AHISTORY OF CHINA byWOLFRAM EBERHARD_of the University of California_ _Illustrated_ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESSBerkeley and Los Angeles 1969 First published in U.  S.  A. By_University of California Press__Berkeley and Los Angeles__California_ Second printing 1955Third printing 1956Second edition (revised by the authorand reset) 1960Reprinted 1966Third edition (revisedand enlarged) 1969 _To My Wife_ CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 _THE EARLIEST TIMES_ Chapter I: PREHISTORY 1 Sources for the earliest history 72 The Peking Man 83 The Palaeolithic Age 84 The Neolithic Age 95 The eight principal prehistoric cultures 106 The Yang-shao culture 127 The Lung-shan culture 158 The first petty States in Shansi 16 Chapter II: THE SHANG DYNASTY(_c. _ 1600-1028 B. C. ) 1 Period, origin, material culture 192 Writing and Religion 223 Transition to feudalism 24 _ANTIQUITY_ Chapter III: THE CHOU DYNASTY (_c. _ 1028-257 B. C. ) 1 Cultural origin of the Chou and end of the Shang dynasty 292 Feudalism in the new empire 303 Fusion of Chou and Shang 324 Limitation of the imperial power 365 Changes in the relative strength of the feudal states 386 Confucius 407 Lao Tzŭ 45 Chapter IV: THE CONTENDING STATES (481-256 B. C. ): DISSOLUTION OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM 1 Social and military changes 512 Economic changes 533 Cultural changes 57 Chapter V: THE CHIN DYNASTY (256-207 B. C. ) 1 Towards the unitary State 622 Centralization in every field 643 Frontier Defence. Internal collapse 67 _THE MIDDLE AGES_ Chapter VI: THE HAN DYNASTY (206 B. C. -A. D. 220) 1 Development of the gentry-state 712 Situation of the Hsiung-nu empire; its relation to the Han empire. Incorporation of South China 753 Brief feudal reaction. Consolidation of the gentry 774 Turkestan policy. End of the Hsiung-nu empire 865 Impoverishment. Cliques. End of the Dynasty 906 The pseudo-socialistic dictatorship. Revolt of the "Red Eyebrows" 937 Reaction and Restoration: the Later Han dynasty 968 Hsiung-nu policy 979 Economic situation. Rebellion of the "Yellow Turbans". Collapse of the Han dynasty 9910 Literature and Art 103 Chapter VII: THE EPOCH OF THE FIRST DIVISIONOF CHINA (A. D. 220-580) (A) _The three kingdoms_ (A. D. 220-265) 1 Social, intellectual, and economic problems during the period of the first division 1072 Status of the two southern Kingdoms 1093 The northern State of Wei 113 (B) _The Western Chin dynasty_ (265-317) 1 Internal situation in the Chin empire 1152 Effect on the frontier peoples 1163 Struggles for the throne 1194 Migration of Chinese 1205 Victory of the Huns. The Hun Han dynasty (later renamed the Earlier Chao dynasty) 121 (C) _The alien empires in North China, down to the Toba_(A. D. 317-385) 1 The Later Chao dynasty in eastern North China (Hun; 329-352) 1232 Earlier Yen dynasty in the north-east (proto-Mongol; 352-370), and the Earlier Ch'in dynasty in all north China (Tibetan; 351-394) 1263 The fragmentation of north China 1284 Sociological analysis of the two great alien empires 1315 Sociological analysis of the petty States 1326 Spread of Buddhism 133 (D) _The Toba empire in North China_ (A. D. 385-550) 1 The rise of the Toba State 1362 The Hun kingdom of the Hsia (407-431) 1393 Rise of the Toba to a great power 1394 Economic and social conditions 1425 Victory and retreat of Buddhism 145 (E) _Succession States of the Toba_ (A. D. 550-580):_Northern Ch'i dynasty, Northern Chou dynasty_ 1 Reasons for the splitting of the Toba empire 1482 Appearance of the (Gök) Turks 1493 The Northern Ch'i dynasty; the Northern Chou dynasty 150 (F) _The southern empires_ 1 Economic and social situation in the south 1522 Struggles between cliques under the Eastern Chin dynasty (A. D. 317-419) 1553 The Liu-Sung dynasty (A. D. 420-478) and the Southern Ch'i dynasty (A. D. 479-501) 1594 The Liang dynasty (A. D. 502-556) 1615 The Ch'en dynasty (A. D. 557-588) and its ending by the Sui 1626 Cultural achievements of the south 163 Chapter VIII: THE EMPIRES OF THE SUI ANDTHE T'ANG (A) _The Sui dynasty_ (A. D. 580-618) 1 Internal situation in the newly unified empire 1662 Relations with Turks and with Korea 1693 Reasons for collapse 170 (B) _The Tang dynasty_ (A. D. 618-906) 1 Reforms and decentralization 1722 Turkish policy 1763 Conquest of Turkestan and Korea. Summit of power 1774 The reign of the empress Wu: Buddhism and capitalism 1795 Second blossoming of T'ang culture 1826 Revolt of a military governor 1847 The role of the Uighurs. Confiscation of the capital of the monasteries 1868 First successful peasant revolt. Collapse of the empire 189 _MODERN TIMES_ Chapter IX: THE EPOCH OF THE SECONDDIVISION OF CHINA (A) _The period of the Five Dynasties_ (906-960) 1 Beginning of a new epoch 1952 Political situation in the tenth century 1993 Monopolistic trade in South China. Printing and paper money in the north 2004 Political history of the Five Dynasties 202 (B) _Period of Moderate Absolutism_ (1) _The Northern Sung dynasty_ 1 Southward expansion 2082 Administration and army. Inflation 2103 Reforms and Welfare schemes 2154 Cultural situation (philosophy, religion, literature, painting) 2175 Military collapse 221 (2) _The Liao (Kitan) dynasty in the north_ (937-1125) 1 Sociological structure. Claim to the Chinese imperial throne 2222 The State of the Kara-Kitai 223 (3) _The Hsi-Hsia State in the north_ (1038-1227) 1 Continuation of Turkish traditions 224 (4) _The empire of the Southern Sung dynasty_ (1127-1279) 1 Foundation 2252 Internal situation 2263 Cultural situation; reasons for the collapse 227 (5) _The empire of the Juchên in the north_ (1115-1234) 1 Rapid expansion from northern Korea to the Yangtze 2292 United front of all Chinese 2293 Start of the Mongol empire 230 Chapter X: THE PERIOD OF ABSOLUTISM (A) _The Mongol Epoch_ (1280-1368) 1 Beginning of new foreign rules 2322 "Nationality legislation" 2333 Military position 2344 Social situation 2355 Popular risings: National rising 2386 Cultural 241 (B) _The Ming Epoch_ (1368-1644) 1 Start. National feeling 2432 Wars against Mongols and Japanese 2443 Social legislation within the existing order 2464 Colonization and agricultural developments 2485 Commercial and industrial developments 2506 Growth of the small gentry 2527 Literature, art, crafts 2538 Politics at court 2569 Navy. Southward expansion 25810 Struggles between cliques 25911 Risings 26212 Machiavellism 26313 Foreign relations in the sixteenth century 26414 External and internal perils 266 (C) _The Manchu Dynasty_ (1644-1911) 1 Installation of the Manchus 2702 Decline in the eighteenth century 2723 Expansion in Central Asia; the first State treaty 2774 Culture 2795 Relations with the outer world 2826 Decline; revolts 2847 European Imperialism in the Far East 2858 Risings in Turkestan and within China: the T'ai P'ing Rebellion 2889 Collision with Japan; further Capitulations 29410 Russia in Manchuria 29611 Reform and reaction: The Boxer Rising 29612 End of the dynasty 299 Chapter XI: THE REPUBLIC (1912-1948) 1 Social and intellectual position 3032 First period of the Republic: The warlords 3093 Second period of the Republic: Nationalist China 3144 The Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945) 317 Chapter XII: PRESENT-DAY CHINA 1 The growth of communism 3202 Nationalist China in Taiwan 3233 Communist China 327 Notes and References 335 Index 355 ILLUSTRATIONS 1 Painted pottery from Kansu: Neolithic. _Facing page_ 48_In the collection of the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin_. 2 Ancient bronze tripod found at Anyang. 49_From G.  Ecke: Frühe chinesische Bronzen aus der SammlungOskar Trautmann, Peking 1939 plate 3. _ 3 Bronze plaque representing two horses fighting eachother. Ordos region, animal style. 64_From V.  Griessmaier: Sammlung Baron Eduard von derHeydt, Vienna 1936, illustration No. 6. _ 4 Hunting scene: detail from the reliefs in the tombs atWu-liang-tz'u. 64_From a print in the author's possession_. 5 Part of the "Great Wall". 65_Photo Eberhard. _ 6 Sun Ch'üan, ruler of Wu. 144_From a painting by Yen Li-pen (c. 640-680). _ 7 General view of the Buddhist cave-temples of Yün-kang. In the foreground, the present village; in the backgroundthe rampart. 145_Photo H.  Hammer-Morrisson. _ 8 Detail from the Buddhist cave-reliefs of Lungmen. 160_From a print in the author's possession. _ 9 Statue of Mi-lo (Maitreya, the next future Buddha), inthe "Great Buddha Temple" at Chengting (Hopei). 161_Photo H.  Hammer-Morrisson. _ 10 Ladies of the Court: Clay models which accompaniedthe dead person to the grave. T'ang period. 208_In the collection of the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. _ 11 Distinguished founder: a temple banner found atKhotcho, Turkestan. 209_Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. No. 1B 4524, illustrationB 408. _ 12 Ancient tiled pagoda at Chengting (Hopei). 224_Photo H.  Hammer-Morrisson. _ 13 Horse-training. Painting by Li Lung-mien. Late Sungperiod. 225_Manchu Royal House Collection. _ 14 Aborigines of South China, of the "Black Miao" tribe, at a festival. China-ink drawing of the eighteenthcentury. 272_Collection of the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. No. 1D8756, 68. _ 15 Pavilion on the "Coal Hill" at Peking, in which the lastMing emperor committed suicide. 273_Photo Eberhard. _ 16 The imperial summer palace of the Manchu rulers, atJehol. 288_Photo H.  Hammer-Morrisson. _ 17 Tower on the city wall of Peking. 289_Photo H.  Hammer-Morrisson. _ MAPS 1 Regions of the principal local cultures in prehistorictimes 13 2 The principal feudal States in the feudal epoch (roughly722-481 B. C. ) 39 3 China in the struggle with the Huns or Hsiung-nu(roughly 128-100 B. C. ) 87 4 The Toba empire (about A. D. 500) 141 5 The T'ang realm (about A. D. 750) 171 6 The State of the Later T'ang dynasty (923-935) 205 INTRODUCTION There are indeed enough Histories of China already: why yet another one?Because the time has come for new departures; because we need to clearaway the false notions with which the general public is constantly beingfed by one author after another; because from time to time synthesesbecome necessary for the presentation of the stage reached by research. Histories of China fall, with few exceptions, into one or the other oftwo groups, pro-Chinese and anti-Chinese: the latter used topredominate, but today the former type is much more frequently found. Wehave no desire to show that China's history is the most glorious or hercivilization the oldest in the world. A claim to the longest historydoes not establish the greatness of a civilization; the importance of acivilization becomes apparent in its achievements. A thousand years agoChina's civilization towered over those of the peoples of Europe. Todaythe West is leading; tomorrow China may lead again. We need to realizehow China became what she is, and to note the paths pursued by theChinese in human thought and action. The lives of emperors, the greatbattles, this or the other famous deed, matter less to us than thediscovery of the great forces that underlie these features and governthe human element. Only when we have knowledge of those forces andcounter-forces can we realize the significance of the greatpersonalities who have emerged in China; and only then will the historyof China become intelligible even to those who have little knowledge ofthe Far East and can make nothing of a mere enumeration of dynasties andcampaigns. Views on China's history have radically changed in recent years. Untilabout thirty years ago our knowledge of the earliest times in Chinadepended entirely on Chinese documents of much later date; now we areable to rely on many excavations which enable us to check the writtensources. Ethnological, anthropological, and sociological research hasbegun for China and her neighbours; thus we are in a position to writewith some confidence about the making of China, and about her ethnicaldevelopment, where formerly we could only grope in the dark. The claimthat "the Chinese race" produced the high Chinese civilization entirelyby its own efforts, thanks to its special gifts, has become just asuntenable as the other theory that immigrants from the West, someconceivably from Europe, carried civilization to the Far East. We knownow that in early times there was no "Chinese race", there were not even"Chinese", just as there were no "French" and no "Swiss" two thousandyears ago. The "Chinese" resulted from the amalgamation of many separatepeoples of different races in an enormously complicated andlong-drawn-out process, as with all the other high civilizations of theworld. The picture of ancient and medieval China has also been entirely changedsince it has been realized that the sources on which reliance has alwaysbeen placed were not objective, but deliberately and emphaticallyrepresented a particular philosophy. The reports on the emperors andministers of the earliest period are not historical at all, but servedas examples of ideas of social policy or as glorifications of particularnoble families. Myths such as we find to this day among China'sneighbours were made into history; gods were made men and linkedtogether by long family trees. We have been able to touch on all thesethings only briefly, and have had to dispense with any account of thecomplicated processes that have taken place here. The official dynastic histories apply to the course of Chinese historythe criterion of Confucian ethics; for them history is a textbook ofethics, designed to show by means of examples how the man of highcharacter should behave or not behave. We have to go deeper, and try toextract the historic truth from these records. Many specialized studiesby Chinese, Japanese, and Western scholars on problems of Chinesehistory are now available and of assistance in this task. However, someChinese writers still imagine that they are serving their country by yetagain dishing up the old fables for the foreigner as history; and someEuropeans, knowing no better or aiming at setting alongside theunedifying history of Europe the shining example of the conventionalstory of China, continue in the old groove. To this day, of course, weare far from having really worked through every period of Chinesehistory; there are long periods on which scarcely any work has yet beendone. Thus the picture we are able to give today has no finality aboutit and will need many modifications. But the time has come for a newsynthesis, so that criticism may proceed along the broadest possiblefront and push our knowledge further forward. The present work is intended for the general reader and not for thespecialist, who will devote his attention to particular studies and tothe original texts. In view of the wide scope of the work, I have had toconfine myself to placing certain lines of thought in the foreground andpaying less attention to others. I have devoted myself mainly to showingthe main lines of China's social and cultural development down to thepresent day. But I have also been concerned not to leave out of accountChina's relations with her neighbours. Now that we have a betterknowledge of China's neighbours, the Turks, Mongols, Tibetans, Tunguses, Tai, not confined to the narratives of Chinese, who always speak only of"barbarians", we are better able to realize how closely China has beenassociated with her neighbours from the first day of her history to thepresent time; how greatly she is indebted to them, and how much she hasgiven them. We no longer see China as a great civilization surrounded bybarbarians, but we study the Chinese coming to terms with theirneighbours, who had civilizations of quite different types butnevertheless developed ones. It is usual to split up Chinese history under the various dynasties thathave ruled China or parts thereof. The beginning or end of a dynastydoes not always indicate the beginning or the end of a definite periodof China's social or cultural development. We have tried to breakChina's history down into the three large periods--"Antiquity", "TheMiddle Ages", and "Modern Times". This does not mean that we comparethese periods with periods of the same name in Western history although, naturally, we find some similarities with the development of society andculture in the West. Every attempt towards periodization is to somedegree arbitrary: the beginning and end of the Middle Ages, forinstance, cannot be fixed to a year, because development is a continuousprocess. To some degree any periodization is a matter of convenience, and it should be accepted as such. The account of Chinese history here given is based on a study of theoriginal documents and excavations, and on a study of recent researchdone by Chinese, Japanese and Western scholars, including my ownresearch. In many cases, these recent studies produced new data orarranged new data in a new way without an attempt to draw generalconclusions. By putting such studies together, by fitting them into thepattern that already existed, new insights into social and culturalprocesses have been gained. The specialist in the field will, I hope, easily recognize the sources, primary or secondary, on which such newinsights represented in this book are based. Brief notes are appendedfor each chapter; they indicate the most important works in English andprovide the general reader with an opportunity of finding furtherinformation on the problems touched on. For the specialist brief hintsto international research are given, mainly in cases in which differentinterpretations have been proposed. Chinese words are transcribed according to the Wade-Giles system withthe exception of names for which already a popular way of transcriptionexists (such as Peking). Place names are written without hyphen, if theyremain readable. THE EARLIEST TIMES Chapter One PREHISTORY 1 _Sources for the earliest history_ Until recently we were dependent for the beginnings of Chinese historyon the written Chinese tradition. According to these sources China'shistory began either about 4000 B. C. Or about 2700 B. C. With asuccession of wise emperors who "invented" the elements of acivilization, such as clothing, the preparation of food, marriage, and astate system; they instructed their people in these things, and sobrought China, as early as in the third millennium B. C. , to anastonishingly high cultural level. However, all we know of the origin ofcivilizations makes this of itself entirely improbable; no othercivilization in the world originated in any such way. As time went on, Chinese historians found more and more to say about primeval times. Allthese narratives were collected in the great imperial history thatappeared at the beginning of the Manchu epoch. That book was translatedinto French, and all the works written in Western languages until recentyears on Chinese history and civilization have been based in the lastresort on that translation. Modern research has not only demonstrated that all these accounts areinventions of a much later period, but has also shown _why_ suchnarratives were composed. The older historical sources make no mentionof any rulers before 2200 B. C. , no mention even of their names. Thenames of earlier rulers first appear in documents of about 400 B. C. ; thedeeds attributed to them and the dates assigned to them often do notappear until much later. Secondly, it was shown that the traditionalchronology is wrong and another must be adopted, reducing all the datesfor the more ancient history, before 900 B. C. Finally, all narrativesand reports from China's earliest period have been dealt a mortal blowby modern archaeology, with the excavations of recent years. There wasno trace of any high civilization in the third millennium B. C. , and, indeed, we can only speak of a real "Chinese civilization" from 1300B. C. Onward. The peoples of the China of that time had come from themost varied sources; from 1300 B. C. They underwent a common process ofdevelopment that welded them into a new unity. In this sense andemphasizing the cultural aspects, we are justified in using from then ona new name, "Chinese", for the peoples of China. Those sections, however, of their ancestral populations who played no part in thesubsequent cultural and racial fusion, we may fairly call "non-Chinese". This distinction answers the question that continually crops up, whetherthe Chinese are "autochthonons". They are autochthonons in the sensethat they formed a unit in the Far East, in the geographical region ofthe present China, and were not immigrants from the Middle East. 2 _The Peking Man_ Man makes his appearance in the Far East at a time when remains in otherparts of the world are very rare and are disputed. He appears as theso-called "Peking Man", whose bones were found in caves ofChou-k'ou-tien south of Peking. The Peking Man is vastly different fromthe men of today, and forms a special branch of the human race, closelyallied to the Pithecanthropus of Java. The formation of later races ofmankind from these types has not yet been traced, if it occurred at all. Some anthropologists consider, however, that the Peking Man possessedalready certain characteristics peculiar to the yellow race. The Peking Man lived in caves; no doubt he was a hunter, already inpossession of very simple stone implements and also of the art of makingfire. As none of the skeletons so far found are complete, it is assumedthat he buried certain bones of the dead in different places from therest. This burial custom, which is found among primitive peoples inother parts of the world, suggests the conclusion that the Peking Manalready had religious notions. We have no knowledge yet of the length oftime the Peking Man may have inhabited the Far East. His first tracesare attributed to a million years ago, and he may have flourished in500, 000 B. C. 3 _The Palaeolithic Age_ After the period of the Peking Man there comes a great gap in ourknowledge. All that we know indicates that at the time of the Peking Manthere must have been a warmer and especially a damper climate in NorthChina and Inner Mongolia than today. Great areas of the Ordos region, now dry steppe, were traversed in that epoch by small rivers and lakesbeside which men could live. There were elephants, rhinoceroses, extinctspecies of stag and bull, even tapirs and other wild animals. About50, 000 B. C. There lived by these lakes a hunting people whose stoneimplements (and a few of bone) have been found in many places. Theimplements are comparable in type with the palaeolithic implements ofEurope (Mousterian type, and more rarely Aurignacian or evenMagdalenian). They are not, however, exactly like the Europeanimplements, but have a character of their own. We do not yet know whatthe men of these communities looked like, because as yet no indisputablehuman remains have been found. All the stone implements have been foundon the surface, where they have been brought to light by the wind as itswept away the loess. These stone-age communities seem to have lasted aconsiderable time and to have been spread not only over North China butover Mongolia and Manchuria. It must not be assumed that the stone agecame to an end at the same time everywhere. Historical accounts haverecorded, for instance, that stone implements were still in use inManchuria and eastern Mongolia at a time when metal was known and usedin western Mongolia and northern China. Our knowledge about thepalaeolithic period of Central and South China is still extremelylimited; we have to wait for more excavations before anything can besaid. Certainly, many implements in this area were made of wood or moreprobably bamboo, such as we still find among the non-Chinese tribes ofthe south-west and of South-East Asia. Such implements, naturally, couldnot last until today. About 25, 000 B. C. There appears in North China a new human type, foundin upper layers in the same caves that sheltered Peking Man. This typeis beyond doubt not Mongoloid, and may have been allied to the Ainu, anon-Mongol race still living in northern Japan. These, too, were apalaeolithic people, though some of their implements show technicaladvance. Later they disappear, probably because they were absorbed intovarious populations of central and northern Asia. Remains of them havebeen found in badly explored graves in northern Korea. 4 _The Neolithic age_ In the period that now followed, northern China must have graduallybecome arid, and the formation of loess seems to have steadily advanced. There is once more a great gap in our knowledge until, about 4000 B. C. , we can trace in North China a purely Mongoloid people with a neolithicculture. In place of hunters we find cattle breeders, who are even tosome extent agriculturists as well. This may seem an astonishingstatement for so early an age. It is a fact, however, that pure pastoralnomadism is exceptional, that normal pastoral nomads have always added alittle farming to their cattle-breeding, in order to secure the neededadditional food and above all fodder, for the winter. At this time, about 4000 B. C. , the other parts of China come into view. The neolithic implements of the various regions of the Far East are farfrom being uniform; there are various separate cultures. In thenorth-west of China there is a system of cattle-breeding combined withagriculture, a distinguishing feature being the possession of finelypolished axes of rectangular section, with a cutting edge. Farther east, in the north and reaching far to the south, is found a culture with axesof round or oval section. In the south and in the coastal region fromNanking to Tonking, Yünnan to Fukien, and reaching as far as the coastsof Korea and Japan, is a culture with so-called shoulder-axes. Szechwanand Yünnan represented a further independent culture. All these cultures were at first independent. Later the shoulder-axeculture penetrated as far as eastern India. Its people are known tophilological research as Austroasiatics, who formed the original stockof the Australian aborigines; they survived in India as the Mundatribes, in Indo-China as the Mon-Khmer, and also remained in pockets onthe islands of Indonesia and especially Melanesia. All these peoples hadmigrated from southern China. The peoples with the oval-axe culture arethe so-called Papuan peoples in Melanesia; they, too, migrated fromsouthern China, probably before the others. Both groups influenced theancient Japanese culture. The rectangular-axe culture of north-westChina spread widely, and moved southward, where the Austronesian peoples(from whom the Malays are descended) were its principal constituents, spreading that culture also to Japan. Thus we see here, in this period around 4000 B. C. , an extensive mutualpenetration of the various cultures all over the Far East, includingJapan, which in the palaeolithic age was apparently without or almostwithout settlers. 5 _The eight principal prehistoric cultures_ In the period roughly around 2500 B. C. The general historical viewbecomes much clearer. Thanks to a special method of working, making useof the ethnological sources available from later times together with thearchaeological sources, much new knowledge has been gained in recentyears. At this time there is still no trace of a Chinese realm; we findinstead on Chinese soil a considerable number of separate localcultures, each developing on its own lines. The chief of these cultures, acquaintance with which is essential to a knowledge of the whole laterdevelopment of the Far East, are as follows: (a) _The north-east culture_, centred in the present provinces of Hopei(in which Peking lies), Shantung, and southern Manchuria. The people ofthis culture were ancestors of the Tunguses, probably mixed with anelement that is contained in the present-day Paleo-Siberian tribes. These men were mainly hunters, but probably soon developed a littleprimitive agriculture and made coarse, thick pottery with certain basicforms which were long preserved in subsequent Chinese pottery (forinstance, a type of the so-called tripods). Later, pig-breeding becametypical of this culture. (b) _The northern culture_ existed to the west of that culture, in theregion of the present Chinese province of Shansi and in the province ofJehol in Inner Mongolia. These people had been hunters, but then becamepastoral nomads, depending mainly on cattle. The people of this culturewere the tribes later known as Mongols, the so-called proto-Mongols. Anthropologically they belonged, like the Tunguses, to the Mongol race. (c) The people of the culture farther west, the _north-west culture_, were not Mongols. They, too, were originally hunters, and later became apastoral people, with a not inconsiderable agriculture (especiallygrowing wheat and millet). The typical animal of this group soon becamethe horse. The horse seems to be the last of the great animals to bedomesticated, and the date of its first occurrence in domesticated formin the Far East is not yet determined, but we can assume that by 2500B. C. This group was already in the possession of horses. The horse hasalways been a "luxury", a valuable animal which needed special care. Fortheir economic needs, these tribes depended on other animals, probablysheep, goats, and cattle. The centre of this culture, so far as can beascertained from Chinese sources, were the present provinces of Shensiand Kansu, but mainly only the plains. The people of this culture weremost probably ancestors of the later Turkish peoples. It is notsuggested, of course, that the original home of the Turks lay in theregion of the Chinese provinces of Shensi and Kansu; one gains theimpression, however, that this was a border region of the Turkishexpansion; the Chinese documents concerning that period do not sufficeto establish the centre of the Turkish territory. (d) In the _west_, in the present provinces of Szechwan and in all themountain regions of the provinces of Kansu and Shensi, lived theancestors of the Tibetan peoples as another separate culture. They wereshepherds, generally wandering with their flocks of sheep and goats onthe mountain heights. (e) In the _south_ we meet with four further cultures. One is veryprimitive, the Liao culture, the peoples of which are the Austroasiaticsalready mentioned. These are peoples who never developed beyond thestage of primitive hunters, some of whom were not even acquainted withthe bow and arrow. Farther east is the Yao culture, an earlyAustronesian culture, the people of which also lived in the mountains, some as collectors and hunters, some going over to a simple type ofagriculture (denshiring). They mingled later with the last great cultureof the south, the Tai culture, distinguished by agriculture. The peoplelived in the valleys and mainly cultivated rice. The origin of rice is not yet known; according to some scholars, ricewas first cultivated in the area of present Burma and was perhaps atfirst a perennial plant. Apart from the typical rice which needs muchwater, there were also some strains of dry rice which, however, did notgain much importance. The centre of this Tai culture may have been inthe present provinces of Kuangtung and Kuanghsi. Today, theirdescendants form the principal components of the Tai in Thailand, theShan in Burma and the Lao in Laos. Their immigration into the areas ofthe Shan States of Burma and into Thailand took place only in quiterecent historical periods, probably not much earlier than A. D. 1000. Finally there arose from the mixture of the Yao with the Tai culture, ata rather later time, the Yüeh culture, another early Austronesianculture, which then spread over wide regions of Indonesia, and of whichthe axe of rectangular section, mentioned above, became typical. Thus, to sum up, we may say that, quite roughly, in the middle of thethird millennium we meet in the _north_ and west of present-day Chinawith a number of herdsmen cultures. In the _south_ there were a numberof agrarian cultures, of which the Tai was the most powerful, becomingof most importance to the later China. We must assume that thesecultures were as yet undifferentiated in their social composition, thatis to say that as yet there was no distinct social stratification, butat most beginnings of class-formation, especially among the nomadherdsmen. 