Myths and Legends of China | Page 7

were added in order

between 194 B.C. and A.D. 1414: Corea, Sinkiang (the New Territory
or Eastern Turkestan), Manchuria, Formosa, Tibet, and
Mongolia--Formosa and Corea being annexed by Japan in 1895 and
1910 respectively. Numerous other extra-China countries and islands,
acquired and lost during the long course of Chinese history (at one time,
from 73 to 48 B.C., "all Asia from Japan to the Caspian Sea was
tributary to the Middle Kingdom," _i.e._ China), it is not necessary to
mention here. During the Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1280) the
Tartars owned the northern half of China, as far down as the Yangtzu
River, and in the Yüan dynasty (1280-1368) they conquered the whole
country. During the period 1644-1912 it was in the possession of the
Manchus. At present the five chief component peoples of China are
represented in the striped national flag (from the top downward) by red
(Manchus), yellow (Chinese), blue (Mongolians), white
(Mohammedans), and black (Tibetans). This flag was adopted on the
establishment of the Republic in 1912, and supplanted the triangular
Dragon flag previously in use. By this time the population--which had
varied considerably at different periods owing to war, famine, and
pestilence--had increased to about 400,000,000.
General Government
The general division of the nation was into the King and the People,
The former was regarded as appointed by the will of Heaven and as the
parent of the latter. Besides being king, he was also law-giver,
commander-in-chief of the armies, high priest, and master of
ceremonies. The people were divided into four classes: (1) _Shih_,
Officers (later Scholars), consisting of _Ch'ên_, Officials (a few of
whom were ennobled), and _Shên Shih_, Gentry; (2) _Nung_,
Agriculturists; (3) _Kung_, Artisans; and (4) _Shang_, Merchants.
For administrative purposes there were at the seat of central
government (which, first at P'ing-yang--in modern Shansi--was moved
eleven times during the Feudal Period, and was finally at Yin) ministers,
or ministers and a hierarchy of officials, the country being divided into
provinces, varying in number from nine in the earliest times to
thirty-six under the First Emperor, 221 B.C., and finally twenty-two at
the present day. At first these provinces contained states, which were
models of the central state, the ruler's 'Middle Kingdom.' The
provincial administration was in the hands of twelve Pastors or

Lord-Lieutenants. They were the chiefs of all the nobles in a province.
Civil and military offices were not differentiated. The feudal lords or
princes of states often resided at the king's court, officers of that court
being also sent forth as princes of states. The king was the source of
legislation and administered justice. The princes in their several states
had the power of rewards and punishments. Revenue was derived from
a tithe on the land, from the income of artisans, merchants, fishermen,
foresters, and from the tribute brought by savage tribes.
The general structure and principles of this system of administration
remained the same, with few variations, down to the end of the
Monarchical Period in 1912. At the end of that period we find the
emperor still considered as of divine descent, still the head of the civil,
legislative, military, ecclesiastical, and ceremonial administration, with
the nation still divided into the same four classes. The chief ministries
at the capital, Peking, could in most cases trace their descent from their
prototypes of feudal times, and the principal provincial administrative
officials--the Governor-General or Viceroy, governor, provincial
treasurer, judge, etc.--had similarly a pedigree running back to offices
then existing--a continuous duration of adherence to type which is
probably unique.
Appointment to office was at first by selection, followed by an
examination to test proficiency; later was introduced the system of
public competitive literary examinations for office, fully organized in
the seventeenth century, and abolished in 1903, when official positions
were thrown open to the graduates of colleges established on a modern
basis.
In 1912, on the overthrow of the Manchu monarchy, China became a
republic, with an elected President, and a Parliament consisting of a
Senate and House of Representatives. The various government
departments were reorganized on Western lines, and a large number of
new offices instituted. Up to the present year the Law of the
Constitution, owing to political dissension between the North and the
South, has not been put into force.
Laws
Chinese law, like primitive law generally, was not instituted in order to
ensure justice between man and man; its object was to enforce
subordination of the ruled to the ruler. The laws were punitive and

vindictive rather than reformatory or remedial, criminal rather than
civil. Punishments were cruel: branding, cutting off the nose, the legs at
the knees, castration, and death, the latter not necessarily, or indeed
ordinarily, for taking life. They included in some cases punishment of
the family, the clan, and the neighbours of the offender. The