the list
of Chinese kings of effete physique and apathetic life. He is the only
Chinese emperor of whom it is said that his favorite exercise was
walking, and his vigor was apparent in every department of State. On
one occasion when he placed a large army of, it is said, 600,000 men at
the disposal of one of his generals, the commander expressed some fear
as to how this huge force was to be fed. Hwangti at once replied,
"Leave it to me. I will provide for everything. There shall be want

rather in my palace than in your camp." He does not seem to have been
a great general himself, but he knew how to select the best commanders,
and he was also so quick in discovering the merits of the generals
opposed to him, that some of his most notable victories were obtained
by his skill in detaching them from their service or by ruining their
reputation by some intrigue more astute than honorable. Yet, all
deductions made, Tsin Chi Hwangti stands forth as a great ruler and
remarkable man.
The Tsin dynasty only survived its founder a few years. Hwangti's son
Eulchi became emperor, but he reigned no more than three years. He
was foolish enough to get rid of the general Moungtien, who might
have been the buttress of his throne; and the minister Lisseh was
poisoned, either with or without his connivance. Eulchi himself shared
the same fate, and his successor, Ing Wang, reigned only six weeks,
committing suicide after losing a battle, and with him the Tsin dynasty
came to an end. Its chief, nay its only claim to distinction, arises from
its having produced the great ruler Hwangti, and its destiny was
Napoleonic in its brilliance and evanescence.
Looking back at the long period which connects the mythical age with
what may be considered the distinctly historical epoch of the Tsins, we
find that by the close of the third century before the Christian era China
possessed settled institutions, the most remarkable portion of its still
existing literature, and mighty rulers. It is hardly open to doubt that the
Chinese annalist finds in these remote ages as much interest and
instruction as we should in the record of more recent times, and proof
of this may be discovered in the fact that the history of the first four
dynasties, which we must dismiss in these few pages, occupies as much
space in the national history as the chronicle of events from Tsin Chi
Hwangti to the end of the Ming dynasty in 1644, at which date the
official history of China stops, because the history of the Manchu
dynasty, which has occupied the throne ever since, will only be given
to the world after it has ceased to rule. We must not be surprised at this
discursiveness, because the teachings of human experience are as
clearly marked in those early times as they have been since, and
Chinese historians aim as much at establishing moral and philosophical

truths as at giving a complete record of events. The consequences of
human folly and incompetence are as patent and conspicuous in those
days as they are now. The ruling power is lost by one family and
transferred to another because the prince