6 _The Yang-shao culture_ The various cultures here described gradually penetrated one another, especially at points where they met. Such a process does not yield asimple total of the cultural elements involved; any new combinationproduces entirely different conditions with corresponding new resultswhich, in turn, represent the characteristics of the culture thatsupervenes. We can no longer follow this process of penetration indetail; it need not by any means have been always warlike. Conquest ofone group by another was only one way of mutual cultural penetration. Inother cases, a group which occupied the higher altitudes and practisedhunting or slash-and-burn agriculture came into closer contacts withanother group in the valleys which practised some form of higheragriculture; frequently, such contacts resulted in particular forms ofdivision of labour in a unified and often stratified new form ofsociety. Recent and present developments in South-East Asia present anumber of examples for such changes. Increase of population is certainlyone of the most important elements which lead to these developments. Theresult, as a rule, was a stratified society being made up of at leastone privileged and one ruled stratum. Thus there came into existencearound 2000 B. C. Some new cultures, which are well knownarchaeologically. The most important of these are the Yang-shao culturein the west and the Lung-shan culture in the east. Our knowledge of boththese cultures is of quite recent date and there are many enigmas stillto be cleared up. [Illustration: Map 1. Regions of the principal local cultures inprehistoric times. _Local cultures of minor importance have not beenshown. _] The _Yang-shao culture_ takes its name from a prehistoric settlement inthe west of the present province of Honan, where Swedish investigatorsdiscovered it. Typical of this culture is its wonderfully fine pottery, apparently used as gifts to the dead. It is painted in three colours, white, red, and black. The patterns are all stylized, designs copiedfrom nature being rare. We are now able to divide this painted potteryinto several sub-types of specific distribution, and we know that thisstyle existed from _c_. 2200 B. C. On. In general, it tends to disappearas does painted pottery in other parts of the world with the beginningof urban civilization and the invention of writing. The typicalYang-shao culture seems to have come to an end around 1600 or 1500 B. C. It continued in some more remote areas, especially of Kansu, perhaps toabout 700 B. C. Remnants of this painted pottery have been found over awide area from Southern Manchuria, Hopei, Shansi, Honan, Shensi toKansu; some pieces have also been discovered in Sinkiang. Thus far, itseems that it occurred mainly in the mountainous parts of North andNorth-West China. The people of this culture lived in villages near tothe rivers and creeks. They had various forms of houses, includingunderground dwellings and animal enclosures. They practised someagriculture; some authors believe that rice was already known to them. They also had domesticated animals. Their implements were of stone withrare specimens of bone. The axes were of the rectangular type. Metal wasas yet unknown, but seems to have been introduced towards the end of theperiod. They buried their dead on the higher elevations, and here thepainted pottery was found. For their daily life, they used predominantlya coarse grey pottery. After the discovery of this culture, its pottery was compared with thepainted pottery of the West, and a number of resemblances were found, especially with the pottery of the Lower Danube basin and that of Anau, in Turkestan. Some authors claim that such resemblances are fortuitousand believe that the older layers of this culture are to be found in theeastern part of its distribution and only the later layers in the west. It is, they say, these later stages which show the strongestresemblances with the West. Other authors believe that the paintedpottery came from the West where it occurs definitely earlier than inthe Far East; some investigators went so far as to regard theIndo-Europeans as the parents of that civilization. As we find peoplewho spoke an Indo-European language in the Far East in a later period, they tend to connect the spread of painted pottery with the spread ofIndo-European-speaking groups. As most findings of painted pottery inthe Far East do not stem from scientific excavations it is difficult tomake any decision at this moment. We will have to wait for more andmodern excavations. From our knowledge of primeval settlement in West and North-West Chinawe know, however, that Tibetan groups, probably mixed with Turkishelements, must have been the main inhabitants of the whole region inwhich this painted pottery existed. Whatever the origin of the paintedpottery may be, it seems that people of these two groups were the mainusers of it. Most of the shapes of their pottery are not found in laterChinese pottery. 7 _The Lung-shan culture_ While the Yang-shao culture flourished in the mountain regions ofnorthern and western China around 2000 B. C. , there came into existencein the plains of eastern China another culture, which is called theLung-shan culture, from the scene of the principal discoveries. Lung-shan is in the province of Shantung, near Chinan-fu. This culture, discovered only about twenty-five years ago, is distinguished by a blackpottery of exceptionally fine quality and by a similar absence of metal. The pottery has a polished appearance on the exterior; it is neverpainted, and mostly without decoration; at most it may have incisedgeometrical patterns. The forms of the vessels are the same as haveremained typical of Chinese pottery, and of Far Eastern pottery ingeneral. To that extent the Lung-shan culture may be described as one ofthe direct predecessors of the later Chinese civilization. As in the West, we find in Lung-shan much grey pottery out of whichvessels for everyday use were produced. This simple corded or mattedware seems to be in connection with Tunguse people who lived in thenorth-east. The people of the Lung-shan culture lived on mounds producedby repeated building on the ruins of earlier settlements, as did theinhabitants of the "Tells" in the Near East. They were therefore along-settled population of agriculturists. Their houses were of mud, andtheir villages were surrounded with mud walls. There are signs thattheir society was stratified. So far as is known at present, thisculture was spread over the present provinces of Shantung, Kiangsu, Chekiang, and Anhui, and some specimens of its pottery went as far asHonan and Shansi, into the region of the painted pottery. This culturelasted in the east until about 1600 B. C. , with clear evidence of ratherlonger duration only in the south. As black pottery of a similarcharacter occurs also in the Near East, some authors believe that it hasbeen introduced into the Far East by another migration (Ponticmigration) following that migration which supposedly brought the paintedpottery. This theory has not been generally accepted because of the factthat typical black pottery is limited to the plains of East China; if ithad been brought in from the West, we should expect to find it inconsiderable amounts also in West China. Ordinary black pottery can besimply the result of a special temperature in the pottery kiln; suchpottery can be found almost everywhere. The typical thin, fine blackpottery of Lung-shan, however, is in the Far East an eastern element, and migrants would have had to pass through the area of the paintedpottery people without leaving many traces and without pushing theirpredecessors to the East. On the basis of our present knowledge weassume that the peoples of the Lung-shan culture were probably of Taiand Yao stocks together with some Tunguses. Recently, a culture of mound-dwellers in Eastern China has beendiscovered, and a southern Chinese culture of people with impressed orstamped pottery. This latter seems to be connected with the Yüeh tribes. As yet, no further details are known. 8 _The first petty States in Shansi_ At the time in which, according to archaeological research, the paintedpottery flourished in West China, Chinese historical tradition has itthat the semi-historical rulers, Yao and Shun, and the first officialdynasty, the Hsia dynasty ruled over parts of China with a centre insouthern Shansi. While we dismiss as political myths the Confucianiststories representing Yao and Shun as models of virtuous rulers, it maybe that a small state existed in south-western Shansi under a chieftainYao, and farther to the east another small state under a chieftain Shun, and that these states warred against each other until Yao's state wasdestroyed. These first small states may have existed around 2000 B. C. On the cultural scene we first find an important element of progress:bronze, in traces in the middle layers of the Yang-shao culture, about1800 B. C. ; that element had become very widespread by 1400 B. C. Theforms of the oldest weapons and their ornamentation show similaritieswith weapons from Siberia; and both mythology and other indicationssuggest that the bronze came into China from the north and was notproduced in China proper. Thus, from the present state of our knowledge, it seems most correct to say that the bronze was brought to the Far Eastthrough the agency of peoples living north of China, such as the Turkishtribes who in historical times were China's northern neighbours (orperhaps only individual families or clans, the so-called smith familieswith whom we meet later in Turkish tradition), reaching the Chineseeither through these people themselves or through the further agency ofMongols. At first the forms of the weapons were left unaltered. Thebronze vessels, however, which made their appearance about 1450 B. C. Areentirely different from anything produced in other parts of Asia; theirornamentation shows, on the one hand, elements of the so-called "animalstyle" which is typical of the steppe people of the Ordos area and ofCentral Asia. But most of the other elements, especially the "filling"between stylized designs, is recognizably southern (probably of the Taiculture), no doubt first applied to wooden vessels and vessels made fromgourds, and then transferred to bronze. This implies that the art ofcasting bronze very soon spread from North China, where it was firstpractised by Turkish peoples, to the east and south, which quicklydeveloped bronze industries of their own. There are few deposits ofcopper and tin in North China, while in South China both metals areplentiful and easily extracted, so that a trade in bronze from south tonorth soon set in. The origin of the Hsia state may have been a consequence of the progressdue to bronze. The Chinese tradition speaks of the Hsia _dynasty_, butcan say scarcely anything about it. The excavations, too, yield noclear conclusions, so that we can only say that it flourished at thetime and in the area in which the painted pottery occurred, with acentre in south-west Shansi. We date this dynasty now somewhere between2000 and 1600 B. C. And believe that it was an agrarian culture withbronze weapons and pottery vessels but without the knowledge of the artof writing. Chapter Two THE SHANG DYNASTY (_c. _ 1600-1028 B. C. ) 1 _Period, origin, material culture_ About 1600 B. C. We come at last into the realm of history. Of the Shangdynasty, which now followed, we have knowledge both from later texts andfrom excavations and the documents they have brought to light. The Shangcivilization, an evident off-shoot of the Lung-shan culture (Tai, Yao, and Tunguses), but also with elements of the Hsia culture (with Tibetanand Mongol and/or Turkish elements), was beyond doubt a highcivilization. Of the origin of the Shang _State_ we have no details, nordo we know how the Hsia culture passed into the Shang culture. The central territory of the Shang realm lay in north-western Honan, alongside the Shansi mountains and extending into the plains. It was apeasant civilization with towns. One of these towns has been excavated. It adjoined the site of the present town of Anyang, in the province ofHonan. The town, the Shang capital from _c. _ 1300 to 1028 B. C. , wasprobably surrounded by a mud wall, as were the settlements of theLung-shan people. In the centre was what evidently was the ruler'spalace. Round this were houses probably inhabited by artisans; for theartisans formed a sort of intermediate class, as dependents of theruling class. From inscriptions we know that the Shang had, in additionto their capital, at least two other large cities and many smallertown-like settlements and villages. The rectangular houses were built ina style still found in Chinese houses, except that their front did notalways face south as is now the general rule. The Shang buried theirkings in large, subterranean, cross-shaped tombs outside the city, andmany implements, animals and human sacrifices were buried together withthem. The custom of large burial mounds, which later became typical ofthe Chou dynasty, did not yet exist. The Shang had sculptures in stone, an art which later more or lesscompletely disappeared and which was resuscitated only in post-Christiantimes under the influence of Indian Buddhism. Yet, Shang culture cannotwell be called a "megalithic" culture. Bronze implements and especiallybronze vessels were cast in the town. We even know the trade marks ofsome famous bronze founders. The bronze weapons are still similar tothose from Siberia, and are often ornamented in the so-called "animalstyle", which was used among all the nomad peoples between the Ordosregion and Siberia until the beginning of the Christian era. On theother hand, the famous bronze vessels are more of southern type, andreveal an advanced technique that has scarcely been excelled since. There can be no doubt that the bronze vessels were used for religiousservice and not for everyday life. For everyday use there wereearthenware vessels. Even in the middle of the first millennium B. C. , bronze was exceedingly dear, as we know from the records of prices. China has always suffered from scarcity of metal. For that reason metalwas accumulated as capital, entailing a further rise in prices; whenprices had reached a sufficient height, the stocks were thrown on themarket and prices fell again. Later, when there was a metal coinage, this cycle of inflation and deflation became still clearer. The metalcoinage was of its full nominal value, so that it was possible to coinmoney by melting down bronze implements. As the money in circulation wasincreased in this way, the value of the currency fell. Then it paid toturn coin into metal implements. This once more reduced the money incirculation and increased the value of the remaining coinage. Thusthrough the whole course of Chinese history the scarcity of metal andinsufficiency of production of metal continually produced extensivefluctuations of the stocks and the value of metal, amounting virtuallyto an economic law in China. Consequently metal implements were neveruniversally in use, and vessels were always of earthenware, with thefurther result of the early invention of porcelain. Porcelain vesselshave many of the qualities of metal ones, but are cheaper. The earthenware vessels used in this period are in many cases alreadyvery near to porcelain: there was a pottery of a brilliant white, lacking only the glaze which would have made it into porcelain. Patternswere stamped on the surface, often resembling the patterns on bronzearticles. This ware was used only for formal, ceremonial purposes. Fordaily use there was also a perfectly simple grey pottery. Silk was already in use at this time. The invention of sericulture musttherefore have dated from very ancient times in China. It undoubtedlyoriginated in the south of China, and at first not only the threadsspun by the silkworm but those made by other caterpillars were alsoused. The remains of silk fabrics that have been found show already anadvanced weaving technique. In addition to silk, various plant fibres, such as hemp, were in use. Woollen fabrics do not seem to have been yetused. The Shang were agriculturists, but their implements were still ratherprimitive. There was no real plough yet; hoes and hoe-like implementswere used, and the grain, mainly different kinds of millet and somewheat, was harvested with sickles. The materials, from which theseimplements were made, were mainly wood and stone; bronze was still tooexpensive to be utilized by the ordinary farmer. As a great number ofvessels for wine in many different forms have been excavated, we canassume that wine, made from special kinds of millet, was a populardrink. The Shang state had its centre in northern Honan, north of the Yellowriver. At various times, different towns were made into the capitalcity; Yin-ch'ü, their last capital and the only one which has beenexcavated, was their sixth capital. We do not know why the capitals wereremoved to new locations; it is possible that floods were one of themain reasons. The area under more or less organized Shang controlcomprised towards the end of the dynasty the present provinces of Honan, western Shantung, southern Hopei, central and south Shansi, east Shensi, parts of Kiangsu and Anhui. We can only roughly estimate the size of thepopulation of the Shang state. Late texts say that at the time of theannihilation of the dynasty, some 3. 1 million free men and 1. 1 millionserfs were captured by the conquerors; this would indicate a populationof at least some 4-5 millions. This seems a possible number, if weconsider that an inscription of the tenth century B. C. Which reportsabout an ordinary war against a small and unimportant western neighbour, speaks of 13, 081 free men and 4, 812 serfs taken as prisoners. Inscriptions mention many neighbours of the Shang with whom they were inmore or less continuous state of war. Many of these neighbours can nowbe identified. We know that Shansi at that time was inhabited by Ch'iangtribes, belonging to the Tibetan culture, as well as by Ti tribes, belonging to the northern culture, and by Hsien-yün and other tribes, belonging to the north-western culture; the centre of the Ch'iang tribeswas more in the south-west of Shansi and in Shensi. Some of these tribesdefinitely once formed a part of the earlier Hsia state. Theidentification of the eastern neighbours of the Shang presents moredifficulties. We might regard them as representatives of the Tai and Yaocultures. 2 _Writing and Religion_ Not only the material but also the intellectual level attained in theShang period was very high. We meet for the first time withwriting--much later than in the Middle East and in India. Chinesescholars have succeeded in deciphering some of the documents discovered, so that we are able to learn a great deal from them. The writing is arudimentary form of the present-day Chinese script, and like it apictorial writing, but also makes use, as today, of many phonetic signs. There were, however, a good many characters that no longer exist, andmany now used are absent. There were already more than 3, 000 charactersin use of which some 1, 000 can now be read. (Today newspapers use some3, 000 characters; scholars have command of up to 8, 000; the whole ofChinese literature, ancient and modern, comprises some 50, 000characters. ) With these 3, 000 characters the Chinese of the Shang periodwere able to express themselves well. The still existing fragments of writing of this period are found almostexclusively on tortoiseshells or on other bony surfaces, and theyrepresent oracles. As early as in the Lung-shan culture there wasdivination by means of "oracle bones", at first without writtencharacters. In the earliest period any bones of animals (especiallyshoulder-bones) were used; later only tortoiseshell. For the purpose ofthe oracle a depression was burnt in the shell so that cracks wereformed on the other side, and the future was foretold from theirdirection. Subsequently particular questions were scratched on theshells, and the answers to them; these are the documents that have comedown to us. In Anyang tens of thousands of these oracle bones withinscriptions have been found. The custom of asking the oracle and ofwriting the answers on the bones spread over the borders of the Shangstate and continued in some areas after the end of the dynasty. The bronze vessels of later times often bear long inscriptions, butthose of the Shang period have only very brief texts. On the other hand, they are ornamented with pictures, as yet largely unintelligible, ofcountless deities, especially in the shape of animals or birds--picturesthat demand interpretation. The principal form on these bronzes is thatof the so-called T'ao-t'ieh, a hybrid with the head of a water-buffaloand tiger's teeth. The Shang period had a religion with many nature deities, especiallydeities of fertility. There was no systematized pantheon, differentdeities being revered in each locality, often under the most variednames. These various deities were, however, similar in character, andlater it occurred often that many of them were combined by the priestsinto a single god. The composite deities thus formed were officiallyworshipped. Their primeval forms lived on, however, especially in thevillages, many centuries longer than the Shang dynasty. The sacrificesassociated with them became popular festivals, and so these gods ortheir successors were saved from oblivion; some of them have lived on inpopular religion to the present day. The supreme god of the officialworship was called Shang Ti; he was a god of vegetation who guided allgrowth and birth and was later conceived as a forefather of the races ofmankind. The earth was represented as a mother goddess, who bore theplants and animals procreated by Shang Ti. In some parts of the Shangrealm the two were conceived as a married couple who later were partedby one of their children. The husband went to heaven, and the rain isthe male seed that creates life on earth. In other regions it wassupposed that in the beginning of the world there was a world-egg, outof which a primeval god came, whose body was represented by the earth:his hair formed the plants, and his limbs the mountains and valleys. Every considerable mountain was also itself a god and, similarly, theriver god, the thunder god, cloud, lightning, and wind gods, and manyothers were worshipped. In order to promote the fertility of the earth, it was believed thatsacrifices must be offered to the gods. Consequently, in the Shang realmand the regions surrounding it there were many sorts of humansacrifices; often the victims were prisoners of war. One gains theimpression that many wars were conducted not as wars of conquest butonly for the purpose of capturing prisoners, although the area underShang control gradually increased towards the west and the south-east, afact demonstrating the interest in conquest. In some regions men lurkedin the spring for people from other villages; they slew them, sacrificedthem to the earth, and distributed portions of the flesh of thesacrifice to the various owners of fields, who buried them. At a latertime all human sacrifices were prohibited, but we have reports down tothe eleventh century A. D. , and even later, that such sacrifices wereoffered secretly in certain regions of central China. In other regions agreat boat festival was held in the spring, to which many crews camecrowded in long narrow boats. At least one of the boats had to capsize;the people who were thus drowned were a sacrifice to the deities offertility. This festival has maintained its fundamental character tothis day, in spite of various changes. The same is true of otherfestivals, customs, and conceptions, vestiges of which are contained atleast in folklore. In addition to the nature deities which were implored to give fertility, to send rain, or to prevent floods and storms, the Shang alsoworshipped deceased rulers and even dead ministers as a kind ofintermediaries between man and the highest deity, Shang Ti. Thispractice may be regarded as the forerunner of "ancestral worship" whichbecame so typical of later China. 3 _Transition to feudalism_ At the head of the Shang state was a king, posthumously called a "Ti", the same word as in the name of the supreme god. We have found on bonesthe names of all the rulers of this dynasty and even some of theirpre-dynastic ancestors. These names can be brought into agreement withlists of rulers found in the ancient Chinese literature. The ruler seemsto have been a high priest, too; and around him were many other priests. We know some of them now so well from the inscriptions that theirbiographies could be written. The king seems to have had some kind ofbureaucracy. There were "ch'en", officials who served the rulerpersonally, as well as scribes and military officials. The basic armyorganization was in units of one hundred men which were combined as"right", "left" and "central" units into an army of 300 men. But itseems that the central power did not extend very far. In the moredistant parts of the realm were more or less independent lords, whorecognized the ruler only as their supreme lord and religious leader. Wemay describe this as an early, loose form of the feudal system, althoughthe main element of real feudalism was still absent. The mainobligations of these lords were to send tributes of grain, toparticipate with their soldiers in the wars, to send tortoise shells tothe capital to be used there for oracles, and to send occasionallycattle and horses. There were some thirty such dependent states. Although we do not know much about the general population, we know thatthe rulers had a patrilinear system of inheritance. After the death ofthe ruler his brothers followed him on the throne, the older brothersfirst. After the death of all brothers, the sons of older or youngerbrothers became rulers. No preference was shown to the son of the oldestbrother, and no preference between sons of main or of secondary wives isrecognizable. Thus, the Shang patrilinear system was much less extremethan the later system. Moreover, the deceased wives of the rulers playeda great role in the cult, another element which later disappeared. Fromthese facts and from the general structure of Shang religion it has beenconcluded that there was a strong matrilinear strain in Shang culture. Although this cannot be proved, it seems quite plausible because we knowof matrilinear societies in the South of China at later times. About the middle of the Shang period there occurred interesting changes, probably under the influence of nomad peoples from the north-west. In religion there appears some evidence of star-worship. The deitiesseem to have been conceived as a kind of celestrial court of Shang Ti, as his "officials". In the field of material culture, horse-breedingbecomes more and more evident. Some authors believe that the art ofriding was already known in late Shang times, although it was certainlynot yet so highly developed that cavalry units could be used in war. With horse-breeding the two-wheeled light war chariot makes itsappearance. The wheel was already known in earlier times in the form ofthe potter's wheel. Recent excavations have brought to light burials inwhich up to eighteen chariots with two or four horses were foundtogether with the owners of the chariots. The cart is not a Chineseinvention but came from the north, possibly from Turkish peoples. It hasbeen contended that it was connected with the war chariot of the NearEast: shortly before the Shang period there had been vast upheavals inwestern Asia, mainly in connection with the expansion of peoples whospoke Indo-European languages (Hittites, etc. ) and who became successfulthrough the use of quick, light, two-wheeled war-chariots. It ispossible, but cannot be proved, that the war-chariot spread throughCentral Asia in connection with the spread of suchIndo-European-speaking groups or by the intermediary of Turkish tribes. We have some reasons to believe that the first Indo-European-speakinggroups arrived in the Far East in the middle of the second milleniumB. C. Some authors even connect the Hsia with these groups. In any case, the maximal distribution of these people seems to have been to thewestern borders of the Shang state. As in Western Asia, a Shang-timechariot was manned by three men: the warrior who was a nobleman, hisdriver, and his servant who handed him arrows or other weapons whenneeded. There developed a quite close relationship between the noblemanand his chariot-driver. The chariot was a valuable object, manufacturedby specialists; horses were always expensive and rare in China, and inmany periods of Chinese history horses were directly imported fromnomadic tribes in the North or West. Thus, the possessors of vehiclesformed a privileged class in the Shang realm; they became a sort ofnobility, and the social organization began to move in the direction offeudalism. One of the main sports of the noblemen in this period, inaddition to warfare, was hunting. The Shang had their special huntinggrounds south of the mountains which surround Shansi province, along theslopes of the T'ai-hang mountain range, and south to the shores of theYellow river. Here, there were still forests and swamps in Shang time, and boars, deer, buffaloes and other animals, as well as occasionalrhinoceros and elephants, were hunted. None of these wild animals wasused as a sacrifice; all sacrificial animals, such as cattle, pigs, etc. , were domesticated animals. Below the nobility we find large numbers of dependent people; modernChinese scholars call them frequently "slaves" and speak of a "slavesociety". There is no doubt that at least some farmers were "freefarmers"; others were what we might call "serfs": families in hereditarygroup dependence upon some noble families and working on land which thenoble families regarded as theirs. Families of artisans and craftsmenalso were hereditary servants of noble families--a type of socialorganization which has its parallels in ancient Japan and in later Indiaand other parts of the world. There were also real slaves: persons whowere the personal property of noblemen. The independent states aroundthe Shang state also had serfs. When the Shang captured neighbouringstates, they re-settled the captured foreign aristocracy by attachingthem as a group to their own noblemen. The captured serfs remained undertheir masters and shared their fate. The same system was later practisedby the Chou after their conquest of the Shang state. The conquests of late Shang added more territory to the realm than couldbe coped with by the primitive communications of the time. When the lastruler of Shang made his big war which lasted 260 days against the tribesin the south-east, rebellions broke out which lead to the end of thedynasty, about 1028 B. C. According to the new chronology (1122 B. C. Oldchronology). ANTIQUITY Chapter Three THE CHOU DYNASTY (_c. _ 1028-257 B. C. ) 1 _Cultural origin of the Chou and end of the Shang dynasty_ The Shang culture still lacked certain things that were to becometypical of "Chinese" civilization. The family system was not yet thestrong patriarchal system of the later Chinese. The religion, too, inspite of certain other influences, was still a religion of agrarianfertility. And although Shang society was strongly stratified and showedsome tendencies to develop a feudal system, feudalism was still veryprimitive. Although the Shang script was the precursor of later Chinesescript, it seemed to have contained many words which later disappeared, and we are not sure whether Shang language was the same as the languageof Chou time. With the Chou period, however, we enter a period in whicheverything which was later regarded as typically "Chinese" began toemerge. During the time of the Shang dynasty the Chou formed a small realm inthe west, at first in central Shensi, an area which even in much latertimes was the home of many "non-Chinese" tribes. Before the beginning ofthe eleventh century B. C. They must have pushed into eastern Shensi, dueto pressures of other tribes which may have belonged to the Turkishethnic group. However, it is also possible that their movement wasconnected with pressures from Indo-European groups. An analysis of theirtribal composition at the time of the conquest seems to indicate thatthe ruling house of the Chou was related to the Turkish group, and thatthe population consisted mainly of Turks and Tibetans. Their culture wasclosely related to that of Yang-shao, the previously describedpainted-pottery culture, with, of course, the progress brought by time. They had bronze weapons and, especially, the war-chariot. Their eastwardmigration, however, brought them within the zone of the Shang culture, by which they were strongly influenced, so that the Chou culture lostmore and more of its original character and increasingly resembled theShang culture. The Chou were also brought into the political sphere ofthe Shang, as shown by the fact that marriages took place between theruling houses of Shang and Chou, until the Chou state became nominallydependent on the Shang state in the form of a dependency with specialprerogatives. Meanwhile the power of the Chou state steadily grew, whilethat of the Shang state diminished more and more through the disloyaltyof its feudatories and through wars in the East. Finally, about 1028B. C. , the Chou ruler, named Wu Wang ("the martial king"), crossed hiseastern frontier and pushed into central Honan. His army was formed byan alliance between various tribes, in the same way as happened againand again in the building up of the armies of the rulers of the steppes. Wu Wang forced a passage across the Yellow River and annihilated theShang army. He pursued its vestiges as far as the capital, captured thelast emperor of the Shang, and killed him. Thus was the Chou dynastyfounded, and with it we begin the actual history of China. The Choubrought to the Shang culture strong elements of Turkish and also Tibetanculture, which were needed for the release of such forces as couldcreate a new empire and maintain it through thousands of years as acultural and, generally, also a political unit. 2 _Feudalism in the new empire_ A natural result of the situation thus produced was the turning of thecountry into a feudal state. The conquerors were an alien minority, sothat they had to march out and spread over the whole country. Moreover, the allied tribal chieftains expected to be rewarded. The territory tobe governed was enormous, but the communications in northern China atthat time were similar to those still existing not long ago in southernChina--narrow footpaths from one settlement to another. It is verydifficult to build roads in the loess of northern China; and thewar-chariots that required roads had only just been introduced. Undersuch conditions, the simplest way of administering the empire was toestablish garrisons of the invading tribes in the various parts of thecountry under the command of their chieftains. Thus separate regions ofthe country were distributed as fiefs. If a former subject of the Shangsurrendered betimes with the territory under his rule, or if there wasone who could not be overcome by force, the Chou recognized him as afeudal lord. We find in the early Chou time the typical signs of true feudalism:fiefs were given in a ceremony in which symbolically a piece of earthwas handed over to the new fiefholder, and his instalment, his rightsand obligations were inscribed in a "charter". Most of the fiefholderswere members of the Chou ruling family or members of the clan to whichthis family belonged; other fiefs were given to heads of the alliedtribes. The fiefholder (feudal lord) regarded the land of his fief, asfar as he and his clan actually used it, as "clan" land; parts of thisland he gave to members of his own branch-clan for their use withouttransferring rights of property, thus creating new sub-fiefs andsub-lords. In much later times the concept of landed property of a_family_ developed, and the whole concept of "clan" disappeared. By 500B. C. , most feudal lords had retained only a dim memory that theyoriginally belonged to the Chi clan of the Chou or to one of the fewother original clans, and their so-called sub-lords felt themselves asmembers of independent noble families. Slowly, then, the family names oflater China began to develop, but it took many centuries until, at thetime of the Han Dynasty, all citizens (slaves excluded) had acceptedfamily names. Then, reversely, families grew again into new clans. Thus we have this picture of the early Chou state: the imperial centralpower established in Shensi, near the present Sian; over a thousandfeudal states, great and small, often consisting only of a smallgarrison, or sometimes a more considerable one, with the formerchieftain as feudal lord over it. Around these garrisons the oldpopulation lived on, in the north the Shang population, farther east andsouth various other peoples and cultures. The conquerors' garrisons werelike islands in a sea. Most of them formed new towns, walled, with arectangular plan and central crossroads, similar to the European townssubsequently formed out of Roman encampments. This town plan has beenpreserved to the present day. This upper class in the garrisons formed the nobility; it was sharplydivided from the indigenous population around the towns. The conquerorscalled the population "the black-haired people", and themselves "thehundred families". The rest of the town populations consisted often ofurban Shang people: Shang noble families together with their bondsmenand serfs had been given to Chou fiefholders. Such forced resettlementsof whole populations have remained typical even for much later periods. By this method new cities were provided with urban, refined people and, most important, with skilled craftsmen and businessmen who assisted inbuilding the cities and in keeping them alive. Some scholars believethat many resettled Shang urbanites either were or became businessmen;incidentally, the same word "Shang" means "merchant", up to the presenttime. The people of the Shang capital lived on and even attempted arevolt in collaboration with some Chou people. The Chou rulerssuppressed this revolt, and then transferred a large part of thispopulation to Loyang. They were settled there in a separate community, and vestiges of the Shang population were still to be found there in thefifth century A. D. : they were entirely impoverished potters, stillmaking vessels in the old style. 3 _Fusion of Chou and Shang_ The conquerors brought with them, for their own purposes to begin with, their rigid patriarchate in the family system and their cult of Heaven(t'ien), in which the worship of sun and stars took the principal place;a religion most closely related to that of the Turkish peoples andderived from them. Some of the Shang popular deities, however, wereadmitted into the official Heaven-worship. Popular deities became"feudal lords" under the Heaven-god. The Shang conceptions of the soulwere also admitted into the Chou religion: the human body housed twosouls, the personality-soul and the life-soul. Death meant theseparation of the souls from the body, the life-soul also slowly dying. The personality-soul, however, could move about freely and lived as longas there were people who remembered it and kept it from hunger by meansof sacrifices. The Chou systematized this idea and made it into theancestor-worship that has endured down to the present time. The Chou officially abolished human sacrifices, especially since, asformer pastoralists, they knew of better means of employing prisoners ofwar than did the more agrarian Shang. The Chou used Shang and otherslaves as domestic servants for their numerous nobility, and Shang serfsas farm labourers on their estates. They seem to have regarded the landunder their control as "state land" and all farmers as "serfs". A slave, here, must be defined as an individual, a piece of property, who wasexcluded from membership in human society but, in later legal texts, wasincluded under domestic animals and immobile property, while serfs as aclass depended upon another class and had certain rights, at least theright to work on the land. They could change their masters if the landchanged its master, but they could not legally be sold individually. Thus, the following, still rather hypothetical, picture of the landsystem of the early Chou time emerges: around the walled towns of thefeudal lords and sub-lords, always in the plains, was "state land" whichproduced millet and more and more wheat. Cultivation was still largely"shifting", so that the serfs in groups cultivated more or lessstandardized plots for a year or more and then shifted to other plots. During the growing season they lived in huts on the fields; during thewinter in the towns in adobe houses. In this manner the yearly lifecycle was divided into two different periods. The produce of the serfssupplied the lords, their dependants and the farmers themselves. Whenever the lord found it necessary, the serfs had to perform alsoother services for the lord. Farther away from the towns were thevillages of the "natives", nominally also subjects of the lord. In mostparts of eastern China, these, too, were agriculturists. Theyacknowledged their dependence by sending "gifts" to the lord in thetown. Later these gifts became institutionalized and turned into a formof tax. The lord's serfs, on the other hand, tended to settle near thefields in villages of their own because, with growing urban population, the distances from the town to many of the fields became too great. Itwas also at this time of new settlements that a more intensivecultivation with a fallow system began. At latest from the sixth centuryB. C. On, the distinctions between both land systems became unclear; andthe pure serf-cultivation, called by the old texts the "well-fieldsystem" because eight cultivating families used one common well, disappeared in practice. The actual structure of early Chou administration is difficult toascertain. The "Duke of Chou", brother of the first ruler, Wu Wang, later regent during the minority of Wu Wang's son, and certainly one ofthe most influential persons of this time, was the alleged creator ofthe book _Chou-li_ which contains a detailed table of the bureaucracy ofthe country. However, we know now from inscriptions that the bureaucracyat the beginning of the Chou period was not much more developed than inlate Shang time. The _Chou-li_ gave an ideal picture of a bureaucraticstate, probably abstracted from actual conditions in feudal statesseveral centuries later. The Chou capital, at Sian, was a twin city. In one part lived themaster-race of the Chou with the imperial court, in the other thesubjugated population. At the same time, as previously mentioned, theChou built a second capital, Loyang, in the present province of Honan. Loyang was just in the middle of the new state, and for the purposes ofHeaven-worship it was regarded as the centre of the universe, where itwas essential that the emperor should reside. Loyang was another twincity: in one part were the rulers' administrative buildings, in theother the transferred population of the Shang capital, probably artisansfor the most part. The valuable artisans seem all to have been takenover from the Shang, for the bronze vessels of the early Chou age arevirtually identical with those of the Shang age. The shapes of thehouses also remained unaltered, and probably also the clothing, thoughthe Chou brought with them the novelties of felt and woollen fabrics, old possessions of their earlier period. The only fundamental materialchange was in the form of the graves: in the Shang age house-like tombswere built underground; now great tumuli were constructed in the fashionpreferred by all steppe peoples. One professional class was severely hit by the changedcircumstances--the Shang priesthood. The Chou had no priests. As withall the races of the steppes, the head of the family himself performedthe religious rites. Beyond this there were only shamans for certainpurposes of magic. And very soon Heaven-worship was combined with thefamily system, the ruler being declared to be the Son of Heaven; themutual relations within the family were thus extended to the religiousrelations with the deity. If, however, the god of Heaven is the fatherof the ruler, the ruler as his son himself offers sacrifice, and so thepriest becomes superfluous. Thus the priests became "unemployed". Someof them changed their profession. They were the only people who couldread and write, and as an administrative system was necessary theyobtained employment as scribes. Others withdrew to their villages andbecame village priests. They organized the religious festivals in thevillage, carried out the ceremonies connected with family events, andeven conducted the exorcism of evil spirits with shamanistic dances;they took charge, in short, of everything connected with customaryobservances and morality. The Chou lords were great respecters ofpropriety. The Shang culture had, indeed, been a high one with anancient and highly developed moral system, and the Chou as roughconquerors must have been impressed by the ancient forms and tried toimitate them. In addition, they had in their religion of Heaven aconception of the existence of mutual relations between Heaven andEarth: all that went on in the skies had an influence on earth, and viceversa. Thus, if any ceremony was "wrongly" performed, it had an evileffect on Heaven--there would be no rain, or the cold weather wouldarrive too soon, or some such misfortune would come. It was therefore ofgreat importance that everything should be done "correctly". Hence theChou rulers were glad to call in the old priests as performers ofceremonies and teachers of morality similar to the ancient Indian rulerswho needed the Brahmans for the correct performance of all rites. Therethus came into existence in the early Chou empire a new social group, later called "scholars", men who were not regarded as belonging to thelower class represented by the subjugated population but were notincluded in the nobility; men who were not productively employed butbelonged to a sort of independent profession. They became of very greatimportance in later centuries. In the first centuries of the Chou dynasty the ruling house steadilylost power. Some of the emperors proved weak, or were killed at war;above all, the empire was too big and its administration tooslow-moving. The feudal lords and nobles were occupied with their ownproblems in securing the submission of the surrounding villages to theirgarrisons and in governing them; they soon paid little attention to thedistant central authority. In addition to this, the situation at thecentre of the empire was more difficult than that of its feudal statesfarther east. The settlements around the garrisons in the east wereinhabited by agrarian tribes, but the subjugated population around thecentre at Sian was made up of nomadic tribes of Turks and Mongolstogether with semi-nomadic Tibetans. Sian lies in the valley of theriver Wei; the riverside country certainly belonged, though perhaps onlyinsecurely, to the Shang empire and was specially well adapted toagriculture; but its periphery--mountains in the south, steppes in thenorth--was inhabited (until a late period, to some extent to the presentday) by nomads, who had also been subjugated by the Chou. The Chouthemselves were by no means strong, as they had been only a small tribeand their strength had depended on auxiliary tribes, which had nowspread over the country as the new nobility and lived far from the Chou. The Chou emperors had thus to hold in check the subjugated but warliketribes of Turks and Mongols who lived quite close to their capital. Inthe first centuries of the dynasty they were more or less successful, for the feudal lords still sent auxiliary forces. In time, however, these became fewer and fewer, because the feudal lords pursued their ownpolicy; and the Chou were compelled to fight their own battles againsttribes that continually rose against them, raiding and pillaging theirtowns. Campaigns abroad also fell mainly on the shoulders of the Chou, as their capital lay near the frontier. It must not be simply assumed, as is often done by the Chinese and someof the European historians, that the Turkish and Mongolian tribes wereso savage or so pugnacious that they continually waged war just for thelove of it. The problem is much deeper, and to fail to recognize this isto fail to understand Chinese history down to the Middle Ages. Theconquering Chou established their garrisons everywhere, and thesegarrisons were surrounded by the quarters of artisans and by thevillages of peasants, a process that ate into the pasturage of theTurkish and Mongolian nomads. These nomads, as already mentioned, pursued agriculture themselves on a small scale, but it occurred to themthat they could get farm produce much more easily by barter or byraiding. Accordingly they gradually gave up cultivation and became purenomads, procuring the needed farm produce from their neighbours. Thisabandonment of agriculture brought them into a precarious situation: iffor any reason the Chinese stopped supplying or demanded excessivebarter payment, the nomads had to go hungry. They were then virtuallydriven to get what they needed by raiding. Thus there developed a mutualreaction that lasted for centuries. Some of the nomadic tribes livingbetween garrisons withdrew, to escape from the growing pressure, mainlyinto the province of Shansi, where the influence of the Chou was weakand they were not numerous; some of the nomad chiefs lost their lives inbattle, and some learned from the Chou lords and turned themselves intopetty rulers. A number of "marginal" states began to develop; some ofthem even built their own cities. This process of transformation ofagro-nomadic tribes into "warrior-nomadic" tribes continued over manycenturies and came to an end in the third or second century B. C. The result of the three centuries that had passed was a symbiosisbetween the urban aristocrats and the country-people. The rulers of thetowns took over from the general population almost the whole vocabularyof the language which from now on we may call "Chinese". They naturallytook over elements of the material civilization. The subjugatedpopulation had, meanwhile, to adjust itself to its lords. In theorganism that thus developed, with its unified economic system, theconquerors became an aristocratic ruling class, and the subjugatedpopulation became a lower class, with varied elements but mainly apeasantry. From now on we may call this society "Chinese"; it hasendured to the middle of the twentieth century. Most later essentialsocietal changes are the result of internal development and not ofaggression from without. 4 _Limitation of the imperial power_ In 771 B. C. An alliance of northern feudal states had attacked the rulerin his western capital; in a battle close to the city they had overcomeand killed him. This campaign appears to have set in motion considerablegroups from various tribes, so that almost the whole province of Shensiwas lost. With the aid of some feudal lords who had remained loyal, aChou prince was rescued and conducted eastward to the second capital, Loyang, which until then had never been the ruler's actual place ofresidence. In this rescue a lesser feudal prince, ruler of the feudalstate of Ch'in, specially distinguished himself. Soon afterwards thisprince, whose domain had lain close to that of the ruler, reconquered agreat part of the lost territory, and thereafter regarded it as his ownfief. The Ch'in family resided in the same capital in which the Chouhad lived in the past, and five hundred years later we shall meet withthem again as the dynasty that succeeded the Chou. The new ruler, resident now in Loyang, was foredoomed to impotence. Hewas now in the centre of the country, and less exposed to large-scaleenemy attacks; but his actual rule extended little beyond the townitself and its immediate environment. Moreover, attacks did not entirelycease; several times parts of the indigenous population living betweenthe Chou towns rose against the towns, even in the centre of thecountry. Now that the emperor had no territory that could be the basis of astrong rule and, moreover, because he owed his position to the feudallords and was thus under an obligation to them, he ruled no longer asthe chief of the feudal lords but as a sort of sanctified overlord; andthis was the position of all his successors. A situation was formed atfirst that may be compared with that of Japan down to the middle of thenineteenth century. The ruler was a symbol rather than an exerciser ofpower. There had to be a supreme ruler because, in the worship of Heavenwhich was recognized by all the feudal lords, the supreme sacrificescould only be offered by the Son of Heaven in person. There could not bea number of sons of heaven because there were not a number of heavens. The imperial sacrifices secured that all should be in order in thecountry, and that the necessary equilibrium between Heaven and Earthshould be maintained. For in the religion of Heaven there was a closeparallelism between Heaven and Earth, and every omission of a sacrifice, or failure to offer it in due form, brought down a reaction from Heaven. For these religious reasons a central ruler was a necessity for thefeudal lords. They needed him also for practical reasons. In the courseof centuries the personal relationship between the various feudal lordshad ceased. Their original kinship and united struggles had long beenforgotten. When the various feudal lords proceeded to subjugate theterritories at a distance from their towns, in order to turn their citystates into genuine territorial states, they came into conflict witheach other. In the course of these struggles for power many of the smallfiefs were simply destroyed. It may fairly be said that not until theeighth and seventh centuries B. C. Did the old garrison towns became realstates. In these circumstances the struggles between the feudal statescalled urgently for an arbiter, to settle simple cases, and in moredifficult cases either to try to induce other feudal lords to interveneor to give sanction to the new situation. These were the only governingfunctions of the ruler from the time of the transfer to the secondcapital. 5 _Changes in the relative strength of the feudal states_ In these disturbed times China also made changes in her outer frontiers. When we speak of frontiers in this connection, we must take littleaccount of the European conception of a frontier. No frontier in thatsense existed in China until her conflict with the European powers. Inthe dogma of the Chinese religion of Heaven, all the countries of theworld were subject to the Chinese emperor, the Son of Heaven. Thus therecould be no such thing as other independent states. In practice thedependence of various regions on the ruler naturally varied: near thecentre, that is to say near the ruler's place of residence, it was mostpronounced; then it gradually diminished in the direction of theperiphery. The feudal lords of the inner territories were already ratherless subordinated than at the centre, and those at a greater distancescarcely at all; at a still greater distance were territories whosechieftains regarded themselves as independent, subject only in certainrespects to Chinese overlordship. In such a system it is difficult tospeak of frontiers. In practice there was, of course, a sort offrontier, where the influence of the outer feudal lords ceased to exist. The development of the original feudal towns into feudal states withactual dominion over their territories proceeded, of course, not only inthe interior of China but also on its borders, where the feudalterritories had the advantage of more unrestricted opportunities ofexpansion; thus they became more and more powerful. In the south (thatis to say, in the south of the Chou empire, in the present centralChina) the garrisons that founded feudal states were relatively smalland widely separated; consequently their cultural system was largelyabsorbed into that of the aboriginal population, so that they developedinto feudal states with a character of their own. Three of theseattained special importance--(1) Ch'u, in the neighbourhood of thepresent Chungking and Hankow; (2) Wu, near the present Nanking; and (3)Yüeh, near the present Hangchow. In 704 B. C. The feudal prince of Wuproclaimed himself "Wang". "Wang", however was the title of the ruler ofthe Chou dynasty. This meant that Wu broke away from the old Choureligion of Heaven, according to which there could be only one ruler(_wang_) in the world. At the beginning of the seventh century it became customary for theruler to unite with the feudal lord who was most powerful at the time. This feudal lord became a dictator, and had the military power in hishands, like the shoguns in nineteenth-century Japan. If there was adisturbance of the peace, he settled the matter by military means. Thefirst of these dictators was the feudal lord of the state of Ch'i, inthe present province of Shantung. This feudal state had grownconsiderably through the conquest of the outer end of the peninsula ofShantung, which until then had been independent. Moreover, and this wasof the utmost importance, the state of Ch'i was a trade centre. Much ofthe bronze, and later all the iron, for use in northern China came fromthe south by road and in ships that went up the rivers to Ch'i, where itwas distributed among the various regions of the north, north-east, andnorth-west. In addition to this, through its command of portions of thecoast, Ch'i had the means of producing salt, with which it met the needsof great areas of eastern China. It was also in Ch'i that money wasfirst used. Thus Ch'i soon became a place of great luxury, farsurpassing the court of the Chou, and Ch'i also became the centre of themost developed civilization. [Illustration: Map 2: The principal feudal States in the feudal epoch. (_roughly 722-481 B. C. _)] After the feudal lord of Ch'i, supported by the wealth and power of hisfeudal state, became dictator, he had to struggle not only against otherfeudal lords, but also many times against risings among the most variousparts of the population, and especially against the nomad tribes in thesouthern part of the present province of Shansi. In the seventh centurynot only Ch'i but the other feudal states had expanded. The regions inwhich the nomad tribes were able to move had grown steadily smaller, andthe feudal lords now set to work to bring the nomads of their countryunder their direct rule. The greatest conflict of this period was theattack in 660 B. C. Against the feudal state of Wei, in northern Honan. The nomad tribes seem this time to have been Proto-Mongols; they made adirect attack on the garrison town and actually conquered it. Theremnant of the urban population, no more than 730 in number, had to fleesouthward. It is clear from this incident that nomads were still livingin the middle of China, within the territory of the feudal states, andthat they were still decidedly strong, though no longer in a position toget rid entirely of the feudal lords of the Chou. The period of the dictators came to an end after about a century, because it was found that none of the feudal states was any longerstrong enough to exercise control over all the others. These othersformed alliances against which the dictator was powerless. Thus thisperiod passed into the next, which the Chinese call the period of theContending States. 6 _Confucius_ After this survey of the political history we must consider theintellectual history of this period, for between 550 and 280 B. C. Theenduring fundamental influences in the Chinese social order and in thewhole intellectual life of China had their original. We saw how thepriests of the earlier dynasty of the Shang developed into the group ofso-called "scholars". When the Chou ruler, after the move to the secondcapital, had lost virtually all but his religious authority, these"scholars" gained increased influence. They were the specialists intraditional morals, in sacrifices, and in the organization of festivals. The continually increasing ritualism at the court of the Chou called formore and more of these men. The various feudal lords also attractedthese scholars to their side, employed them as tutors for theirchildren, and entrusted them with the conduct of sacrifices andfestivals. China's best-known philosopher, Confucius (Chinese: K'ung Tzŭ), was oneof these scholars. He was born in 551 B. C. In the feudal state Lu in thepresent province of Shantung. In Lu and its neighbouring state Sung, institutions of the Shang had remained strong; both states regardedthemselves as legitimate heirs of Shang culture, and many traces ofShang culture can be seen in Confucius's political and ethical ideas. Heacquired the knowledge which a scholar had to possess, and then taughtin the families of nobles, also helping in the administration of theirproperties. He made several attempts to obtain advancement, either invain or with only a short term of employment ending in dismissal. Thushis career was a continuing pilgrimage from one noble to another, fromone feudal lord to another, accompanied by a few young men, sons ofscholars, who were partly his pupils and partly his servants. Many ofthese disciples seem to have been "illegitimate" sons of noblemen, i. E. Sons of concubines, and Confucius's own family seems to have been of thesame origin. In the strongly patriarchal and patrilinear system of theChou and the developing primogeniture, children of secondary wives had alower social status. Ultimately Confucius gave up his wanderings, settled in his home town of Lu, and there taught his disciples until hisdeath in 479 B. C. Such was briefly the life of Confucius. His enemies claim that he was apolitical intriguer, inciting the feudal lords against each other in thecourse of his wanderings from one state to another, with the intentionof somewhere coming into power himself. There may, indeed, be some truthin that. Confucius's importance lies in the fact that he systematized a body ofideas, not of his own creation, and communicated it to a circle ofdisciples. His teachings were later set down in writing and formed, right down to the twentieth century, the moral code of the upper classesof China. Confucius was fully conscious of his membership of a socialclass whose existence was tied to that of the feudal lords. With theirdisappearance, his type of scholar would become superfluous. The commonpeople, the lower class, was in his view in an entirely subordinateposition. Thus his moral teaching is a code for the ruling class. Accordingly it retains almost unaltered the elements of the old cult ofHeaven, following the old tradition inherited from the northern peoples. For him Heaven is not an arbitrarily governing divine tyrant, but theembodiment of a system of legality. Heaven does not act independently, but follows a universal law, the so-called "Tao". Just as sun, moon, andstars move in the heavens in accordance with law, so man should conducthimself on earth in accord with the universal law, not against it. Theruler should not actively intervene in day-to-day policy, but shouldonly act by setting an example, like Heaven; he should observe theestablished ceremonies, and offer all sacrifices in accordance with therites, and then all else will go well in the world. The individual, too, should be guided exactly in his life by the prescriptions of the rites, so that harmony with the law of the universe may be established. A second idea of the Confucian system came also from the old conceptionsof the Chou conquerors, and thus originally from the northern peoples. This is the patriarchal idea, according to which the family is the cellof society, and at the head of the family stands the eldest male adultas a sort of patriarch. The state is simply an extension of the family, "state", of course, meaning simply the class of the feudal lords (the"chün-tzŭ"). And the organization of the family is also that of theworld of the gods. Within the family there are a number of ties, all ofthem, however, one-sided: that of father to son (the son having to obeythe father unconditionally and having no rights of his own;) that ofhusband to wife (the wife had no rights); that of elder to youngerbrother. An extension of these is the association of friend with friend, which is conceived as an association between an elder and a youngerbrother. The final link, and the only one extending beyond the familyand uniting it with the state, is the association of the ruler with thesubject, a replica of that between father and son. The ruler in turn isin the position of son to Heaven. Thus in Confucianism the cult ofHeaven, the family system, and the state are welded into unity. Thefrictionless functioning of this whole system is effected by everyoneadhering to the rites, which prescribe every important action. It isnecessary, of course, that in a large family, in which there may be upto a hundred persons living together, there shall be a preciselyestablished ordering of relationships between individuals if there isnot to be continual friction. Since the scholars of Confucius's typespecialized in the knowledge and conduct of ceremonies, Confucius gaveritualism a correspondingly important place both in spiritual and inpractical life. So far as we have described it above, the teaching of Confucius was afurther development of the old cult of Heaven. Through bitterexperience, however, Confucius had come to realize that nothing could bedone with the ruling house as it existed in his day. So shadowy a figureas the Chou ruler of that time could not fulfil what Confucius requiredof the "Son of Heaven". But the opinions of students of Confucius'sactual ideas differ. Some say that in the only book in which hepersonally had a hand, the so-called _Annals of Spring and Autumn_, heintended to set out his conception of the character of a true emperor;others say that in that book he showed how he would himself have actedas emperor, and that he was only awaiting an opportunity to make himselfemperor. He was called indeed, at a later time, the "uncrowned ruler". In any case, the _Annals of Spring and Autumn_ seem to be simply a drywork of annals, giving the history of his native state of Lu on thebasis of the older documents available to him. In his text, however, Confucius made small changes by means of which he expressed criticism orrecognition; in this way he indirectly made known how in his view aruler should act or should not act. He did not shrink from falsifyinghistory, as can today be demonstrated. Thus on one occasion a ruler hadto flee from a feudal prince, which in Confucius's view was impossiblebehaviour for the ruler; accordingly he wrote instead that the rulerwent on a hunting expedition. Elsewhere he tells of an eclipse of thesun on a certain day, on which in fact there was no eclipse. By writingof an eclipse he meant to criticize the way a ruler had acted, for thesun symbolized the ruler, and the eclipse meant that the ruler had notbeen guided by divine illumination. The demonstration that the _Annalsof Spring and Autumn_ can only be explained in this way was theachievement some thirty-five years ago of Otto Franke, and through thisdiscovery Confucius's work, which the old sinologists used to describeas a dry and inadequate book, has become of special value to us. Thebook ends with the year 481 B. C. , and in spite of its distortions it isthe principal source for the two-and-a-half centuries with which itdeals. Rendered alert by this experience, we are able to see and to show thatmost of the other later official works of history follow the example ofthe _Annals of Spring and Autumn_ in containing things that have beendeliberately falsified. This is especially so in the work called_T'ung-chien kang-mu_, which was the source of the history of theChinese empire translated into French by de Mailla. Apart from Confucius's criticism of the inadequate capacity of theemperor of his day, there is discernible, though only in the form ofcryptic hints, a fundamentally important progressive idea. It is that anobleman (chün-tzŭ) should not be a member of the ruling _élite_ byright of birth alone, but should be a man of superior moral qualities. From Confucius on, "chün-tzŭ" became to mean "a gentleman". Consequently, a country should not be ruled by a dynasty based oninheritance through birth, but by members of the nobility who showoutstanding moral qualification for rulership. That is to say, the ruleshould pass from the worthiest to the worthiest, the successor firstpassing through a period of probation as a minister of state. In anunscrupulous falsification of the tradition, Confucius declared thatthis principle was followed in early times. It is probably safe toassume that Confucius had in view here an eventual justification ofclaims to rulership of his own. Thus Confucius undoubtedly had ideas of reform, but he did not interferewith the foundations of feudalism. For the rest, his system consistsonly of a social order and a moral teaching. Metaphysics, logic, epistemology, i. E. Branches of philosophy which played so great a partin the West, are of no interest to him. Nor can he be described as thefounder of a religion; for the cult of Heaven of which he speaks andwhich he takes over existed in exactly the same form before his day. Heis merely the man who first systematized those notions. He had nosuccesses in his lifetime and gained no recognition; nor did hisdisciples or their disciples gain any general recognition; his work didnot become of importance until some three hundred years after his death, when in the second century B. C. His teaching was adjusted to the newsocial conditions: out of a moral system for the decaying feudal societyof the past centuries developed the ethic of the rising social order ofthe gentry. The gentry (in much the same way as the Europeanbourgeoisie) continually claimed that there should be access for everycivilized citizen to the highest places in the social pyramid, and therules of Confucianism became binding on every member of society if hewas to be considered a gentleman. Only then did Confucianism begin todevelop into the imposing system that dominated China almost down to thepresent day. Confucianism did not become a religion. It was comparableto the later Japanese Shintoism, or to a group of customs among us whichwe all observe, if we do not want to find ourselves excluded from ourcommunity, but which we should never describe as religion. We stand upwhen the national anthem is played, we give precedency to older people, we erect war memorials and decorate them with flowers, and by these andmany other things show our sense of belonging. A similar but much moreconscious and much more powerful part was played by Confucianism in thelife of the average Chinese, though he was not necessarily interested inphilosophical ideas. While the West has set up the ideal of individualism and is sufferingnow because it no longer has any ethical system to which individualsvoluntarily submit; while for the Indians the social problem consistedin the solving of the question how every man could be enabled to livehis life with as little disturbance as possible from his fellow-men, Confucianism solved the problem of how families with groups of hundredsof members could live together in peace and co-operation in a denselypopulated country. Everyone knew his position in the family and so, in abroader sense, in the state; and this prescribed his rights and duties. We may feel that the rules to which he was subjected were pedantic; butthere was no limit to their effectiveness: they reduced to a minimum thefriction that always occurs when great masses of people live closetogether; they gave Chinese society the strength through which it hasendured; they gave security to its individuals. China's first realsocial crisis after the collapse of feudalism, that is to say, after thefourth or third century B. C. , began only in the present century with thecollapse of the social order of the gentry and the breakdown of thefamily system. 7 _Lao Tzŭ_ In eighteenth-century Europe Confucius was the only Chinese philosopherheld in regard; in the last hundred years, the years of Europe'sinternal crisis, the philosopher Lao Tzŭ steadily advanced in repute, sothat his book was translated almost a hundred times into variousEuropean languages. According to the general view among the Chinese, LaoTzŭ was an older contemporary of Confucius; recent Chinese and Westernresearch (A.  Waley; H.  H.  Dubs) has contested this view and places LaoTzŭ in the latter part of the fourth century B. C. , or even later. Virtually nothing at all is known about his life; the oldest biographyof Lao Tzŭ, written about 100 B. C. , says that he lived as an official atthe ruler's court and, one day, became tired of the life of an officialand withdrew from the capital to his estate, where he died in old age. This, too, may be legendary, but it fits well into the picture given tous by Lao Tzŭ's teaching and by the life of his later followers. Fromthe second century A. D. , that is to say at least four hundred yearsafter his death, there are legends of his migrating to the far west. Still later narratives tell of his going to Turkestan (where a templewas actually built in his honour in the Medieval period); according toother sources he travelled as far as India or Sogdiana (Samarkand andBokhara), where according to some accounts he was the teacher orforerunner of Buddha, and according to others of Mani, the founder ofManichaeism. For all this there is not a vestige of documentaryevidence. Lao Tzŭ's teaching is contained in a small book, the _Tao Tê Ching_, the"Book of the World Law and its Power". The book is written in quitesimple language, at times in rhyme, but the sense is so vague thatcountless versions, differing radically from each other, can be based onit, and just as many translations are possible, all philologicallydefensible. This vagueness is deliberate. Lao Tzŭ's teaching is essentially an effort to bring man's life on earthinto harmony with the life and law of the universe (Tao). This was alsoConfucius's purpose. But while Confucius set out to attain that purposein a sort of primitive scientific way, by laying down a number of rulesof human conduct, Lao Tzŭ tries to attain his ideal by an intuitive, emotional method. Lao Tzŭ is always described as a mystic, but perhapsthis is not entirely appropriate; it must be borne in mind that in histime the Chinese language, spoken and written, still had greatdifficulties in the expression of ideas. In reading Lao Tzŭ's book wefeel that he is trying to express something for which the language ofhis day was inadequate; and what he wanted to express belonged to theemotional, not the intellectual, side of the human character, so thatany perfectly clear expression of it in words was entirely impossible. It must be borne in mind that the Chinese language lacks definite wordcategories like substantive, adjective, adverb, or verb; any word can beused now in one category and now in another, with a few exceptions; thusthe understanding of a combination like "white horse" formed a difficultlogical problem for the thinker of the fourth century B. C. : did it mean"white" plus "horse"? Or was "white horse" no longer a horse at all butsomething quite different? Confucius's way of bringing human life into harmony with the life of theuniverse was to be a process of assimilating Man as a social being, Manin his social environment, to Nature, and of so maintaining his activitywithin the bounds of the community. Lao Tzŭ pursues another path, thepath for those who feel disappointed with life in the community. ATaoist, as a follower of Lao Tzŭ is called, withdraws from all sociallife, and carries out none of the rites and ceremonies which a man ofthe upper class should observe throughout the day. He lives inself-imposed seclusion, in an elaborate primitivity which is oftendescribed in moving terms that are almost convincing of actual"primitivity". Far from the city, surrounded by Nature, the Taoist liveshis own life, together with a few friends and his servants, entirelyaccording to his nature. His own nature, like everything else, represents for him a part of the Tao, and the task of the individualconsists in the most complete adherence to the Tao that is conceivable, as far as possible performing no act that runs counter to the Tao. Thisis the main element of Lao Tzŭ's doctrine, the doctrine of _wu-wei_, "passive achievement". Lao Tzŭ seems to have thought that this doctrine could be applied to thelife of the state. He assumed that an ideal life in society was possibleif everyone followed his own nature entirely and no artificialrestrictions were imposed. Thus he writes: "The more the people areforbidden to do this and that, the poorer will they be. The more sharpweapons the people possess, the more will darkness and bewildermentspread through the land. The more craft and cunning men have, the moreuseless and pernicious contraptions will they invent. The more laws andedicts are imposed, the more thieves and bandits there will be. 'If Iwork through Non-action, ' says the Sage, 'the people will transformthemselves. '"[1] Thus according to Lao Tzŭ, who takes the existence of amonarchy for granted, the ruler must treat his subjects as follows: "Byemptying their hearts of desire and their minds of envy, and by fillingtheir stomachs with what they need; by reducing their ambitions and bystrengthening their bones and sinews; by striving to keep them withoutthe knowledge of what is evil and without cravings. Thus are the craftyones given no scope for tempting interference. For it is by Non-actionthat the Sage governs, and nothing is really left uncontrolled. "[2] [1] _The Way of Acceptance_: a new version of Lao Tzŭ's _Tao Tê Ching_, by Hermon Ould (Dakers, 1946), Ch. 57. [2] _The Way of Acceptance_, Ch. 3. Lao Tzŭ did not live to learn that such rule of good government would befollowed by only one sort of rulers--dictators; and as a matter of factthe "Legalist theory" which provided the philosophic basis fordictatorship in the third century B. C. Was attributable to Lao Tzŭ. Hewas not thinking, however, of dictatorship; he was an individualisticanarchist, believing that if there were no active government all menwould be happy. Then everyone could attain unity with Nature forhimself. Thus we find in Lao Tzŭ, and later in all other Taoists, ascornful repudiation of all social and official obligations. An answerthat became famous was given by the Taoist Chuang Tzŭ (see below) whenit was proposed to confer high office in the state on him (the story mayor may not be true, but it is typical of Taoist thought): "I haveheard, " he replied, "that in Ch'u there is a tortoise sacred to thegods. It has now been dead for 3, 000 years, and the king keeps it in ashrine with silken cloths, and gives it shelter in the halls of atemple. Which do you think that tortoise would prefer--to be dead andhave its vestigial bones so honoured, or to be still alive and draggingits tail after it in the mud?" the officials replied: "No doubt it wouldprefer to be alive and dragging its tail after it in the mud. " Thenspoke Chuang Tzŭ: "Begone! I, too, would rather drag my tail after me inthe mud!" (Chuang Tzŭ 17, 10. ) The true Taoist withdraws also from his family. Typical of this isanother story, surely apocryphal, from Chuang Tzŭ (Ch. 3, 3). At thedeath of Lao Tzŭ a disciple went to the family and expressed hissympathy quite briefly and formally. The other disciples wereastonished, and asked his reason. He said: "Yes, at first I thought thathe was our man, but he is not. When I went to grieve, the old men werebewailing him as though they were bewailing a son, and the young wept asthough they were mourning a mother. To bind them so closely to himself, he must have spoken words which he should not have spoken, and wepttears which he should not have wept. That, however, is a falling awayfrom the heavenly nature. " Lao Tzŭ's teaching, like that of Confucius, cannot be described asreligion; like Confucius's, it is a sort of social philosophy, but ofirrationalistic character. Thus it was quite possible, and later itbecame the rule, for one and the same person to be both Confucian andTaoist. As an official and as the head of his family, a man would thinkand act as a Confucian; as a private individual, when he had retired farfrom the city to live in his country mansion (often modestly describedas a cave or a thatched hut), or when he had been dismissed from hispost or suffered some other trouble, he would feel and think as aTaoist. In order to live as a Taoist it was necessary, of course, topossess such an estate, to which a man could retire with his servants, and where he could live without himself doing manual work. Thisdifference between the Confucian and the Taoist found a place in theworks of many Chinese poets. I take the following quotation from anessay by the statesman and poet Ts'ao Chih, of the end of the secondcentury A. D. : "Master Mysticus lived in deep seclusion on a mountain in thewilderness; he had withdrawn as in flight from the world, desiring topurify his spirit and give rest to his heart. He despised officialactivity, and no longer maintained any relations with the world; hesought quiet and freedom from care, in order in this way to attaineverlasting life. He did nothing but send his thoughts wandering betweensky and clouds, and consequently there was nothing worldly that couldattract and tempt him. [Illustration: 1 Painted pottery from Kansu: Neolithic. _In thecollection of the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin_. ] [Illustration: 2 Ancient bronze tripod found at Anyang. _From G.  Ecke:Frühe chinesische Bronzen aus der Sammlung Oskar Trautmann, Peking 1939, plate 3. _] "When Mr. Rationalist heard of this man, he desired to visit him, inorder to persuade him to alter his views. He harnessed four horses, whocould quickly traverse the plain, and entered his light fast carriage. He drove through the plain, leaving behind him the ruins of abandonedsettlements; he entered the boundless wilderness, and finally reachedthe dwelling of Master Mysticus. Here there was a waterfall on one side, and on the other were high crags; at the back a stream flowed deep downin its bed, and in front was an odorous wood. The master wore a whitedoeskin cap and a striped fox-pelt. He came forward from a cave buriedin the mountain, leaned against the tall crag, and enjoyed the prospectof wild nature. His ideas floated on the breezes, and he looked as ifthe wide spaces of the heavens and the countries of the earth were toonarrow for him; as if he was going to fly but had not yet left theground; as if he had already spread his wings but wanted to wait amoment. Mr. Rationalist climbed up with the aid of vine shoots, reachedthe top of the crag, and stepped up to him, saying very respectfully: "'I have heard that a man of nobility does not flee from society, butseeks to gain fame; a man of wisdom does not swim against the current, but seeks to earn repute. You, however, despise the achievements ofcivilization and culture; you have no regard for the splendour ofphilanthropy and justice; you squander your powers here in thewilderness and neglect ordered relations between man. . . . '" Frequently Master Mysticus and Mr. Rationalist were united in a singleperson. Thus, Shih Ch'ung wrote in an essay on himself: "In my youth I had great ambition and wanted to stand out above themultitude. Thus it happened that at a little over twenty years of age Iwas already a court official; I remained in the service for twenty-fiveyears. When I was fifty I had to give up my post because of anunfortunate occurrence. . . . The older I became, the more I appreciatedthe freedom I had acquired; and as I loved forest and plain, I retiredto my villa. When I built this villa, a long embankment formed theboundary behind it; in front the prospect extended over a clear canal;all around grew countless cypresses, and flowing water meandered roundthe house. There were pools there, and outlook towers; I bred birds andfishes. In my harem there were always good musicians who played dancetunes. When I went out I enjoyed nature or hunted birds and fished. WhenI came home, I enjoyed playing the lute or reading; I also liked toconcoct an elixir of life and to take breathing exercises, [3] because Idid not want to die, but wanted one day to lift myself to the skies, like an immortal genius. Suddenly I was drawn back into the officialcareer, and became once more one of the dignitaries of the Emperor. " [3] Both Taoist practices. Thus Lao Tzŭ's individualist and anarchist doctrine was not suited toform the basis of a general Chinese social order, and its employment insupport of dictatorship was certainly not in the spirit of Lao Tzŭ. Throughout history, however, Taoism remained the philosophic attitude ofindividuals of the highest circle of society; its real doctrine neverbecame popularly accepted; for the strong feeling for nature thatdistinguishes the Chinese, and their reluctance to interfere in thesanctified order of nature by technical and other deliberate acts, wasnot actually a result of Lao Tzŭ's teaching, but one of the fundamentalsfrom which his ideas started. If the date assigned to Lao Tzŭ by present-day research (the fourthinstead of the sixth century B. C. ) is correct, he was more or lesscontemporary with Chuang Tzŭ, who was probably the most gifted poetamong the Chinese philosophers and Taoists. A thin thread extends fromthem as far as the fourth century A. D. : Huai-nan Tzŭ, Chung-ch'angT'ung, Yüan Chi (210-263), Liu Ling (221-300), and T'ao Ch'ien(365-427), are some of the most eminent names of Taoist philosophers. After that the stream of original thought dried up, and we rarely find anew idea among the late Taoists. These gentlemen living on their estateshad acquired a new means of expressing their inmost feelings: they wrotepoetry and, above all, painted. Their poems and paintings contain in adifferent outward form what Lao Tzŭ had tried to express with theinadequate means of the language of his day. Thus Lao Tzŭ's teaching hashad the strongest influence to this day in this field, and has inspiredcreative work which is among the finest achievements of mankind. Chapter Four THE CONTENDING STATES (481-256 B. C. ): DISSOLUTION OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM 1 _Social and military changes_ The period following that of the Chou dictatorships is known as that ofthe Contending States. Out of over a thousand states, fourteen remained, of which, in the period that now followed, one after anotherdisappeared, until only one remained. This period is the fullest, or oneof the fullest, of strife in all Chinese history. The various feudalstates had lost all sense of allegiance to the ruler, and acted inentire independence. It is a pure fiction to speak of a Chinese State inthis period; the emperor had no more power than the ruler of the HolyRoman Empire in the late medieval period of Europe, and the so-called"feudal states" of China can be directly compared with the developingnational states of Europe. A comparison of this period with latemedieval Europe is, indeed, of highest interest. If we adopt a politicalsystem of periodization, we might say that around 500 B. C. The unifiedfeudal state of the first period of Antiquity came to an end and thesecond, a period of the national states began, although formally, thefeudal system continued and the national states still retained manyfeudal traits. As none of these states was strong enough to control and subjugate therest, alliances were formed. The most favoured union was the north-southaxis; it struggled against an east-west league. The alliances were notstable but broke up again and again through bribery or intrigue, whichproduced new combinations. We must confine ourselves to mentioning themost important of the events that took place behind this militaryfaçade. Through the continual struggles more and more feudal lords lost theirlands; and not only they, but the families of the nobles dependent onthem, who had received so-called sub-fiefs. Some of the landless noblesperished; some offered their services to the remaining feudal lords assoldiers or advisers. Thus in this period we meet with a large number ofmigratory politicians who became competitors of the wandering scholars. Both these groups recommended to their lord ways and means of gainingvictory over the other feudal lords, so as to become sole ruler. Inorder to carry out their plans the advisers claimed the rank of aMinister or Chancellor. Realistic though these advisers and their lords were in their thinking, they did not dare to trample openly on the old tradition. The emperormight in practice be a completely powerless figurehead, but he belongednevertheless, according to tradition, to a family of divine origin, which had obtained its office not merely by the exercise of force butthrough a "divine mandate". Accordingly, if one of the feudal lordsthought of putting forward a claim to the imperial throne, he feltcompelled to demonstrate that his family was just as much of divineorigin as the emperor's, and perhaps of remoter origin. In this matterthe travelling "scholars" rendered valuable service as manufacturers ofgenealogical trees. Each of the old noble families already had itsfamily tree, as an indispensable requisite for the sacrifices toancestors. But in some cases this tree began as a branch of that of theimperial family: this was the case of the feudal lords who were ofimperial descent and whose ancestors had been granted fiefs after theconquest of the country. Others, however, had for their first ancestor alocal deity long worshipped in the family's home country, such as theancient agrarian god Huang Ti, or the bovine god Shen Nung. Here the"scholars" stepped in, turning the local deities into human beings and"emperors". This suddenly gave the noble family concerned an imperialorigin. Finally, order was brought into this collection of ancientemperors. They were arranged and connected with each other in"dynasties" or in some other "historical" form. Thus at a stroke HuangTi, who about 450 B. C. Had been a local god in the region of southernShansi, became the forefather of almost all the noble families, including that of the imperial house of the Chou. Needless to say, therewould be discrepancies between the family trees constructed by thevarious scholars for their lords, and later, when this problem had lostits political importance, the commentators laboured for centuries on theelaboration of an impeccable system of "ancient emperors"--and to thisday there are sinologists who continue to present these humanized godsas historical personalities. In the earlier wars fought between the nobles they were themselves theactual combatants, accompanied only by their retinue. As the strugglesfor power grew in severity, each noble hired such mercenaries as hecould, for instance the landless nobles just mentioned. Very soon itbecame the custom to arm peasants and send them to the wars. Thissubstantially increased the armies. The numbers of soldiers who werekilled in particular battles may have been greatly exaggerated (in asingle battle in 260 B. C. , for instance, the number who lost their liveswas put at 450, 000, a quite impossible figure); but there must have beenarmies of several thousand men, perhaps as many as 10, 000. Thepopulation had grown considerably by that time. The armies of the earlier period consisted mainly of the nobles in theirwar chariots; each chariot surrounded by the retinue of the nobleman. Now came large troops of commoners as infantry as well, drawn from thepeasant population. To these, cavalry were first added in the fifthcentury B. C. , by the northern state of Chao (in the present Shansi), following the example of its Turkish and Mongol neighbours. The generaltheory among ethnologists is that the horse was first harnessed to achariot, and that riding came much later; but it is my opinion thatriders were known earlier, but could not be efficiently employed in warbecause the practice had not begun of fighting in disciplined troops ofhorsemen, and the art had not been learnt of shooting accurately withthe bow from the back of a galloping horse, especially shooting to therear. In any case, its cavalry gave the feudal state of Chao a militaryadvantage for a short time. Soon the other northern states copied it oneafter another--especially Ch'in, in north-west China. The introductionof cavalry brought a change in clothing all over China, for the formerlong skirt-like garb could not be worn on horseback. Trousers and theriding-cap were introduced from the north. The new technique of war made it important for every state to possess asmany soldiers as possible, and where it could to reduce the enemy'snumbers. One result of this was that wars became much more sanguinary;another was that men in other countries were induced to immigrate andsettle as peasants, so that the taxes they paid should provide the meansfor further recruitment of soldiers. In the state of Ch'in, especially, the practice soon started of using the whole of the peasantrysimultaneously as a rough soldiery. Hence that state was particularlyanxious to attract peasants in large numbers. 2 _Economic changes_ In the course of the wars much land of former noblemen had become free. Often the former serfs had then silently become landowners. Others hadstarted to cultivate empty land in the area inhabited by the indigenouspopulation and regarded this land, which they themselves had madefertile, as their private family property. There was, in spite of thegrowth of the population, still much cultivable land available. Victorious feudal lords induced farmers to come to their territory andto cultivate the wasteland. This is a period of great migrations, internal and external. It seems that from this period on not onlymerchants but also farmers began to migrate southwards into the area ofthe present provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi and as far as Tonking. As long as the idea that all land belonged to the great clans of theChou prevailed, sale of land was inconceivable; but when individualfamily heads acquired land or cultivated new land, they regarded it astheir natural right to dispose of the land as they wished. From now onuntil the end of the medieval period, the family head as representativeof the family could sell or buy land. However, the land belonged to thefamily and not to him as a person. This development was favoured by thespread of money. In time land in general became an asset with a marketvalue and could be bought and sold. Another important change can be seen from this time on. Under the feudalsystem of the Chou strict primogeniture among the nobility existed: thefief went to the oldest son by the main wife. The younger sons weregiven independent pieces of land with its inhabitants as new, secondaryfiefs. With the increase in population there was no more such land thatcould be set up as a new fief. From now on, primogeniture was retainedin the field of ritual and religion down to the present time: only theoldest son of the main wife represents the family in the ancestorworship ceremonies; only the oldest son of the emperor could become hissuccessor. But the landed property from now on was equally divided amongall sons. Occasionally the oldest son was given some extra land toenable him to pay the expenses for the family ancestral worship. Mobileproperty, on the other side, was not so strictly regulated and often theoldest son was given preferential treatment in the inheritance. The technique of cultivation underwent some significant changes. Theanimal-drawn plough seems to have been invented during this period, andfrom now on, some metal agricultural implements like iron sickles andiron plough-shares became more common. A fallow system was introduced sothat cultivation became more intensive. Manuring of fields was alreadyknown in Shang time. It seems that the consumption of meat decreasedfrom this period on: less mutton and beef were eaten. Pig and dogbecame the main sources of meat, and higher consumption of beans made upfor the loss of proteins. All this indicates a strong populationincrease. We have no statistics for this period, but by 400 B. C. It isconceivable that the population under the control of the variousindividual states comprised something around twenty-five millions. Theeastern plains emerge more and more as centres of production. The increased use of metal and the invention of coins greatly stimulatedtrade. Iron which now became quite common, was produced mainly inShansi, other metals in South China. But what were the traders to dowith their profits? Even later in China, and almost down to recenttimes, it was never possible to hoard large quantities of money. Normally the money was of copper, and a considerable capital in the formof copper coin took up a good deal of room and was not easy to conceal. If anyone had much money, everyone in his village knew it. No one daredto hoard to any extent for fear of attracting bandits and creatinglasting insecurity. On the other hand the merchants wanted to attain thestandard of living which the nobles, the landowners, used to have. Thusthey began to invest their money in land. This was all the easier forthem since it often happened that one of the lesser nobles or a peasantfell deeply into debt to a merchant and found himself compelled to giveup his land in payment of the debt. Soon the merchants took over another function. So long as there had beenmany small feudal states, and the feudal lords had created lesser lordswith small fiefs, it had been a simple matter for the taxes to becollected, in the form of grain, from the peasants through the agents ofthe lesser lords. Now that there were only a few great states inexistence, the old system was no longer effectual. This gave themerchants their opportunity. The rulers of the various states entrustedthe merchants with the collection of taxes, and this had greatadvantages for the ruler: he could obtain part of the taxes at once, asthe merchant usually had grain in stock, or was himself a landowner andcould make advances at any time. Through having to pay the taxes to themerchant, the village population became dependent on him. Thus themerchants developed into the first administrative officials in theprovinces. In connection with the growth of business, the cities kept on growing. It is estimated that at the beginning of the third century, the city ofLin-chin, near the present Chi-nan in Shantung, had a population of210, 000 persons. Each of its walls had a length of 4, 000 metres; thus, it was even somewhat larger than the famous city of Lo-yang, capital ofChina during the Later Han dynasty, in the second century A. D. Severalother cities of this period have been recently excavated and must havehad populations far above 10, 000 persons. There were two types ofcities: the rectangular, planned city of the Chou conquerors, a seat ofadministration; and the irregularly shaped city which grew out of amarket place and became only later an administrative centre. We do notknow much about the organization and administration of these cities, butthey seem to have had considerable independence because some of themissued their own city coins. When these cities grew, the food produced in the neighbourhood of thetowns no longer sufficed for their inhabitants. This led to the buildingof roads, which also facilitated the transport of supplies for greatarmies. These roads mainly radiated from the centre of consumption intothe surrounding country, and they were less in use for communicationbetween one administrative centre and another. For long journeys therivers were of more importance, since transport by wagon was alwaysexpensive owing to the shortage of draught animals. Thus we see in thisperiod the first important construction of canals and a development ofcommunications. With the canal construction was connected theconstruction of irrigation and drainage systems, which further promotedagricultural production. The cities were places in which often greatluxury developed; music, dance, and other refinements were cultivated;but the cities also seem to have harboured considerable industries. Expensive and technically superior silks were woven; painters decoratedthe walls of temples and palaces; blacksmiths and bronze-smiths producedbeautiful vessels and implements. It seems certain that the art ofcasting iron and the beginnings of the production of steel were alreadyknown at this time. The life of the commoners in these cities wasregulated by laws; the first codes are mentioned in 536 B. C. By the endof the fourth century B. C. A large body of criminal law existed, supposedly collected by Li K'uei, which became the foundation of alllater Chinese law. It seems that in this period the states of Chinamoved quickly towards a money economy, and an observer to whom the laterChinese history was not known could have predicted the eventualdevelopment of a capitalistic society out of the apparent tendencies. So far nothing has been said in these chapters about China's foreignpolicy. Since the central ruling house was completely powerless, and thefeudal lords were virtually independent rulers, little can be said, ofcourse, about any "Chinese" foreign policy. There is less than ever tobe said about it for this period of the "Contending States". Chinesemerchants penetrated southwards, and soon settlers moved in increasingnumbers into the plains of the south-east. In the north, there werecontinual struggles with Turkish and Mongol tribes, and about 300 B. C. The name of the Hsiung-nu (who are often described as "The Huns of theFar East") makes its first appearance. It is known that these northernpeoples had mastered the technique of horseback warfare and were farahead of the Chinese, although the Chinese imitated their methods. Thepeasants of China, as they penetrated farther and farther north, had tobe protected by their rulers against the northern peoples, and since therulers needed their armed forces for their struggles within China, abeginning was made with the building of frontier walls, to preventsudden raids of the northern peoples against the peasant settlements. Thus came into existence the early forms of the "Great Wall of China". This provided for the first time a visible frontier between Chinese andnon-Chinese. Along this frontier, just as by the walls of towns, greatmarkets were held at which Chinese peasants bartered their produce tonon-Chinese nomads. Both partners in this trade became accustomed to itand drew very substantial profits from it. We even know the names ofseveral great horse-dealers who bought horses from the nomads and soldthem within China. 3 _Cultural changes_ Together with the economic and social changes in this period, there camecultural changes. New ideas sprang up in exuberance, as would seementirely natural, because in times of change and crisis men always comeforward to offer solutions for pressing problems. We shall refer hereonly briefly to the principal philosophers of the period. Mencius (_c. _ 372-289 B. C. ) and Hsün Tzŭ (_c. _ 298-238 B. C. ) were bothfollowers of Confucianism. Both belonged to the so-called "scholars", and both lived in the present Shantung, that is to say, in easternChina. Both elaborated the ideas of Confucius, but neither of themachieved personal success. Mencius (Meng Tzŭ) recognized that theremoval of the ruling house of the Chou no longer presented anydifficulty. The difficult question for him was when a change of rulerwould be justified. And how could it be ascertained whom Heaven haddestined as successor if the existing dynasty was brought down? Menciusreplied that the voice of the "people", that is to say of the upperclass and its following, would declare the right man, and that this manwould then be Heaven's nominee. This theory persisted throughout thehistory of China. Hsün Tzŭ's chief importance lies in the fact that herecognized that the "laws" of nature are unchanging but that man's fateis determined not by nature alone but, in addition, by his ownactivities. Man's nature is basically bad, but by working on himselfwithin the framework of society, he can change his nature and candevelop. Thus, Hsün Tzŭ's philosophy contains a dynamic element, fit fora dynamic period of history. In the strongest contrast to these thinkers was the school of Mo Ti (atsome time between 479 and 381 B. C. ). The Confucian school held fast tothe old feudal order of society, and was only ready to agree to a fewsuperficial changes. The school of Mo Ti proposed to alter thefundamental principles of society. Family ethics must no longer beretained; the principles of family love must be extended to the wholeupper class, which Mo Ti called the "people". One must love anothermember of the upper class just as much as one's own father. Then thefriction between individuals and between states would cease. Instead offamilies, large groups of people friendly to one another must becreated. Further one should live frugally and not expend endless moneyon effete rites, as the Confucianists demanded. The expenditure onweddings and funerals under the Confucianist ritual consumed so muchmoney that many families fell into debt and, if they were unable to payoff the debt, sank from the upper into the lower class. In order tomaintain the upper class, therefore, there must be more frugality. MoTi's teaching won great influence. He and his successors surroundedthemselves with a private army of supporters which was rigidly organizedand which could be brought into action at any time as its leader wished. Thus the Mohists came forward everywhere with an approach entirelydifferent from that of the isolated Confucians. When the Mohists offeredtheir assistance to a ruler, they brought with them a group of technicaland military experts who had been trained on the same principles. Inconsequence of its great influence this teaching was naturally hotlyopposed by the Confucianists. We see clearly in Mo Ti's and his followers' ideas the influence of thechanged times. His principle of "universal love" reflects the breakdownof the clans and the general weakening of family bonds which had takenplace. His ideal of social organization resembles organizations ofmerchants and craftsmen which we know only of later periods. His stressupon frugality, too, reflects a line of thought which is typical ofbusinessmen. The rationality which can also be seen in his metaphysicalideas and which has induced modern Chinese scholars to call him an earlymaterialist is fitting to an age in which a developing money economy andexpanding trade required a cool, logical approach to the affairs of thisworld. A similar mentality can be seen in another school which appeared fromthe fifth century B. C. On, the "dialecticians". Here are a number ofnames to mention: the most important are Kung-sun Lung and Hui Tzŭ, whoare comparable with the ancient Greek dialecticians and Sophists. Theysaw their main task in the development of logic. Since, as we havementioned, many "scholars" journeyed from one princely court to another, and other people came forward, each recommending his own method to theprince for the increase of his power, it was of great importance to beable to talk convincingly, so as to defeat a rival in a duel of words onlogical grounds. Unquestionably, however, the most important school of this period wasthat of the so-called Legalists, whose most famous representative wasShang Yang (or Shang Tzŭ, died 338 B. C. ). The supporters of this schoolcame principally from old princely families that had lost their feudalpossessions, and not from among the so-called scholars. They were peoplebelonging to the upper class who possessed political experience and nowoffered their knowledge to other princes who still reigned. These menhad entirely given up the old conservative traditions of Confucianism;they were the first to make their peace with the new social order. Theyrecognized that little or nothing remained of the old upper class offeudal lords and their following. The last of the feudal lords collectedaround the heads of the last remaining princely courts, or lived quietlyon the estates that still remained to them. Such a class, with its moraland economic strength broken, could no longer lead. The Legalistsrecognized, therefore, only the ruler and next to him, as the reallyactive and responsible man, the chancellor; under these there were to beonly the common people, consisting of the richer and poorer peasants;the people's duty was to live and work for the ruler, and to carry outwithout question whatever orders they received. They were not to discussor think, but to obey. The chancellor was to draft laws which cameautomatically into operation. The ruler himself was to have nothing todo with the government or with the application of the laws. He was onlya symbol, a representative of the equally inactive Heaven. Clearly thesetheories were much the best suited to the conditions of the break-up offeudalism about 300 B. C. Thus they were first adopted by the state inwhich the old idea of the feudal state had been least developed, thestate of Ch'in, in which alien peoples were most strongly represented. Shang Yang became the actual organizer of the state of Ch'in. His ideaswere further developed by Han Fei Tzŭ (died 233 B. C. ). The mentalitywhich speaks out of his writings has closest similarity to the famousIndian Arthashastra which originated slightly earlier; both booksexhibit a "Macchiavellian" spirit. It must be observed that thesetheories had little or nothing to do with the ideas of the old cult ofHeaven or with family allegiance; on the other hand, the soldierlyelement, with the notion of obedience, was well suited to themilitarized peoples of the west. The population of Ch'in, organizedthroughout on these principles, was then in a position to remove oneopponent after another. In the middle of the third century B. C. Thegreater part of the China of that time was already in the hands ofCh'in, and in 256 B. C. The last emperor of the Chou dynasty wascompelled, in his complete impotence, to abdicate in favour of the rulerof Ch'in. Apart from these more or less political speculations, there came intoexistence in this period, by no mere chance, a school of thought whichnever succeeded in fully developing in China, concerned with naturalscience and comparable with the Greek natural philosophy. We havealready several times pointed to parallels between Chinese and Indianthoughts. Such similarities may be the result of mere coincidence. Butrecent findings in Central Asia indicate that direct connections betweenIndia, Persia, and China may have started at a time much earlier than wehad formerly thought. Sogdian merchants who later played a great role incommercial contacts might have been active already from 350 or 400 B. C. On and might have been the transmitters of new ideas. The most importantphilosopher of this school was Tsou Yen (flourished between 320 and 295B. C. ); he, as so many other Chinese philosophers of this time, was anative of Shantung, and the ports of the Shantung coast may well havebeen ports of entrance of new ideas from Western Asia as were the roadsthrough the Turkestan basin into Western China. Tsou Yen's basic ideashad their root in earlier Chinese speculations: the doctrine that allthat exists is to be explained by the positive, creative, or thenegative, passive action (Yang and Yin) of the five elements, wood, fire, earth, metal, and water (Wu hsing). But Tsou Yen also consideredthe form of the world, and was the first to put forward the theory thatthe world consists not of a single continent with China in the middle ofit, but of nine continents. The names of these continents sound likeIndian names, and his idea of a central world-mountain may well havecome from India. The "scholars" of his time were quite unable toappreciate this beginning of science, which actually led to thecontention of this school, in the first century B. C. , that the earth wasof spherical shape. Tsou Yen himself was ridiculed as a dreamer; butvery soon, when the idea of the reciprocal destruction of the elementswas applied, perhaps by Tsou Yen himself, to politics, namely when, inconnection with the astronomical calculations much cultivated by thisschool and through the identification of dynasties with the fiveelements, the attempt was made to explain and to calculate the durationand the supersession of dynasties, strong pressure began to be broughtto bear against this school. For hundreds of years its books weredistributed and read only in secret, and many of its members wereexecuted as revolutionaries. Thus, this school, instead of becoming thenucleus of a school of natural science, was driven underground. Thesecret societies which started to arise clearly from the first centuryB. C. On, but which may have been in existence earlier, adopted thepolitico-scientific ideas of Tsou Yen's school. Such secret societieshave existed in China down to the present time. They all contained astrong religious, but heterodox element which can often be traced backto influences from a foreign religion. In times of peace they werecentres of a true, emotional religiosity. In times of stress, a"messianic" element tended to become prominent: the world is bad anddegenerating; morality and a just social order have decayed, but thecoming of a savior is close; the saviour will bring a new, fair orderand destroy those who are wicked. Tsou Yen's philosophy seemed to allowthem to calculate when this new order would start; later secretsocieties contained ideas from Iranian Mazdaism, Manichaeism andBuddhism, mixed with traits from the popular religions and often couchedin terms taken from the Taoists. The members of such societies were, typically, ordinary farmers who here found an emotional outlet for theirfrustrations in daily life. In times of stress, members of the leading_élite_ often but not always established contacts with these societies, took over their leadership and led them to open rebellion. The fate of Tsou Yen's school did not mean that the Chinese did notdevelop in the field of sciences. At about Tsou Yen's lifetime, thefirst mathematical handbook was written. From these books it is obviousthat the interest of the government in calculating the exact size offields, the content of measures for grain, and other fiscal problemsstimulated work in this field, just as astronomy developed from theinterest of the government in the fixation of the calendar. Science kepton developing in other fields, too, but mainly as a hobby of scholarsand in the shops of craftsmen, if it did not have importance for theadministration and especially taxation and budget calculations. Chapter Five THE CH'IN DYNASTY (256-207 B. C. ) 1 _Towards the unitary State_ In 256 B. C. The last ruler of the Chou dynasty abdicated in favour ofthe feudal lord of the state of Ch'in. Some people place the beginningof the Ch'in dynasty in that year, 256 B. C. ; others prefer the date 221B. C. , because it was only in that year that the remaining feudal statescame to their end and Ch'in really ruled all China. The territories of the state of Ch'in, the present Shensi and easternKansu, were from a geographical point of view transit regions, closedoff in the north by steppes and deserts and in the south by almostimpassable mountains. Only between these barriers, along the rivers Wei(in Shensi) and T'ao (in Kansu), is there a rich cultivable zone whichis also the only means of transit from east to west. All traffic fromand to Turkestan had to take this route. It is believed that strongrelations with eastern Turkestan began in this period, and the state ofCh'in must have drawn big profits from its "foreign trade". The merchantclass quickly gained more and more importance. The population wasgrowing through immigration from the east which the governmentencouraged. This growing population with its increasing means ofproduction, especially the great new irrigation systems, provided awelcome field for trade which was also furthered by the roads, thoughthese were actually built for military purposes. The state of Ch'in had never been so closely associated with the feudalcommunities of the rest of China as the other feudal states. A greatpart of its population, including the ruling class, was not purelyChinese but contained an admixture of Turks and Tibetans. The otherChinese even called Ch'in a "barbarian state", and the foreign influencewas, indeed, unceasing. This was a favourable soil for the overcoming offeudalism, and the process was furthered by the factors mentioned in thepreceding chapter, which were leading to a change in the socialstructure of China. Especially the recruitment of the whole population, including the peasantry, for war was entirely in the interest of theinfluential nomad fighting peoples within the state. About 250 B. C. , Ch'in was not only one of the economically strongest among the feudalstates, but had already made an end of its own feudal system. Every feudal system harbours some seeds of a bureaucratic system ofadministration: feudal lords have their personal servants who are notrecruited from the nobility, but who by their easy access to the lordcan easily gain importance. They may, for instance, be put in charge ofestates, workshops, and other properties of the lord and thus acquireexperience in administration and an efficiency which are obviously ofadvantage to the lord. When Chinese lords of the preceding period, withthe help of their sub-lords of the nobility, made wars, they tended toput the newly-conquered areas not into the hands of newly-enfeoffednoblemen, but to keep them as their property and to put theiradministration into the hands of efficient servants; these were thefirst bureaucratic officials. Thus, in the course of the later Chouperiod, a bureaucratic system of administration had begun to develop, and terms like "district" or "prefecture" began to appear, indicatingthat areas under a bureaucratic administration existed beside and insideareas under feudal rule. This process had gone furthest in Ch'in and wassponsored by the representatives of the Legalist School, which was bestadapted to the new economic and social situation. A son of one of the concubines of the penultimate feudal ruler of Ch'inwas living as a hostage in the neighbouring state of Chao, in what isnow northern Shansi. There he made the acquaintance of an unusual man, the merchant Lü Pu-wei, a man of education and of great politicalinfluence. Lü Pu-wei persuaded the feudal ruler of Ch'in to declare thisson his successor. He also sold a girl to the prince to be his wife, andthe son of this marriage was to be the famous and notorious ShihHuang-ti. Lü Pu-wei came with his protégé to Ch'in, where he became hisPrime Minister, and after the prince's death in 247 B. C. Lü Pu-weibecame the regent for his young son Shih Huang-ti (then called Cheng). For the first time in Chinese history a merchant, a commoner, hadreached one of the highest positions in the state. It is not known whatsort of trade Lü Pu-wei had carried on, but probably he dealt in horses, the principal export of the state of Chao. As horses were an absolutenecessity for the armies of that time, it is easy to imagine that ahorse-dealer might gain great political influence. Soon after Shih Huang-ti's accession Lü Pu-wei was dismissed, and a newgroup of advisers, strong supporters of the Legalist school, came intopower. These new men began an active policy of conquest instead of thepeaceful course which Lü Pu-wei had pursued. One campaign followedanother in the years from 230 to 222, until all the feudal states hadbeen conquered, annexed, and brought under Shih Huang-ti's rule. 2 _Centralization in every field_ The main task of the now gigantic realm was the organization ofadministration. One of the first acts after the conquest of the otherfeudal states was to deport all the ruling families and other importantnobles to the capital of Ch'in; they were thus deprived of the basis oftheir power, and their land could be sold. These upper-class familiessupplied to the capital a class of consumers of luxury goods whichattracted craftsmen and businessmen and changed the character of thecapital from that of a provincial town to a centre of arts and crafts. It was decided to set up the uniform system of administration throughoutthe realm, which had already been successfully introduced in Ch'in: therealm was split up into provinces and the provinces into prefectures;and an official was placed in charge of each province or prefecture. Originally the prefectures in Ch'in had been placed directly under thecentral administration, with an official, often a merchant, beingresponsible for the collection of taxes; the provinces, on the otherhand, formed a sort of military command area, especially in thenewly-conquered frontier territories. With the growing militarization ofCh'in, greater importance was assigned to the provinces, and theprefectures were made subordinate to them. Thus the officials of theprovinces were originally army officers but now, in the reorganizationof the whole realm, the distinction between civil and militaryadministration was abolished. At the head of the province were a civiland also a military governor, and both were supervised by a controllerdirectly responsible to the emperor. Since there was naturally acontinual struggle for power between these three officials, none of themwas supreme and none could develop into a sort of feudal lord. In thissystem we can see the essence of the later Chinese administration. [Illustration: 3 Bronze plaque representing two horses fighting eachother. Ordos region, animal style. _From V.  Griessmaier: Sammlung BaronEduard von der Heydt, Vienna 1936, illustration No. 6. _] [Illustration: 4 Hunting scene: detail from the reliefs in the tombs atWu-liang-tz'u. _From a print in the author's possession. _] [Illustration: 5 Part of the 'Great Wall'. _Photo Eberhard. _] Owing to the centuries of division into independent feudal states, thevarious parts of the country had developed differently. Each provincespoke a different dialect which also contained many words borrowed fromthe language of the indigenous population; and as these earlierpopulations sometimes belonged to different races with differentlanguages, in each state different words had found their way into theChinese dialects. This caused divergences not only in the spoken but inthe written language, and even in the characters in use for writing. There exist to this day dictionaries in which the borrowed words of thattime are indicated, and keys to the various old forms of writing alsoexist. Thus difficulties arose if, for instance, a man from the oldterritory of Ch'in was to be transferred as an official to the east: hecould not properly understand the language and could not read theborrowed words, if he could read at all! For a large number of theofficials of that time, especially the officers who became militarygovernors, were certainly unable to read. The government thereforeordered that the language of the whole country should be unified, andthat a definite style of writing should be generally adopted. The wordsto be used were set out in lists, so that the first lexicography cameinto existence simply through the needs of practical administration, ashad happened much earlier in Babylon. Thus, the few recently foundmanuscripts from pre-Ch'in times still contain a high percentage ofChinese characters which we cannot read because they were localcharacters; but all words in texts after the Ch'in time can be readbecause they belong to the standardized script. We know now that allclassical texts of pre-Ch'in time as we have them today, have beenre-written in this standardized script in the second century B. C. : we donot know which words they actually contained at the time when they werecomposed, nor how these words were actually pronounced, a fact whichmakes the reconstruction of Chinese language before Ch'in verydifficult. The next requirement for the carrying on of the administration was theunification of weights and measures and, a surprising thing to us, ofthe gauge of the tracks for wagons. In the various feudal states therehad been different weights and measures in use, and this had led togreat difficulties in the centralization of the collection of taxes. Thecentre of administration, that is to say the new capital of Ch'in, hadgrown through the transfer of nobles and through the enormous size ofthe administrative staff into a thickly populated city with very largerequirements of food. The fields of the former state of Ch'in alonecould not feed the city; and the grain supplied in payment of taxationhad to be brought in from far around, partly by cart. The only roadsthen existing consisted of deep cart-tracks. If the axles were not ofthe same length for all carts, the roads were simply unusable for manyof them. Accordingly a fixed length was laid down for axles. Theadvocates of all these reforms were also their beneficiaries, themerchants. The first principle of the Legalist school, a principle which had beenapplied in Ch'in and which was to be extended to the whole realm, wasthat of the training of the population in discipline and obedience, sothat it should become a convenient tool in the hands of the officials. This requirement was best met by a people composed as far as possibleonly of industrious, uneducated, and tax-paying peasants. Scholars andphilosophers were not wanted, in so far as they were not directlyengaged in work commissioned by the state. The Confucianist writingscame under special attack because they kept alive the memory of the oldfeudal conditions, preaching the ethic of the old feudal class which hadjust been destroyed and must not be allowed to rise again if the statewas not to suffer fresh dissolution or if the central administration wasnot to be weakened. In 213 B. C. There took place the great holocaust ofbooks which destroyed the Confucianist writings with the exception ofone copy of each work for the State Library. Books on practical subjectswere not affected. In the fighting at the end of the Ch'in dynasty theState Library was burnt down, so that many of the old works have onlycome down to us in an imperfect state and with doubtful accuracy. Thereal loss arose, however, from the fact that the new generation waslittle interested in the Confucianist literature, so that when, fiftyyears later, the effort was made to restore some texts from the oraltradition, there no longer existed any scholars who really knew them byheart, as had been customary in the past. In 221 B. C. Shih Huang-ti had become emperor of all China. The judgmentspassed on him vary greatly: the official Chinese historiography rejectshim entirely--naturally, for he tried to exterminate Confucianism, whileevery later historian was himself a Confucian. Western scholars oftentreat him as one of the greatest men in world history. Closer researchhas shown that Shih Huang-ti was evidently an average man without anygreat gifts, that he was superstitious, and shared the tendency of histime to mystical and shamanistic notions. His own opinion was that hewas the first of a series of ten thousand emperors of his dynasty (ShihHuang-ti means "First Emperor"), and this merely suggests megalomania. The basic principles of his administration had been laid down longbefore his time by the philosophers of the Legalist school, and weregiven effect by his Chancellor Li Ssŭ. Li Ssŭ was the really greatpersonality of that period. The Legalists taught that the ruler must doas little as possible himself. His Ministers were there to act for him. He himself was to be regarded as a symbol of Heaven. In that capacityShih Huang-ti undertook periodical journeys into the various parts ofthe empire, less for any practical purpose of inspection than forpurposes of public worship. They corresponded to the course of the sun, and this indicates that Shih Huang-ti had adopted a notion derived fromthe older northern culture of the nomad peoples. He planned the capital in an ambitious style but, although there wasreal need for extension of the city, his plans can scarcely be regardedas of great service. His enormous palace, and also his mausoleum whichwas built for him before his death, were constructed in accordance withastral notions. Within the palace the emperor continually changed hisresidential quarters, probably not only from fear of assassination butalso for astral reasons. His mausoleum formed a hemispherical dome, andall the stars of the sky were painted on its interior. 3 _Frontier defence. Internal collapse_ When the empire had been unified by the destruction of the feudalstates, the central government became responsible for the protection ofthe frontiers from attack from without. In the south there were onlypeoples in a very low state of civilization, who could offer no seriousmenace to the Chinese. The trading colonies that gradually extended toCanton and still farther south served as Chinese administrative centresfor provinces and prefectures, with small but adequate armies of theirown, so that in case of need they could defend themselves. In the norththe position was much more difficult. In addition to their conquestwithin China, the rulers of Ch'in had pushed their frontier far to thenorth. The nomad tribes had been pressed back and deprived of their bestpasturage, namely the Ordos region. When the livelihood of nomad peoplesis affected, when they are threatened with starvation, their tribesoften collect round a tribal leader who promises new pasturage andbetter conditions of life for all who take part in the common campaigns. In this way the first great union of tribes in the north of China cameinto existence in this period, forming the realm of the Hsiung-nu undertheir first leader, T'ou-man. This first realm of the Hsiung-nu was notyet extensive, but its ambitious and warlike attitude made it a dangerto Ch'in. It was therefore decided to maintain a large permanent army inthe north. In addition to this, the frontier walls already existing inthe mountains were rebuilt and made into a single great system. Thuscame into existence in 214 B. C. , out of the blood and sweat of countlesspressed labourers, the famous Great Wall. On one of his periodical journeys the emperor fell ill and died. Hisdeath was the signal for the rising of many rebellious elements. Noblesrose in order to regain power and influence; generals rose because theyobjected to the permanent pressure from the central administration andtheir supervision by controllers; men of the people rose as popularleaders because the people were more tormented than ever by forcedlabour, generally at a distance from their homes. Within a few monthsthere were six different rebellions and six different "rulers". Assassinations became the order of the day; the young heir to the thronewas removed in this way and replaced by another young prince. But asearly as 206 B. C. One of the rebels, Liu Chi (also called Liu Pang), entered the capital and dethroned the nominal emperor. Liu Chi at firsthad to retreat and was involved in hard fighting with a rival, butgradually he succeeded in gaining the upper hand and defeated not onlyhis rival but also the other eighteen states that had been set up anewin China in those years. THE MIDDLE AGES Chapter Six THE HAN DYNASTY (206 B. C. -A. D. 220) 1 _Development of the gentry-state_ In 206 B. C. Liu Chi assumed the title of Emperor and gave his dynastythe name of the Han Dynasty. After his death he was given as emperor thename of Kao Tsu. [4] The period of the Han dynasty may be described asthe beginning of the Chinese Middle Ages, while that of the Ch'indynasty represents the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages; forunder the Han dynasty we meet in China with a new form of state, the"gentry state". The feudalism of ancient times has come definitely toits end. [4] From then on, every emperor was given after his death an official name as emperor, under which he appears in the Chinese sources. We have adopted the original or the official name according to which of the two has come into the more general use in Western books. Emperor Kao Tsu came from eastern China, and his family seems to havebeen a peasant family; in any case it did not belong to the oldnobility. After his destruction of his strongest rival, the removal ofthe kings who had made themselves independent in the last years of theCh'in dynasty was a relatively easy task for the new autocrat, althoughthese struggles occupied the greater part of his reign. A much moredifficult question, however, faced him: How was the empire to begoverned? Kao Tsu's old friends and fellow-countrymen, who had helpedhim into power, had been rewarded by appointment as generals or highofficials. Gradually he got rid of those who had been his best comrades, as so many upstart rulers have done before and after him in everycountry in the world. An emperor does not like to be reminded of a veryhumble past, and he is liable also to fear the rivalry of men whoformerly were his equals. It is evident that little attention was paidto theories of administration; policy was determined mainly by practicalconsiderations. Kao Tsu allowed many laws and regulations to remain inforce, including the prohibition of Confucianist writings. On the otherhand, he reverted to the allocation of fiefs, though not to old noblefamilies but to his relatives and some of his closest adherents, generally men of inferior social standing. Thus a mixed administrationcame into being: part of the empire was governed by new feudal princes, and another part split up into provinces and prefectures and placeddirectly under the central power through its officials. But whence came the officials? Kao Tsu and his supporters, as farmersfrom eastern China, looked down upon the trading population to whichfarmers always regard themselves as superior. The merchants were ignoredas potential officials although they had often enough held officialappointments under the former dynasty. The second group from whichofficials had been drawn under the Ch'in was that of the army officers, but their military functions had now, of course, fallen to Kao Tsu'ssoldiers. The emperor had little faith, however, in the loyalty ofofficers, even of his own, and apart from that he would have had firstto create a new administrative organization for them. Accordingly heturned to another class which had come into existence, the class latercalled the _gentry_, which in practice had the power already in itshands. The term "gentry" has no direct parallel in Chinese texts; the laterterms "shen-shih" and "chin-shen" do not quite cover this concept. Thebasic unit of the gentry class are families, not individuals. Suchfamilies often derive their origin from branches of the Chou nobility. But other gentry families were of different and more recent origin inrespect to land ownership. Some late Chou and Ch'in officials ofnon-noble origin had become wealthy and had acquired land; the same wastrue for wealthy merchants and finally, some non-noble farmers who weresuccessful in one or another way, bought additional land reaching thesize of large holdings. All "gentry" families owned substantial estatesin the provinces which they leased to tenants on a kind of contractbasis. The tenants, therefore, cannot be called "serfs" although theirfactual position often was not different from the position of serfs. Therents of these tenants, usually about half the gross produce, are thebasis of the livelihood of the gentry. One part of a gentry familynormally lives in the country on a small home farm in order to be ableto collect the rents. If the family can acquire more land and if thisnew land is too far away from the home farm to make collection of rentseasy, a new home farm is set up under the control of another branch ofthe family. But the original home remains to be regarded as the realfamily centre. In a typical gentry family, another branch of the family is in thecapital or in a provincial administrative centre in official positions. These officials at the same time are the most highly educated members ofthe family and are often called the "literati". There are also alwaysindividual family members who are not interested in official careers orwho failed in their careers and live as free "literati" either in thebig cities or on the home farms. It seems, to judge from much latersources, that the families assisted their most able members to enter theofficial careers, while those individuals who were less able were usedin the administration of the farms. This system in combination with thestrong familism of the Chinese, gave a double security to the gentryfamilies. If difficulties arose in the estates either by attacks ofbandits or by war or other catastrophes, the family members in officialpositions could use their influence and power to restore the property inthe provinces. If, on the other hand, the family members in officialpositions lost their positions or even their lives by displeasing thecourt, the home branch could always find ways to remain untouched andcould, in a generation or two, recruit new members and regain power andinfluence in the government. Thus, as families, the gentry was secure, although failures could occur to individuals. There are many gentryfamilies who remained in the ruling _élite_ for many centuries, someover more than a thousand years, weathering all vicissitudes of life. Some authors believe that Chinese leading families generally passthrough a three- or four-generation cycle: a family member by hisofficial position is able to acquire much land, and his family movesupward. He is able to give the best education and other facilities tohis sons who lead a good life. But either these sons or the grandsonsare spoiled and lazy; they begin to lose their property and status. Thefamily moves downward, until in the fourth or fifth generation a newrise begins. Actual study of families seems to indicate that this is nottrue. The main branch of the family retains its position over centuries. But some of the branch families, created often by the less able familymembers, show a tendency towards downward social mobility. It is clear from the above that a gentry family should be interested inhaving a fair number of children. The more sons they have, the morepositions of power the family can occupy and thus, the more secure itwill be; the more daughters they have, the more "political" marriagesthey can conclude, i. E. Marriages with sons of other gentry families inpositions of influence. Therefore, gentry families in China tend to be, on the average, larger than ordinary families, while in our Westerncountries the leading families usually were smaller than the lower classfamilies. This means that gentry families produced more children thanwas necessary to replenish the available leading positions; thus, somefamily members had to get into lower positions and had to lose status. In view of this situation it was very difficult for lower class familiesto achieve access into this gentry group. In European countries theleading _élite_ did not quite replenish their ranks in the nextgeneration, so that there was always some chance for the lower classesto move up into leading ranks. The gentry society was, therefore, acomparably stable society with little upward social mobility but withsome downward mobility. As a whole and for reasons of gentryself-interest, the gentry stood for stability and against change. The gentry members in the bureaucracy collaborated closely with oneanother because they were tied together by bonds of blood or marriage. It was easy for them to find good tutors for their children, because apupil owed a debt of gratitude to his teacher and a child from a gentryfamily could later on nicely repay this debt; often, these teachersthemselves were members of other gentry families. It was easy for sonsof the gentry to get into official positions, because the people who hadto recommend them for office were often related to them or knew theposition of their family. In Han time, local officials had the duty torecommend young able men; if these men turned out to be good, theofficials were rewarded, if not they were blamed or even punished. Anofficial took less of a chance, if he recommended a son of aninfluential family, and he obliged such a candidate so that he couldlater count on his help if he himself should come into difficulties. When, towards the end of the second century B. C. , a kind of examinationsystem was introduced, this attitude was not basically changed. The country branch of the family by the fact that it controlled largetracts of land, supplied also the logical tax collectors: they had thestanding and power required for this job. Even if they were appointed inareas other than their home country (a rule which later was usuallyapplied), they knew the gentry families of the other district or wererelated to them and got their support by appointing their members astheir assistants. Gentry society continued from Kao Tsu's time to 1948, but it wentthrough a number of phases of development and changed considerably intime. We will later outline some of the most important changes. Ingeneral the number of politically leading gentry families was around onehundred (texts often speak of "the hundred families" in this time) andthey were concentrated in the capital; the most important home seats ofthese families in Han time were close to the capital and east of it orin the plains of eastern China, at that time the main centre of grainproduction. We regard roughly the first one thousand years of "Gentry Society" asthe period of the Chinese "Middle Ages", beginning with the Han dynasty;the preceding time of the Ch'in was considered as a period oftransition, a time in which the feudal period of "Antiquity" came to aformal end and a new organization of society began to become visible. Even those authors who do not accept a sociological classification ofperiods and many authors who use Marxist categories, believe that withCh'in and Han a new era in Chinese history began. 2 _Situation of the Hsiung-nu empire; its relation to the Han empire. Incorporation of South China_ In the time of the Ch'in dynasty there had already come into unpleasantprominence north of the Chinese frontier the tribal union, thenrelatively small, of the Hsiung-nu. Since then, the Hsiung-nu empire haddestroyed the federation of the Yüeh-chih tribes (some of which seem tohave been of Indo-European language stock) and incorporated their peopleinto their own federation; they had conquered also the less wellorganized eastern pastoral tribes, the Tung-hu and thus had become aformidable power. Everything goes to show that it had close relationswith the territories of northern China. Many Chinese seem to havemigrated to the Hsiung-nu empire, where they were welcome as artisansand probably also as farmers; but above all they were needed for thestaffing of a new state administration. The scriveners in the newlyintroduced state secretariat were Chinese and wrote Chinese, for at thattime the Hsiung-nu apparently had no written language. There wereChinese serving as administrators and court officials, and even asinstructors in the army administration, teaching the art of warfareagainst non-nomads. But what was the purpose of all this? Mao Tun, thesecond ruler of the Hsiung-nu, and his first successors undoubtedlyintended ultimately to conquer China, exactly as many other northernpeoples after them planned to do, and a few of them did. The mainpurpose of this was always to bring large numbers of peasants under therule of the nomad rulers and so to solve, once for all, the problem ofthe provision of additional winter food. Everything that was needed, andeverything that seemed to be worth trying to get as they grew morecivilized, would thus be obtained better and more regularly than byraids or by tedious commercial negotiations. But if China was to beconquered and ruled there must exist a state organization of equalauthority to hers; the Hsiung-nu ruler must himself come forward as Sonof Heaven and develop a court ceremonial similar to that of a Chineseemperor. Thus the basis of the organization of the Hsiung-nu state layin its rivalry with the neighbouring China; but the details naturallycorresponded to the special nature of the Hsiung-nu social system. Theyoung Hsiung-nu feudal state differed from the ancient Chinese feudalstate not only in depending on a nomad economy with only supplementaryagriculture, but also in possessing, in addition to a whole class ofnobility and another of commoners, a stratum of slavery to be analysedfurther below. Similar to the Chou state, the Hsiung-nu state contained, especially around the ruler, an element of court bureaucracy which, however, never developed far enough to replace the basically feudalcharacter of administration. Thus Kao Tsu was faced in Mao Tun not with a mere nomad chieftain butwith the most dangerous of enemies, and Kao Tsu's policy had to bedirected to preventing any interference of the Hsiung-nu in NorthChinese affairs, and above all to preventing alliances between Hsiung-nuand Chinese. Hsiung-nu alone, with their technique of horsemen'swarfare, would scarcely have been equal to the permanent conquest of thefortified towns of the north and the Great Wall, although theycontrolled a population which may have been in excess of 2, 000, 000people. But they might have succeeded with Chinese aid. Actually aChinese opponent of Kao Tsu had already come to terms with Mao Tun, andin 200 B. C. Kao Tsu was very near suffering disaster in northern Shansi, as a result of which China would have come under the rule of theHsiung-nu. But it did not come to that, and Mao Tun made no furtherattempt, although the opportunity came several times. Apparently thepolicy adopted by his court was not imperialistic but national, in theuncorrupted sense of the word. It was realized that a country so thicklypopulated as China could only be administered from a centre withinChina. The Hsiung-nu would thus have had to abandon their home territoryand rule in China itself. That would have meant abandoning the flocks, abandoning nomad life, and turning into Chinese. The main supporters ofthe national policy, the first principle of which was loyalty to the oldways of life, seem to have been the tribal chieftains. Mao Tun fell inwith their view, and the Hsiung-nu maintained their state as long asthey adhered to that principle--for some seven hundred years. Othernomad peoples, Toba, Mongols, and Manchus, followed the opposite policy, and before long they were caught in the mechanism of the much morehighly developed Chinese economy and culture, and each of themdisappeared from the political scene in the course of a century or so. The national line of policy of the Hsiung-nu did not at all mean an endof hostilities and raids on Chinese territory, so that Kao Tsu declaredhimself ready to give the Hsiung-nu the foodstuffs and clothingmaterials they needed if they would make an end of their raids. A treatyto this effect was concluded, and sealed by the marriage of a Chineseprincess with Mao Tun. This was the first international treaty in theFar East between two independent powers mutually recognized as equals, and the forms of international diplomacy developed in this time remainedthe standard forms for the next thousand years. The agreement wasrenewed at the accession of each new ruler, but was never adhered toentirely by either side. The needs of the Hsiung-nu increased with theexpansion of their empire and the growing luxury of their court; theChinese, on the other hand, wanted to give as little as possible, and nodoubt they did all they could to cheat the Hsiung-nu. Thus, in spite ofthe treaties the Hsiung-nu raids went on. With China's progressiveconsolidation, the voluntary immigration of Chinese into the Hsiung-nuempire came to an end, and the Hsiung-nu actually began to kidnapChinese subjects. These were the main features of the relations betweenChinese and Hsiung-nu almost until 100 B. C. In the extreme south, around the present-day Canton, another independentempire had been formed in the years of transition, under the leadershipof a Chinese. The narrow basis of this realm was no doubt provided bythe trading colonies, but the indigenous population of Yüeh tribes wasinsufficiently civilized for the building up of a state that could havemaintained itself against China. Kao Tsu sent a diplomatic mission tothe ruler of this state, and invited him to place himself under Chinesesuzerainty (196 B. C. ). The ruler realized that he could offer no seriousresistance, while the existing circumstances guaranteed him virtualindependence and he yielded to Kao Tsu without a struggle. 3 _Brief feudal reaction. Consolidation of the gentry_ Kao Tsu died in 195 B. C. From then to 179 the actual ruler was hiswidow, the empress Lü, while children were officially styled emperors. The empress tried to remove all the representatives of the emperor'sfamily and to replace them with members of her own family. To secure herposition she revived the feudal system, but she met with strongresistance from the dynasty and its supporters who already belonged inmany cases to the new gentry, and who did not want to find theirposition jeopardized by the creation of new feudal lords. On the death of the empress her opponents rose, under the leadership ofKao Tsu's family. Every member of the empress's family was exterminated, and a son of Kao Tsu, known later under the name of Wen Ti (EmperorWen), came to the throne. He reigned from 179 to 157 B. C. Under himthere were still many fiefs, but with the limitation which the emperorKao Tsu had laid down shortly before his death: only members of theimperial family should receive fiefs, to which the title of King wasattached. Thus all the more important fiefs were in the hands of theimperial family, though this did not mean that rivalries came to an end. On the whole Wen Ti's period of rule passed in comparative peace. Forthe first time since the beginning of Chinese history, great areas ofcontinuous territory were under unified rule, without unending internalwarfare such as had existed under Shih Huang-ti and Kao Tsu. Thecreation of so extensive a region of peace produced great economicadvance. The burdens that had lain on the peasant population werereduced, especially since under Wen Ti the court was very frugal. Thepopulation grew and cultivated fresh land, so that production increasedand with it the exchange of goods. The most outstanding sign of this wasthe abandonment of restrictions on the minting of copper coin, in orderto prevent deflation through insufficiency of payment media. As aconsequence more taxes were brought in, partly in kind, partly in coin, and this increased the power of the central government. The new gentrystreamed into the towns, their standard of living rose, and they madethemselves more and more into a class apart from the general population. As people free from material cares, they were able to devote themselvesto scholarship. They went back to the old writings and studied them oncemore. They even began to identify themselves with the nobles of feudaltimes, to adopt the rules of good behaviour and the ceremonial describedin the Confucianist books, and very gradually, as time went on, to makethese their textbooks of good form. From this point the Confucianistideals first began to penetrate the official class recruited from thegentry, and then the state organization itself. It was expected that anofficial should be versed in Confucianism, and schools were set up forConfucianist education. Around 100 B. C. This led to the introduction ofthe examination system, which gradually became the one method ofselection of new officials. The system underwent many changes, butremained in operation in principle until 1904. The object of theexaminations was not to test job efficiency but command of the ideals ofthe gentry and knowledge of the literature inculcating them: this wasregarded as sufficient qualification for any position in the service ofthe state. In theory this path to training of character and to admission to thestate service was open to every "respectable" citizen. Of thetraditional four "classes" of Chinese society, only the first two, officials (_shih_) and farmers (_nung_) were always regarded as fully"respectable" (_liang-min_). Members of the other two classes, artisans(_kung_) and merchants (_shang_), were under numerous restrictions. Below these were classes of "lowly people" (_ch'ien-min_) and belowthese the slaves which were not part of society proper. The privilegesand obligations of these categories were soon legally fixed. Inpractice, during the first thousand years of the existence of theexamination system no peasant had a chance to become an official bymeans of the examinations. In the Han period the provincial officialshad to propose suitable young persons for examination, and so foradmission to the state service, as was already mentioned. In addition, schools had been instituted for the sons of officials; it is interestingto note that there were, again and again, complaints about the low levelof instruction in these schools. Nevertheless, through these schools allsons of officials, whatever their capacity or lack of capacity, couldbecome officials in their turn. In spite of its weaknesses, the systemhad its good side. It inoculated a class of people with ideals that wereunquestionably of high ethical value. The Confucian moral system gave aChinese official or any member of the gentry a spiritual attitude and anoutward bearing which in their best representatives has always commandedrespect, an integrity that has always preserved its possessors, and inconsequence Chinese society as a whole, from moral collapse, fromspiritual nihilism, and has thus contributed to the preservation ofChinese cultural values in spite of all foreign conquerors. In the time of Wen Ti and especially of his successors, the revival atcourt of the Confucianist ritual and of the earlier Heaven-worshipproceeded steadily. The sacrifices supposed to have been performed inancient times, the ritual supposed to have been prescribed for theemperor in the past, all this was reintroduced. Obviously much of it wasspurious: much of the old texts had been lost, and when fragments werefound they were arbitrarily completed. Moreover, the old writing wasdifficult to read and difficult to understand; thus various things wereread into the texts without justification. The new Confucians who cameforward as experts in the moral code were very different men from theirpredecessors; above all, like all their contemporaries, they werestrongly influenced by the shamanistic magic that had developed in theCh'in period. Wen Ti's reign had brought economic advance and prosperity;intellectually it had been a period of renaissance, but like every suchperiod it did not simply resuscitate what was old, but filled theancient moulds with an entirely new content. Socially the period hadwitnessed the consolidation of the new upper class, the gentry, whocopied the mode of life of the old nobility. This is seen most clearlyin the field of law. In the time of the Legalists the first steps hadbeen taken in the codification of the criminal law. They clearlyintended these laws to serve equally for all classes of the people. TheCh'in code which was supposedly Li K'uei's code, was used in the Hanperiod, and was extensively elaborated by Siao Ho (died 193 B. C. ) andothers. This code consisted of two volumes of the chief laws for gravecases, one of mixed laws for the less serious cases, and six volumes onthe imposition of penalties. In the Han period "decisions" were added, so that about A. D. 200 the code had grown to 26, 272 paragraphs with over17, 000, 000 words. The collection then consisted of 960 volumes. Thiscolossal code has been continually revised, abbreviated, or expanded, and under its last name of "Collected Statues of the Manchu Dynasty" itretained its validity down to the present century. Alongside this collection there was another book that came to beregarded and used as a book of precedences. The great Confucianistphilosopher Tung Chung-shu (179-104 B. C. ), a firm supporter of theideology of the new gentry class, declared that the classic Confucianistwritings, and especially the book _Ch'un-ch'iu_, "Annals of Spring andAutumn", attributed to Confucius himself, were essentially books oflegal decisions. They contained "cases" and Confucius's decisions ofthem. Consequently any case at law that might arise could be decided byanalogy with the cases contained in "Annals of Spring and Autumn". Onlyan educated person, of course, a member of the gentry, could claim thathis action should be judged by the decisions of Confucius and not by thecode compiled for the common people, for Confucius had expressly statedthat his rules were intended only for the upper class. Thus, right downto modern times an educated person could be judged under regulationsdifferent from those applicable to the common people, or if judged onthe basis of the laws, he had to expect a special treatment. Theprinciple of the "equality before the law" which the Legalists hadadvocated and which fitted well into the absolutistic, totalitariansystem of the Ch'in, had been attacked by the feudal nobility at thattime and was attacked by the new gentry of the Han time. Legalistthinking remained an important undercurrent for many centuries to come, but application of the equalitarian principle was from now on neverseriously considered. Against the growing influence of the officials belonging to the gentrythere came a last reaction. It came as a reply to the attempt of arepresentative of the gentry to deprive the feudal princes of the wholeof their power. In the time of Wen Ti's successor a number of feudalkings formed an alliance against the emperor, and even invited theHsiung-nu to join them. The Hsiung-nu did not do so, because they sawthat the rising had no prospect of success, and it was quelled. Afterthat the feudal princes were steadily deprived of rights. They weredivided into two classes, and only privileged ones were permitted tolive in the capital, the others being required to remain in theirdomains. At first, the area was controlled by a "minister" of theprince, an official of the state; later the area remained under normaladministration and the feudal prince kept only an empty title; the taxincome of a certain number of families of an area was assigned to himand transmitted to him by normal administrative channels. Often, thenumber of assigned families was fictional in that the actual income wasfrom far fewer families. This system differs from the Near Easternsystem in which also no actual enfeoffment took place, but wheredeserving men were granted the right to collect themselves the taxes ofa certain area with certain numbers of families. Soon after this the whole government was given the shape which itcontinued to have until A. D. 220, and which formed the point ofdeparture for all later forms of government. At the head of the statewas the emperor, in theory the holder of absolute power in the staterestricted only by his responsibility towards "Heaven", i. E. He had tofollow and to enforce the basic rules of morality, otherwise "Heaven"would withdraw its "mandate", the legitimation of the emperor's rule, and would indicate this withdrawal by sending natural catastrophes. Timeand again we find emperors publicly accusing themselves for their faultswhen such catastrophes occurred; and to draw the emperor's attention toactual or made-up calamities or celestrial irregularities was one way tocriticize an emperor and to force him to change his behaviour. There aretwo other indications which show that Chinese emperors--excepting a fewindividual cases--at least in the first ten centuries of gentry societywere not despots: it can be proved that in some fields theresponsibility for governmental action did not lie with the emperor butwith some of his ministers. Secondly, the emperor was bound by the lawcode: he could not change it nor abolish it. We know of cases in whichthe ruler disregarded the code, but then tried to "defend" his arbitraryaction. Each new dynasty developed a new law code, usually changing onlydetails of the punishment, not the basic regulations. Rulers could issueadditional "regulations", but these, too, had to be in the spirit ofthe general code and the existing moral norms. This situation has somesimilarity to the situation in Muslim countries. At the ruler's sidewere three counsellors who had, however, no active functions. The realconduct of policy lay in the hands of the "chancellor", or of one of the"nine ministers". Unlike the practice with which we are familiar in theWest, the activities of the ministries (one of them being the courtsecretariat) were concerned primarily with the imperial palace. As, however, the court secretariat, one of the nine ministries, was at thesame time a sort of imperial statistical office, in which all economic, financial, and military statistical material was assembled, decisions onissues of critical importance for the whole country could and did comefrom it. The court, through the Ministry of Supplies, operated mines andworkshops in the provinces and organized the labour service for publicconstructions. The court also controlled centrally the conscription forthe general military service. Beside the ministries there was anextensive administration of the capital with its military guards. Thevarious parts of the country, including the lands given as fiefs toprinces, had a local administration, entirely independent of the centralgovernment and more or less elaborated according to their size. Theregional administration was loosely associated with the centralgovernment through a sort of primitive ministry of the interior, andsimilarly the Chinese representatives in the protectorates, that is tosay the foreign states which had submitted to Chinese protectiveoverlordship, were loosely united with a sort of foreign ministry in thecentral government. When a rising or a local war broke out, that was theaffair of the officer of the region concerned. If the regional troopswere insufficient, those of the adjoining regions were drawn upon; ifeven these were insufficient, a real "state of war" came into being;that is to say, the emperor appointed eight generals-in-chief, mobilizedthe imperial troops, and intervened. This imperial army then hadauthority over the regional and feudal troops, the troops of theprotectorates, the guards of the capital, and those of the imperialpalace. At the end of the war the imperial army was demobilized and thegenerals-in-chief were transferred to other posts. In all this there gradually developed a division into civil and militaryadministration. A number of regions would make up a province with amilitary governor, who was in a sense the representative of the imperialarmy, and who was supposed to come into activity only in the event ofwar. This administration of the Han period lacked the tight organization thatwould make precise functioning possible. On the other hand, anextremely important institution had already come into existence in aprimitive form. As central statistical authority, the court secretariathad a special position within the ministries and supervised theadministration of the other offices. Thus there existed alongside theexecutive a means of independent supervision of it, and the resultingrivalry enabled the emperor or the chancellor to detect and eliminateirregularities. Later, in the system of the T'ang period (A. D. 618-906), this institution developed into an independent censorship, and thesystem was given a new form as a "State and Court Secretariat", in whichthe whole executive was comprised and unified. Towards the end of theT'ang period the permanent state of war necessitated the permanentcommissioning of the imperial generals-in-chief and of the militarygovernors, and as a result there came into existence a "Privy Council ofState", which gradually took over functions of the executive. The systemof administration in the Han and in the T'ang period is shown in thefollowing table: _Han epoch_ _T'ang epoch_ 1. Emperor 1. Emperor 2. Three counsellors to the emperor 2. Three counsellors and three (with no active functions) assistants (with no active functions) 3. Eight supreme generals 3. Generals and Governors-General (only appointed in time of war) (only appointed in time of war; but in practice continuously in office) 4. ---- 4. (a) State secretariat (1) Central secretariat (2) Secretariat of the Crown (3) Secretariat of the Palace and imperial historical commission 4. (b) Emperor's Secretariat (1) Private Archives (2) Court Adjutants' Office (3) Harem administration 5. Court administration (Ministries) 5. Court administration (Ministries) (1) Ministry for state sacrifices (1) Ministry for state sacrifices (2) Ministry for imperial coaches (2) Ministry for imperial and horses coaches and horses (3) Ministry for justice at court (3) Ministry for justice at court (4) Ministry for receptions (4) Ministry for receptions (i. E. Foreign affairs) (5) Ministry for ancestors' (5) Ministry for ancestors' temples temples (6) Ministry for supplies to the (6) Ministry for supplies to court the court (7) Ministry for the harem (7) Economic and financial Ministry (8) Ministry for the palace (8) Ministry for the payment guards of salaries (9) Ministry for the court (9) Ministry for armament (state secretariat) and magazines 6. Administration of the capital: 6. Administration of the capital: (1) Crown prince's palace (1) Crown prince's palace (2) Security service for the capital (2) Palace guards and guards' office (3) Capital administration: (3) Arms production (a) Guards of the capital department (b) Guards of the city gates (c) Building department (4) Labour service department (5) Building department (6) Transport department (7) Department for education (of sons of officials!) 7. Ministry of the Interior 7. Ministry of the Interior (Provincial administration) (Provincial administration) 8. Foreign Ministry 8. ---- 9. Censorship (Audit council) There is no denying that according to our standard this whole system wasstill elementary and "personal", that is to say, attached to theemperor's person--though it should not be overlooked that we ourselvesare not yet far from a similar phase of development. To this day thetitles of not a few of the highest officers of state--the Lord PrivySeal, for instance--recall that in the past their offices were conceivedas concerned purely with the personal service of the monarch. In onepoint, however, the Han administrative set-up was quite modern: italready had a clear separation between the emperor's private treasuryand the state treasury; laws determined which of the two receivedcertain taxes and which had to make certain payments. This separation, which in Europe occurred not until the late Middle Ages, in China wasabolished at the end of the Han Dynasty. The picture changes considerably to the advantage of the Chinese as soonas we consider the provincial administration. The governor of aprovince, and each of his district officers or prefects, had a staffoften of more than a hundred officials. These officials were drawn fromthe province or prefecture and from the personal friends of theadministrator, and they were appointed by the governor or the prefect. The staff was made up of officials responsible for communications withthe central or provincial administration (private secretary, controller, finance officer), and a group of officials who carried on the actuallocal administration. There were departments for transport, finance, education, justice, medicine (hygiene), economic and military affairs, market control, and presents (which had to be made to the higherofficials at the New Year and on other occasions). In addition to theseoffices, organized in a quite modern style, there was an office foradvising the governor and another for drafting official documents andletters. The interesting feature of this system is that the provincialadministration was _de facto_ independent of the central administration, and that the governor and even his prefects could rule like kings intheir regions, appointing and discharging as they chose. This was avestige of feudalism, but on the other hand it was a healthy checkagainst excessive centralization. It is thanks to this system that eventhe collapse of the central power or the cutting off of a part of theempire did not bring the collapse of the country. In a remote frontiertown like Tunhuang, on the border of Turkestan, the life of the localChinese went on undisturbed whether communication with the capital wasmaintained or was broken through invasions by foreigners. The officialsent from the centre would be liable at any time to be transferredelsewhere; and he had to depend on the practical knowledge of hissubordinates, the members of the local families of the gentry. Theseofficials had the local government in their hands, and carried on theadministration of places like Tunhuang through a thousand years andmore. The Hsin family, for instance, was living there in 50 B. C. And wasstill there in A. D. 950; and so were the Yin, Ling-hu, Li, and K'angfamilies. All the officials of the various offices or Ministries were appointedunder the state examination system, but they had no special professionaltraining; only for the more important subordinate posts were therespecialists, such as jurists, physicians, and so on. A change cametowards the end of the T'ang period, when a Department of Commerce andMonopolies was set up; only specialists were appointed to it, and it wasplaced directly under the emperor. Except for this, any official couldbe transferred from any ministry to any other without regard to hisexperience. 4 _Turkestan policy. End of the Hsiung-nu empire_ In the two decades between 160 and 140 B. C. There had been furthertrouble with the Hsiung-nu, though there was no large-scale fighting. There was a fundamental change of policy under the next emperor, Wu (orWu Ti, 141-86 B. C. ). The Chinese entered for the first time upon anactive policy against the Hsiung-nu. There seem to have been severalreasons for this policy, and several objectives. The raids of theHsiung-nu from the Ordos region and from northern Shansi had shownthemselves to be a direct menace to the capital and to its extremelyimportant hinterland. Northern Shansi is mountainous, with deep ravines. A considerable army on horseback could penetrate some distance to thesouth before attracting attention. Northern Shensi and the Ordos regionare steppe country, in which there were very few Chinese settlements andthrough which an army of horsemen could advance very quickly. It wastherefore determined to push back the Hsiung-nu far enough to removethis threat. It was also of importance to break the power of theHsiung-nu in the province of Kansu, and to separate them as far aspossible from the Tibetans living in that region, to prevent any unionbetween those two dangerous adversaries. A third point of importance wasthe safeguarding of caravan routes. The state, and especially thecapital, had grown rich through Wen Ti's policy. Goods streamed into thecapital from all quarters. Commerce with central Asia had particularlyincreased, bringing the products of the Middle East to China. Thecaravan routes passed through western Shensi and Kansu to easternTurkestan, but at that time the Hsiung-nu dominated the approaches toTurkestan and were in a position to divert the trade to themselves orcut it off. The commerce brought profit not only to the caravan traders, most of whom were probably foreigners, but to the officials in theprovinces and prefectures through which the routes passed. Thus theofficials in western China were interested in the trade routes beingbrought under direct control, so that the caravans could arriveregularly and be immune from robbery. Finally, the Chinese governmentmay well have regarded it as little to its honour to be still payingdues to the Hsiung-nu and sending princesses to their rulers, now thatChina was incomparably wealthier and stronger than at the time when thatpolicy of appeasement had begun. [Illustration: Map 3. China in the struggle with, the Huns or Hsiung Nu_(roughly 128-100 B. C. )_] The first active step taken was to try, in 133 B. C. , to capture thehead of the Hsiung-nu state, who was called a _shan-yü_; but the_shan-yü_ saw through the plan and escaped. There followed a period ofcontinuous fighting until 119 B. C. The Chinese made countless attacks, without lasting success. But the Hsiung-nu were weakened, one sign ofthis being that there were dissensions after the death of the _shan-yü_Chün-ch'en, and in 127 B. C. His son went over to the Chinese. Finallythe Chinese altered their tactics, advancing in 119 B. C. With a strongarmy of cavalry, which suffered enormous losses but inflicted seriousloss on the Hsiung-nu. After that the Hsiung-nu withdrew farther to thenorth, and the Chinese settled peasants in the important region ofKansu. Meanwhile, in 125 B. C. , the famous Chang Ch'ien had returned. He hadbeen sent in 138 to conclude an alliance with the Yüeh-chih against theHsiung-nu. The Yüeh-chih had formerly been neighbours of the Hsiung-nuas far as the Ala Shan region, but owing to defeat by the Hsiung-nutheir remnants had migrated to western Turkestan. Chang Ch'ien hadfollowed them. Politically he had had no success, but he brought backaccurate information about the countries in the far west, concerningwhich nothing had been known beyond the vague reports of merchants. Nowit was learnt whence the foreign goods came and whither the Chinesegoods went. Chang Ch'ien's reports (which are one of the principalsources for the history of central Asia at that remote time)strengthened the desire to enter into direct and assured commercialrelations with those distant countries. The government evidently thoughtof getting this commerce into its own hands. The way to do this was toimpose "tribute" on the countries concerned. The idea was that themissions bringing the annual "tribute" would be a sort of statebartering commissions. The state laid under tribute must supplyspecified goods at its own cost, and received in return Chinese produce, the value of which was to be roughly equal to the "tribute". Thus ChangCh'ien's reports had the result that, after the first successes againstthe Hsiung-nu, there was increased interest in a central Asian policy. The greatest military success were the campaigns of General Li Kuang-lito Ferghana in 104 and 102 B. C. The result of the campaigns was to bringunder tribute all the small states in the Tarim basin and some of thestates of western Turkestan. From now on not only foreign consumer goodscame freely into China, but with them a great number of other things, notably plants such as grape, peach, pomegranate. In 108 B. C. The western part of Korea was also conquered. Korea wasalready an important transit region for the trade with Japan. Thus thistrade also came under the direct influence of the Chinese government. Although this conquest represented a peril to the eastern flank of theHsiung-nu, it did not by any means mean that they were conquered. TheHsiung-nu while weakened evaded the Chinese pressure, but in 104 B. C. And again in 91 they inflicted defeats on the Chinese. The Hsiung-nuwere indirectly threatened by Chinese foreign policy, for the Chineseconcluded an alliance with old enemies of the Hsiung-nu, the Wu-sun, inthe north of the Tarim basin. This made the Tarim basin secure for theChinese, and threatened the Hsiung-nu with a new danger in their rear. Finally the Chinese did all they could through intrigue, espionage, andsabotage to promote disunity and disorder within the Hsiung-nu, thoughit cannot be seen from the Chinese accounts how far the Chinese wereresponsible for the actual conflicts and the continual changes of_shan-yü_. Hostilities against the Hsiung-nu continued incessantly, after the death of Wu Ti, under his successor, so that the Hsiung-nuwere further weakened. In consequence of this it was possible to rouseagainst them other tribes who until then had been dependent on them--theTing-ling in the north and the Wu-huan in the east. The internaldifficulties of the Hsiung-nu increased further. Wu Ti's active policy had not been directed only against the Hsiung-nu. After heavy fighting he brought southern China, with the region roundCanton, and the south-eastern coast, firmly under Chinese dominion--inthis case again on account of trade interests. No doubt there werealready considerable colonies of foreign merchants in Canton and othercoastal towns, trading in Indian and Middle East goods. The traders seemoften to have been Sogdians. The southern wars gave Wu Ti the control ofthe revenues from this commerce. He tried several times to advancethrough Yünnan in order to secure a better land route to India, butthese attempts failed. Nevertheless, Chinese influence became strongerin the south-west. In spite of his long rule, Wu Ti did not leave an adult heir, as thecrown prince was executed, with many other persons, shortly before WuTi's death. The crown prince had been implicated in an alleged attemptby a large group of people to remove the emperor by various sorts ofmagic. It is difficult to determine today what lay behind this affair;probably it was a struggle between two cliques of the gentry. Thus aregency council had to be set up for the young heir to the throne; itincluded a member of a Hsiung-nu tribe. The actual government was in thehands of a general and his clique until the death of the heir to thethrone, and at the beginning of his successor's reign. At this time came the end of the Hsiung-nu empire--a foreign event ofthe utmost importance. As a result of the continual disastrous warsagainst the Chinese, in which not only many men but, especially, largequantities of cattle fell into Chinese hands, the livelihood of theHsiung-nu was seriously threatened; their troubles were increased byplagues and by unusually severe winters. To these troubles were addedpolitical difficulties, including unsettled questions in regard to thesuccession to the throne. The result of all this was that the Hsiung-nucould no longer offer effective military resistance to the Chinese. There were a number of _shan-yü_ ruling contemporaneously as rivals, andone of them had to yield to the Chinese in 58 B. C. ; in 51 he came as avassal to the Chinese court. The collapse of the Hsiung-nu empire wascomplete. After 58 B. C. The Chinese were freed from all danger from thatquarter and were able, for a time, to impose their authority in CentralAsia. 5 _Impoverishment. Cliques. End of the Dynasty_ In other respects the Chinese were not doing as well as might have beenassumed. The wars carried on by Wu Ti and his successors had beenruinous. The maintenance of large armies of occupation in the newregions, especially in Turkestan, also meant a permanent drain on thenational funds. There was a special need for horses, for the people ofthe steppes could only be fought by means of cavalry. As the Hsiung-nuwere supplying no horses, and the campaigns were not producing horsesenough as booty, the peasants had to rear horses for the government. Additional horses were bought at very high prices, and apart from thisthe general financing of the wars necessitated increased taxation of thepeasants, a burden on agriculture no less serious than was the enrolmentof many peasants for military service. Finally, the new external tradedid not by any means bring the advantages that had been hoped for. Thetribute missions brought tribute but, to begin with, this meant anobligation to give presents in return; moreover, these missions had tobe fed and housed in the capital, often for months, as the officialreceptions took place only on New Year's Day. Their maintenance entailedmuch expense, and meanwhile the members of the missions traded privatelywith the inhabitants and the merchants of the capital, buying thingsthey needed and selling things they had brought in addition to thetribute. The tribute itself consisted mainly of "precious articles", which meant strange or rare things of no practical value. The emperormade use of them as elements of personal luxury, or made presents ofsome of them to deserving officials. The gifts offered by the Chinese inreturn consisted mainly of silk. Silk was received by the government asa part of the tax payments and formed an important element of therevenue of the state. It now went abroad without bringing in anycorresponding return. The private trade carried on by the members of themissions was equally unserviceable to the Chinese. It, too, took fromthem goods of economic value, silk and gold, which went abroad inexchange for luxury articles of little or no economic importance, suchas glass, precious stones, or stud horses, which in no way benefited thegeneral population. Thus in this last century B. C. China's economicsituation grew steadily and fairly rapidly worse. The peasants, moreheavily taxed than ever, were impoverished, and yet the exchequer becamenot fuller but emptier, so that gold began even to be no longeravailable for payments. Wu Ti was aware of the situation and calleddifferent groups together to discuss the problems of economics. Underthe name "Discussions on Salt and Iron" the gist of these talks ispreserved and shows that one group under the leadership of SangHung-yang (143-80 B. C. ) was business-oriented and thinking in economicterms, while their opponents, mainly Confucianists, regarded thesituation mainly as a moral crisis. Sang proposed an "equabletransportation" and a "standardization" system and favoured other statemonopolies and controls; these ideas were taken up later and continuedto be discussed, again and again. Already under Wu Ti there had been signs of a development which nowappeared constantly in Chinese history. Among the new gentry, familiesentered into alliances with each other, sealed their mutual allegianceby matrimonial unions, and so formed large cliques. Each clique made itits concern to get the most important government positions into itshands, so that it should itself control the government. Under Wu Ti, forexample, almost all the important generals had belonged to a certainclique, which remained dominant under his two successors. Two of thechief means of attaining power were for such a clique to give theemperor a girl from its ranks as wife, and to see to it that all theeunuchs around the emperor should be persons dependent on the clique. Eunuchs came generally from the poorer classes; they were launched atcourt by members of the great cliques, or quite openly presented to theemperor. The chief influence of the cliques lay, however, in the selection ofofficials. It is not surprising that the officials recommended only sonsof people in their own clique--their family or its closest associates. On top of all this, the examiners were in most cases themselves membersof the same families to which the provincial officials belonged. Thus itwas made doubly certain that only those candidates who were to theliking of the dominant group among the gentry should pass. Surrounded by these cliques, the emperors became in most cases powerlessfigureheads. At times energetic rulers were able to play off variouscliques against each other, and so to acquire personal power; but theweaker emperors found themselves entirely in the hands of cliques. Not afew emperors in China were removed by cliques which they had attemptedto resist; and various dynasties were brought to their end by thecliques; this was the fate of the Han dynasty. The beginning of its fall came with the activities of the widow of theemperor Yüan Ti. She virtually ruled in the name of hereighteen-year-old son, the emperor Ch'eng Ti (32-7 B. C. ), and placed allher brothers, and also her nephew, Wang Mang, in the principalgovernment posts. They succeeded at first in either removing thestrongest of the other cliques or bringing them into dependence. Withinthe Wang family the nephew Wang Mang steadily advanced, securing directsupporters even in some branches of the imperial family; thesepersonages declared their readiness to join him in removing the existingline of the imperial house. When Ch'eng Ti died without issue, a youngnephew of his (Ai Ti, 6-1 B. C. ) was placed on the throne by Wang Mang, and during this period the power of the Wangs and their allies grewfurther, until all their opponents had been removed and the influence ofthe imperial family very greatly reduced. When Ai Ti died, Wang Mangplaced an eight-year-old boy on the throne, himself acting as regent;four years later the boy fell ill and died, probably with Wang Mang'said. Wang Mang now chose a one-year-old baby, but soon after he feltthat the time had come for officially assuming the rulership. In A. D. 8he dethroned the baby, ostensibly at Heaven's command, and declaredhimself emperor and first of the Hsin ("new") dynasty. All the membersof the old imperial family in the capital were removed from office anddegraded to commoners, with the exception of those who had already beensupporting Wang Mang. Only those members who held unimportant posts at adistance remained untouched. Wang Mang's "usurpation" is unusual from two points of view. First, hepaid great attention to public opinion and induced large masses of thepopulation to write petitions to the court asking the Han ruler toabdicate; he even fabricated "heavenly omina" in his own favour andagainst the Han dynasty in order to get wide support even fromintellectuals. Secondly, he inaugurated a formal abdication ceremony, culminating in the transfer of the imperial seal to himself. Thisceremony became standard for the next centuries. The seal was made of aprecious stone, once presented to the Ch'in dynasty ruler before heascended the throne. From now on, the possessor of this seal was thelegitimate ruler. 6 _The pseudo-socialistic dictatorship. Revolt of the "Red Eyebrows"_ Wang Mang's dynasty lasted only from A. D. 9 to 23; but it was one of themost stirring periods of Chinese history. It is difficult to evaluateWang Mang, because all we know about him stems from sources hostiletowards him. Yet we gain the impression that some of his innovations, such as the legalization of enthronement through the transfer of theseal; the changes in the administration of provinces and in thebureaucratic set-up in the capital; and even some of his economicmeasures were so highly regarded that they were retained orre-introduced, although this happened in some instances centuries laterand without mentioning Wang Mang's name. But most of his policies andactions were certainly neither accepted nor acceptable. He made use ofevery conceivable resource in order to secure power to his clique. Asfar as possible he avoided using open force, and resorted to ahigh-level propaganda. Confucianism, the philosophic basis of the powerof the gentry, served him as a bait; he made use of the so-called "oldcharacter school" for his purposes. When, after the holocaust of books, it was desired to collect the ancient classics again, texts were foundunder strange circumstances in the walls of Confucius's house; they werewritten in an archaic script. The people who occupied themselves withthese books were called the old character school. The texts came undersuspicion; most scholars had little belief in their genuineness. WangMang, however, and his creatures energetically supported the cult ofthese ancient writings. The texts were edited and issued, and in theprocess, as can now be seen, certain things were smuggled into them thatfitted in well with Wang Mang's intentions. He even had other textsreissued with falsifications. He now represented himself in all hisactions as a man who did with the utmost precision the things which thebooks reported of rulers or ministers of ancient times. As regent he haddeclared that his model was the brother of the first emperor of the Choudynasty; as emperor he took for his exemplar one of the mythicalemperors of ancient China; of his new laws he claimed that they weresimply revivals of decrees of the golden age. In all this he appealed tothe authority of literature that had been tampered with to suit hisaims. Actually, such laws had never before been customary; either WangMang completely misinterpreted passages in an ancient text to suit hispurpose, or he had dicta that suited him smuggled into the text. Therecan be no question that Wang Mang and his accomplices began bydeliberately falsifying and deceiving. However, as time went on, heprobably began to believe in his own frauds. Wang Mang's great series of certain laws has brought him the name of"the first Socialist on the throne of China". But closer considerationreveals that these measures, ostensibly and especially aimed at the goodof the poor, were in reality devised simply in order to fill theimperial exchequer and to consolidate the imperial power. When we readof the turning over of great landed estates to the state, do we notimagine that we are faced with a modern land reform? But this appliedonly to the wealthiest of all the landowners, who were to be deprived inthis way of their power. The prohibition of private slave-owning had asimilar purpose, the state reserving to itself the right to keep slaves. Moreover, landless peasants were to receive land to till, at the expenseof those who possessed too much. This admirable law, however, was notintended seriously to be carried into effect. Instead, the setting up ofa system of state credits for peasants held out the promise, in spite ofrather reduced interest rates, of important revenue. The peasants hadnever been in a position to pay back their private debts together withthe usurious interest, but there were at least opportunities of comingto terms with a private usurer, whereas the state proved a mercilesscreditor. It could dispossess the peasant, and either turn his propertyinto a state farm, convey it to another owner, or make the peasant astate slave. Thus this measure worked against the interest of thepeasants, as did the state monopoly of the exploitation of mountains andlakes. "Mountains and lakes" meant the uncultivated land aroundsettlements, the "village commons", where people collected firewood orwent fishing. They now had to pay money for fishing rights and for theright to collect wood, money for the emperor's exchequer. The samepurpose lay behind the wine, salt, and iron tool monopolies. Enormousrevenues came to the state from the monopoly of minting coin, when oldmetal coin of full value was called in and exchanged for debased coin. Another modern-sounding institution, that of the "equalization offices", was supposed to buy cheap goods in times of plenty in order to sell themto the people in times of scarcity at similarly low prices, sopreventing want and also preventing excessive price fluctuations. Inactual fact these state offices formed a new source of profit, buyingcheaply and selling as dearly as possible. Thus the character of these laws was in no way socialistic; nor, however, did they provide an El Dorado for the state finances, for WangMang's officials turned all the laws to their private advantage. Therevenues rarely reached the capital; they vanished into the pockets ofsubordinate officials. The result was a further serious lowering of thelevel of existence of the peasant population, with no addition to thefinancial resources of the state. Yet Wang Mang had great need of money, because he attached importance to display and because he was planning anew war. He aimed at the final destruction of the Hsiung-nu, so thataccess to central Asia should no longer be precarious and it should thusbe possible to reduce the expense of the military administration ofTurkestan. The war would also distract popular attention from thetroubles at home. By way of preparation for war, Wang Mang sent amission to the Hsiung-nu with dishonouring proposals, including changesin the name of the Hsiung-nu and in the title of the _shan-yü_. The nameHsiung-nu was to be given the insulting change of Hsiang-nu, meaning"subjugated slaves". The result was that risings of the Hsiung-nu tookplace, whereupon Wang Mang commanded that the whole of their countryshould be partitioned among fifteen _shan-yü_ and declared the countryto be a Chinese province. Since this declaration had no practicalresult, it robbed Wang Mang of the increased prestige he had sought andonly further infuriated the Hsiung-nu. Wang Mang concentrated a vastarmy on the frontier. Meanwhile he lost the whole of the possessions inTurkestan. But before Wang Mang's campaign against the Hsiung-nu could begin, thedifficulties at home grew steadily worse. In A. D. 12 Wang Mang feltobliged to abrogate all his reform legislation because it could not becarried into effect; and the economic situation proved more lamentablethan ever. There were continual risings, which culminated in A. D. 18 ina great popular insurrection, a genuine revolutionary rising of thepeasants, whose distress had grown beyond bearing through Wang Mang'sill-judged measures. The rebels called themselves "Red Eyebrows"; theyhad painted their eyebrows red by way of badge and in order to bindtheir members indissolubly to their movement. The nucleus of this risingwas a secret society. Such secret societies, usually are harmless, butmay, in emergency situations, become an immensely effective instrumentin the hands of the rural population. The secret societies then organizethe peasants, in order to achieve a forcible settlement of the matter indispute. Occasionally, however, the movement grows far beyond itsleaders' original objective and becomes a popular revolutionarymovement, directed against the whole ruling class. That is what happenedon this occasion. Vast swarms of peasants marched to the capital, killing all officials and people of position on their way. The troopssent against them by Wang Mang either went over to the Red Eyebrows orcopied them, plundering wherever they could and killing officials. Owingto the appalling mass murders and the fighting, the forces placed byWang Mang along the frontier against the Hsiung-nu received noreinforcements and, instead of attacking the Hsiung-nu, themselves wentover to plundering, so that ultimately the army simply disintegrated. Fortunately for China, the _shan-yü_ of the time did not take advantageof his opportunity, perhaps because his position within the Hsiung-nuempire was too insecure. Scarcely had the popular rising begun when descendants of the deposedHan dynasty appeared and tried to secure the support of the upper class. They came forward as fighters against the usurper Wang Mang and asdefenders of the old social order against the revolutionary masses. Butthe armies which these Han princes were able to collect were no betterthan those of the other sides. They, too, consisted of poor and hungrypeasants, whose aim was to get money or goods by robbery; they too, plundered and murdered more than they fought. However, one prince by the name of Liu Hsiu gradually gained the upperhand. The basis of his power was the district of Nanyang in Honan, oneof the wealthiest agricultural centres of China at that time and alsothe centre of iron and steel production. The big landowners, the gentryof Nanyang, joined him, and the prince's party conquered the capital. Wang Mang, placing entire faith in his sanctity, did not flee; he sat inhis robes in the throne-room and recited the ancient writings, convincedthat he would overcome his adversaries by the power of his words. But asoldier cut off his head (A. D. 22). The skull was kept for two hundredyears in the imperial treasury. The fighting, nevertheless, went on. Various branches of the prince's party fought one another, and all ofthem fought the Red Eyebrows. In those years millions of men came totheir end. Finally, in A. D. 24, Liu Hsiu prevailed, becoming the firstemperor of the second Han dynasty, also called the Later Han dynasty;his name as emperor was Kuang-wu Ti (A. D. 25-57). 7 _Reaction and Restoration: the Later Han dynasty_ Within the country the period that followed was one of reaction andrestoration. The massacres of the preceding years had so reduced thepopulation that there was land enough for the peasants who remainedalive. Moreover, their lords and the money-lenders of the towns weregenerally no longer alive, so that many peasants had become free ofdebt. The government was transferred from Sian to Loyang, in the presentprovince of Honan. This brought the capital nearer to the greatwheat-producing regions, so that the transport of grain and other taxesin kind to the capital was cheapened. Soon this cleared foundation wascovered by a new stratum, a very sparse one, of great landowners whowere supporters and members of the new imperial house, largelydescendants of the landowners of the earlier Han period. At first theywere not much in evidence, but they gained power more and more rapidly. In spite of this, the first half-century of the Later Han period was oneof good conditions on the land and economic recovery. 8 _Hsiung-nu policy_ In foreign policy the first period of the Later Han dynasty was one ofextraordinary success, both in the extreme south and in the question ofthe Hsiung-nu. During the period of Wang Mang's rule and the fightingconnected with it, there had been extensive migration to the south andsouth-west. Considerable regions of Chinese settlement had come intoexistence in Yünnan and even in Annam and Tongking, and a series ofcampaigns under General Ma Yüan (14 B. C. -A. D. 49) now added theseregions to the territory of the empire. These wars were carried on withrelatively small forces, as previously in the Canton region, the nativesbeing unable to offer serious resistance owing to their inferiority inequipment and civilization. The hot climate, however, to which theChinese soldiers were unused, was hard for them to endure. The Hsiung-nu, in spite of internal difficulties, had regainedconsiderable influence in Turkestan during the reign of Wang Mang. Butthe king of the city state of Yarkand had increased his power byshrewdly playing off Chinese and Hsiung-nu against each other, so thatbefore long he was able to attack the Hsiung-nu. The small states inTurkestan, however, regarded the overlordship of the distant China aspreferable to that of Yarkand or the Hsiung-nu both of whom, beingnearer, were able to bring their power more effectively into play. Accordingly many of the small states appealed for Chinese aid. Kuang-wuTi met this appeal with a blank refusal, implying that order had onlyjust been restored in China and that he now simply had not the resourcesfor a campaign in Turkestan. Thus, the king of Yarkand was able toextend his power over the remainder of the small states of Turkestan, since the Hsiung-nu had been obliged to withdraw. Kuang-wu Ti had hadseveral frontier wars with the Hsiung-nu without any decisive result. But in the years around A. D. 45 the Hsiung-nu had suffered severalsevere droughts and also great plagues of locusts, so that they had losta large part of their cattle. They were no longer able to assertthemselves in Turkestan and at the same time to fight the Chinese in thesouth and the Hsien-pi and the Wu-huan in the east. These two peoples, apparently largely of Mongol origin, had been subject in the past toHsiung-nu overlordship. They had spread steadily in the territoriesbordering Manchuria and Mongolia, beyond the eastern frontier of theHsiung-nu empire. Living there in relative peace and at the same time inpossession of very fertile pasturage, these two peoples had grown instrength. And since the great political collapse of 58 B. C. TheHsiung-nu had not only lost their best pasturage in the north of theprovinces of Shensi and Shansi, but had largely grown used to living inco-operation with the Chinese. They had become much more accustomed totrade with China, exchanging animals for textiles and grain, than towarfare, so that in the end they were defeated by the Hsien-pi andWu-huan, who had held to the older form of purely war-like nomad life. Weakened by famine and by the wars against Wu-huan and Hsien-pi, theHsiung-nu split into two, one section withdrawing to the north. The southern Hsiung-nu were compelled to submit to the Chinese in orderto gain security from their other enemies. Thus the Chinese were able togain a great success without moving a finger: the Hsiung-nu, who forcenturies had shown themselves again and again to be the most dangerousenemies of China, were reduced to political insignificance. About ahundred years earlier the Hsiung-nu empire had suffered defeat; now halfof what remained of it became part of the Chinese state. Its place wastaken by the Hsien-pi and Wu-huan, but at first they were of much lessimportance. In spite of the partition, the northern Hsiung-nu attempted in the yearsbetween A. D. 60 and 70 to regain a sphere of influence in Turkestan;this seemed the easier for them since the king of Yarkand had beencaptured and murdered, and Turkestan was more or less in a state ofconfusion. The Chinese did their utmost to play off the northern againstthe southern Hsiung-nu and to maintain a political balance of power inthe west and north. So long as there were a number of small states inTurkestan, of which at least some were friendly to China, Chinese tradecaravans suffered relatively little disturbance on their journeys. Independent states in Turkestan had proved more profitable for tradethan when a large army of occupation had to be maintained there. When, however, there appeared to be the danger of a new union of the twoparts of the Hsiung-nu as a restoration of a large empire alsocomprising all Turkestan, the Chinese trading monopoly was endangered. Any great power would secure the best goods for itself, and there wouldbe no good business remaining for China. For these reasons a great Chinese campaign was undertaken againstTurkestan in A. D. 73 under Tou Ku. Mainly owing to the ability of theChinese deputy commander Pan Ch'ao, the whole of Turkestan was quicklyconquered. Meanwhile the emperor Ming Ti (A. D. 58-75) had died, and underthe new emperor Chang Ti (76-88) the "isolationist" party gained theupper hand against the clique of Tou Ku and Pan Ch'ao: the danger of therestoration of a Hsiung-nu empire, the isolationists contended, nolonger existed; Turkestan should be left to itself; the small stateswould favour trade with China of their own accord. Meanwhile, aconsiderable part of Turkestan had fallen away from China, for Chang Tisent neither money nor troops to hold the conquered territories. PanCh'ao nevertheless remained in Turkestan (at Kashgar and Khotan) wherehe held on amid countless difficulties. Although he reported (A. D. 78)that the troops could feed themselves in Turkestan and needed neithersupplies nor money from home, no reinforcements of any importance weresent; only a few hundred or perhaps a thousand men, mostly releasedcriminals, reached him. Not until A. D. 89 did the Pan Ch'ao cliquereturn to power when the mother of the young emperor Ho Ti (89-105) tookover the government during his minority: she was a member of the familyof Tou Ku. She was interested in bringing to a successful conclusion theenterprise which had been started by members of her family and itsfollowers. In addition, it can be shown that a number of other membersof the "war party" had direct interests in the west, mainly in form oflanded estates. Accordingly, a campaign was started in 89 under herbrother against the northern Hsiung-nu, and it decided the fate ofTurkestan in China's favour. Turkestan remained firmly in Chinesepossession until the death of Pan Ch'ao in 102. Shortly afterwards heavyfighting broke out again: the Tanguts advanced from the south in anattempt to cut off Chinese access to Turkestan. The Chinese drove backthe Tanguts and maintained their hold on Turkestan, though no longerabsolutely. 9 _Economic situation. Rebellion of the "Yellow Turbans". Collapse ofthe Han dynasty_ The economic results of the Turkestan trade in this period were not sounfavourable as in the earlier Han period. The army of occupation wasincomparably smaller, and under Pan Ch'ao's policy the soldiers were fedand paid in Turkestan itself, so that the cost to China remained small. Moreover, the drain on the national income was no longer seriousbecause, in the intervening period, regular Chinese settlements had beenplanted in Turkestan including Chinese merchants, so that the trade nolonger remained entirely in the hands of foreigners. In spite of the economic consolidation at the beginning of the Later Handynasty, and in spite of the more balanced trade, the politicalsituation within China steadily worsened from A. D. 80 onwards. Althoughthe class of great landowners was small, a number of cliques formedwithin it, and their mutual struggle for power soon went beyond thelimits of court intrigue. New actors now came upon the stage, namely theeunuchs. With the economic improvement there had been a general increasein the luxury at the court of the Han emperors, and the court steadilyincreased in size. The many hundred wives and concubines in the palacemade necessary a great army of eunuchs. As they had the ear of theemperor and so could influence him, the eunuchs formed an importantpolitical factor. For a time the main struggle was between the group ofeunuchs and the group of scholars. The eunuchs served a particularclique to which some of the emperor's wives belonged. The scholars, thatis to say the ministers, together with members of the ministries and theadministrative staff, served the interests of another clique. Thestruggles grew more and more sanguinary in the middle of the secondcentury A. D. It soon proved that the group with the firmest hold in theprovinces had the advantage, because it was not easy to control theprovinces from a distance. The result was that, from about A. D. 150, events at court steadily lost importance, the lead being taken by thegenerals commanding the provincial troops. It would carry us too far togive the details of all these struggles. The provincial generals were atfirst Ts'ao Ts'ao, Lü Pu, Yüan Shao, and Sun Ts'ê; later came Liu Pei. All were striving to gain control of the government, and all wereengaged in mutual hostilities from about 180 onwards. Each general wasalso trying to get the emperor into his hands. Several times the lastemperor of the Later Han dynasty, Hsien Ti (190-220), was captured byone or another of the generals. As the successful general was usuallyunable to maintain his hold on the capital, he dragged the poor emperorwith him from place to place until he finally had to give him up toanother general. The point of this chase after the emperor was thataccording to the idea introduced earlier by Wang Mang the first ruler ofa new dynasty had to receive the imperial seals from the last emperorof the previous dynasty. The last emperor must abdicate in proper form. Accordingly, each general had to get possession of the emperor to beginwith, in order at the proper time to take over the seals. By about A. D. 200 the new conditions had more or less crystallized. There remained only three great parties. The most powerful was that ofTs'ao Ts'ao, who controlled the north and was able to keep permanenthold of the emperor. In the west, in the province of Szechwan, Liu Peihad established himself, and in the south-east Sun Ts'ê's brother. But we must not limit our view to these generals' struggles. At thistime there were two other series of events of equal importance withthose. The incessant struggles of the cliques against each othercontinued at the expense of the people, who had to fight them and payfor them. Thus, after A. D. 150 the distress of the country populationgrew beyond all limits. Conditions were as disastrous as in the time ofWang Mang. And once more, as then, a popular movement broke out, that ofthe so-called "Yellow Turbans". This was the first of the two importantevents. This popular movement had a characteristic which from now onbecame typical of all these risings of the people. The intellectualleaders of the movement, Chang Ling and others, were members of aparticular religious sect. This sect was influenced by Iranian Mazdaismon the one side and by certain ideas from Lao Tzŭ; on the other side;and these influences were superimposed on popular rural as well as, perhaps, local tribal religious beliefs and superstitions. The sect hadroots along the coastal settlements of Eastern China, where it seems tohave gained the support of the peasantry and their local priests. Thesepriests of the people were opposed to the representatives of theofficial religion, that is to say the officials drawn from the gentry. In small towns and villages the temples of the gods of the fruits of thefield, of the soil, and so on, were administered by authorized localofficials, and these officials also carried out the prescribedsacrifices. The old temples of the people were either done away with (wehave many edicts of the Han period concerning the abolition of popularforms of religious worship), or their worship was converted into anofficial cult: the all-powerful gentry extended their domination overreligion as well as all else. But the peasants regarded their localunauthorized priests as their natural leaders against the gentry andagainst gentry forms of religion. One branch, probably the main branchof this movement, developed a stronghold in Eastern Szechwan province, where its members succeeded to create a state of their own whichretained its independence for a while. It is the only group whichdeveloped real religious communities in which men and womenparticipated, extensive welfare schemes existed and class differenceswere discouraged. It had a real church organization with dioceses, communal friendship meals and a confession ritual; in short, real pietydeveloped as it could not develop in the official religions. After theannihilation of this state, remnants of the organization can be tracedthrough several centuries, mainly in central and south China. It maywell be that the many "Taoistic" traits which can be found in thereligions of late and present-day Mongolian and Tibetan tribes, can bederived from this movement of the Yellow Turbans. The rising of the Yellow Turbans began in 184; all parties, cliques andgenerals alike, were equally afraid of the revolutionaries, since thesewere a threat to the gentry as such, and so to all parties. Consequentlya combined army of considerable size was got together and sent againstthe rebels. The Yellow Turbans were beaten. During these struggles it became evident that Ts'ao Ts'ao with histroops had become the strongest of all the generals. His troops seem tohave consisted not of Chinese soldiers alone, but also of Hsiung-nu. Itis understandable that the annals say nothing about this, and it canonly be inferred from the facts. It appears that in order to reinforcetheir armies the generals recruited not only Chinese but foreigners. Thegenerals operating in the region of the present-day Peking had soldiersof the Wu-huan and Hsien-pi, and even of the Ting-ling; Liu Pei, in thewest, made use of Tanguts, and Ts'ao Ts'ao clearly went farthest of allin this direction; he seems to have been responsible for settlingnineteen tribes of Hsiung-nu in the Chinese province of Shansi between180 and 200, in return for their armed aid. In this way Ts'ao Ts'aogained permanent power in the empire by means of these troops, so thatimmediately after his death his son Ts'ao P'ei, with the support ofpowerful allied families, was able to force the emperor to abdicate andto found a new dynasty, the Wei dynasty (A. D. 220). This meant, however, that a part of China which for several centurieshad been Chinese was given up to the Hsiung-nu. This was not, of course, what Ts'ao Ts'ao had intended; he had given the Hsiung-nu some area ofpasturage in Shansi with the idea that they should be controlled andadministered by the officials of the surrounding district. His plan hadbeen similar to what the Chinese had often done with success: alienswere admitted into the territory of the empire in a body, but then theinfluence of the surrounding administrative centres was steadilyextended over them, until the immigrants completely lost their ownnationality and became Chinese. The nineteen tribes of Hsiung-nu, however, were much too numerous, and after the prolonged struggles inChina the provincial administration proved much too weak to be able tocarry out the plan. Thus there came into existence here, within China, asmall Hsiung-nu realm ruled by several _shan-yü_. This was the secondmajor development, and it became of the utmost importance to the historyof the next four centuries. 10 _Literature and Art_ With the development of the new class of the gentry in the Han period, there was an increase in the number of those who were anxious toparticipate in what had been in the past an exclusively aristocraticpossession--education. Thus it is by no mere chance that in this periodmany encyclopaedias were compiled. Encyclopaedias convey knowledge in aneasily grasped and easily found form. The first compilation of this sortdates from the third century B. C. It was the work of Lü Pu-wei, themerchant who was prime minister and regent during the minority of ShihHuang-ti. It contains general information concerning ceremonies, customs, historic events, and other things the knowledge of which waspart of a general education. Soon afterwards other encyclopaediasappeared, of which the best known is the Book of the Mountains and Seas_(Shan Hai Ching)_. This book, arranged according to regions of theworld, contains everything known at the time about geography, naturalphilosophy, and the animal and plant world, and also about popularmyths. This tendency to systemization is shown also in the historicalworks. The famous _Shih Chi_, one of our main sources for Chinesehistory, is the first historical work of the modern type, that is tosay, built up on a definite plan, and it was also the model for alllater official historiography. Its author, Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien (born 135B. C. ), and his father, made use of the material in the state archivesand of private documents, old historical and philosophical books, inscriptions, and the results of their own travels. The philosophicaland historical books of earlier times (with the exception of those ofthe nature of chronicles) consisted merely of a few dicta or reports ofparticular events, but the _Shih Chi_ is a compendium of a mass ofsource-material. The documents were abbreviated, but the text of theextracts was altered as little as possible, so that the general resultretains in a sense the value of an original source. In its arrangementthe _Shih Chi_ became a model for all later historians: the first partis in the form of annals, and there follow tables concerning theoccupants of official posts and fiefs, and then biographies of variousimportant personalities, though the type of the comprehensive biographydid not appear till later. The _Shih Chi_ also, like later historicalworks, contains many monographs dealing with particular fields ofknowledge, such as astronomy, the calendar, music, economics, officialdress at court, and much else. The whole type of construction differsfundamentally from such works as those of Thucydides or Herodotus. TheChinese historical works have the advantage that the section of annalsgives at once the events of a particular year, the monographs describethe development of a particular field of knowledge, and the biographicalsection offers information concerning particular personalities. Themental attitude is that of the gentry: shortly after the time of Ssŭ-maCh'ien an historical department was founded, in which members of thegentry worked as historians upon the documents prepared byrepresentatives of the gentry in the various government offices. In addition to encyclopaedias and historical works, many books ofphilosophy were written in the Han period, but most of them offer nofundamentally new ideas. They were the product of the leisure of richmembers of the gentry, and only three of them are of importance. One isthe work of Tung Chung-shu, already mentioned. The second is a book byLiu An called _Huai-nan Tzŭ_. Prince Liu An occupied himself with Taoismand allied problems, gathered around him scholars of different schools, and carried on discussions with them. Many of his writings are lost, butenough is extant to show that he was one of the earliest Chinesealchemists. The question has not yet been settled, but it is probablethat alchemy first appeared in China, together with the cult of the"art" of prolonging life, and was later carried to the West, where itflourished among the Arabs and in medieval Europe. The third important book of the Han period was the _Lun Hêng_ (Critiqueof Opinions) of Wang Ch'ung, which appeared in the first century of theChristian era. Wang Ch'ung advocated rational thinking and tried to pavethe way for a free natural science, in continuation of the beginningswhich the natural philosophers of the later Chou period had made. Thebook analyses reports in ancient literature and customs of daily life, and shows how much they were influenced by superstition and by ignoranceof the facts of nature. From this attitude a modern science might havedeveloped, as in Europe towards the end of the Middle Ages; but thegentry had every reason to play down this tendency which, with itscriticism of all that was traditional, might have proceeded to an attackon the dominance of the gentry and their oppression especially of themerchants and artisans. It is fascinating to observe how it was theneeds of the merchants and seafarers of Asia Minor and Greece thatprovided the stimulus for the growth of the classic sciences, and how onthe contrary the growth of Chinese science was stifled because thegentry were so strongly hostile to commerce and navigation, though bothhad always existed. There were great literary innovations in the field of poetry. Thesplendour and elegance at the new imperial court of the Han dynastyattracted many poets who sang the praises of the emperor and his courtand were given official posts and dignities. These praises were in theform of grandiloquent, overloaded poetry, full of strange similes andallusions, but with little real feeling. In contrast, the many womensingers and dancers at the court, mostly slaves from southern China, introduced at the court southern Chinese forms of song and poem, whichwere soon adopted and elaborated by poets. Poems and dance songs werecomposed which belonged to the finest that Chinese poetry can show--fullof natural feeling, simple in language, moving in content. Our knowledge of the arts is drawn from two sources--literature, and theactual discoveries in the excavations. Thus we know that most of thepainting was done on silk, of which plenty came into the market throughthe control of silk-producing southern China. Paper had meanwhile beeninvented in the second century B. C. , by perfecting the techniques ofmaking bark-cloth and felt. Unfortunately nothing remains of the actualworks that were the first examples of what the Chinese everywhere werebeginning to call "art". "People", that is to say the gentry, painted asa social pastime, just as they assembled together for poetry, discussion, or performances of song and dance; they painted as anaesthetic pleasure and rarely as a means of earning. We find philosophicideas or greetings, emotions, and experiences represented bypaintings--paintings with fanciful or ideal landscapes; paintingsrepresenting life and environment of the cultured class in idealizedform, never naturalistic either in fact or in intention. Until recentlyit was an indispensable condition in the Chinese view that an artistmust be "cultured" and be a member of the gentry--distinguished, unoccupied, wealthy. A man who was paid for his work, for instance for aportrait for the ancestral cult, was until late time regarded as acraftsman, not as an artist. Yet, these "craftsmen" have produced in Hantime and even earlier, many works which, in our view, undoubtedly belongto the realm of art. In the tombs have been found reliefs whosetechnique is generally intermediate between simple outline engraving andintaglio. The lining-in is most frequently executed in scratched lines. The representations, mostly in strips placed one above another, are oflively historical scenes, scenes from the life of the dead, great ritualceremonies, or adventurous scenes from mythology. Bronze vessels haverepresentations in inlaid gold and silver, mostly of animals. The mostimportant documents of the painting of the Han period have also beenfound in tombs. We see especially ladies and gentlemen of society, withrichly ornamented, elegant, expensive clothing that is very reminiscentof the clothing customary to this day in Japan. There are also artisticrepresentations of human figures on lacquer caskets. While sculpture wasnot strongly developed, the architecture of the Han must have beenmagnificent and technically highly complex. Sculpture and templearchitecture received a great stimulus with the spread of Buddhism inChina. According to our present knowledge, Buddhism entered China fromthe south coast and through Central Asia at latest in the first centuryB. C. ; it came with foreign merchants from India or Central Asia. According to Indian customs, Brahmans, the Hindu caste providing allHindu priests, could not leave their homes. As merchants on their tripswhich lasted often several years, did not want to go without religiousservices, they turned to Buddhist priests as well as to priests of NearEastern religions. These priests were not prevented from travelling andused this opportunity for missionary purposes. Thus, for a long timeafter the first arrival of Buddhists, the Buddhist priests in China wereforeigners who served foreign merchant colonies. The depressedconditions of the people in the second century A. D. Drove members of thelower classes into their arms, while the parts of Indian science whichthese priests brought with them from India aroused some interest incertain educated circles. Buddhism, therefore, undeniably exercised aninfluence at the end of the Han dynasty, although no Chinese werepriests and few, if any, gentry members were adherents of the religiousteachings. With the end of the Han period a further epoch of Chinese history comesto its close. The Han period was that of the final completion andconsolidation of the social order of the gentry. The period thatfollowed was that of the conflicts of the Chinese with the populationson their northern borders. Chapter Seven THE EPOCH OF THE FIRST DIVISION OF CHINA (A. D. 220-580) (A) The three kingdoms (220-265) 1 _Social, intellectual, and economic problems during the firstdivision_ The end of the Han period was followed by the three and a half centuriesof the first division of China into several kingdoms, each with its owndynasty. In fact, once before during the period of the ContendingStates, China had been divided into a number of states, but at least intheory they had been subject to the Chou dynasty, and none of thecontending states had made the claim to be the legitimate ruler of allChina. In this period of the "first division" several states claimed tobe legitimate rulers, and later Chinese historians tried to decide whichof these had "more right" to this claim. At the outset (220-280) therewere three kingdoms (Wei, Wu, Shu Han); then came an unstable reunionduring twenty-seven years (280-307) under the rule of the Western Chin. This was followed by a still sharper division between north and south:while a wave of non-Chinese nomad dynasties poured over the north, inthe south one Chinese clique after another seized power, so that dynastyfollowed dynasty until finally, in 580, a united China came again intoexistence, adopting the culture of the north and the traditions of thegentry. In some ways, the period from 220 to 580 can be compared with the periodof the coincidentally synchronous breakdown of the Roman Empire: in bothcases there was no great increase in population, although in Chinaperhaps no over-all decrease in population as in the Roman Empire;decrease occurred, however, in the population of the great Chinesecities, especially of the capital; furthermore we witness, in bothempires, a disorganization of the monetary system, i. E. In China thereversal to a predominance of natural economy after some 400 years ofmoney economy. Yet, this period cannot be simply dismissed as atransition period, as was usually done by the older European works onChina. The social order of the gentry, whose birth and developmentinside China we followed, had for the first time to defend itselfagainst views and systems entirely opposed to it; for the Turkish andMongol peoples who ruled northern China brought with them theirtraditions of a feudal nobility with privileges of birth and all thatthey implied. Thus this period, socially regarded, is especially that ofthe struggle between the Chinese gentry and the northern nobility, thegentry being excluded at first as a direct political factor in thenorthern and more important part of China. In the south the gentrycontinued in the old style with a constant struggle between cliques, theonly difference being that the class assumed a sort of "colonial"character through the formation of gigantic estates and throughassociation with the merchant class. To throw light on the scale of events, we need to have figures ofpopulation. There are no figures for the years around A. D. 220, and wemust make do with those of 140; but in order to show the relativestrength of the three states it is the ratio between the figures thatmatters. In 140 the regions which later belonged to Wei had roughly29, 000, 000 inhabitants; those later belonging to Wu had 11, 700, 000;those which belonged later to Shu Han had a bare 7, 500, 000. (The figurestake no account of the primitive native population, which was not yetincluded in the taxation lists. ) The Hsiung-nu formed only a small partof the population, as there were only the nineteen tribes which hadabandoned one of the parts, already reduced, of the Hsiung-nu empire. The whole Hsiung-nu empire may never have counted more than some3, 000, 000. At the time when the population of what became the Weiterritory totalled 29, 000, 000 the capital with its immediate environmenthad over a million inhabitants. The figure is exclusive of most of theofficials and soldiers, as these were taxable in their homes and so werecounted there. It is clear that this was a disproportionateconcentration round the capital. It was at this time that both South and North China felt the influenceof Buddhism, which until A. D. 220 had no more real effect on China thanhad, for instance, the penetration of European civilization between 1580and 1842. Buddhism offered new notions, new ideals, foreign science, andmany other elements of culture, with which the old Chinese philosophyand science had to contend. At the same time there came with Buddhismthe first direct knowledge of the great civilized countries west ofChina. Until then China had regarded herself as the only existingcivilized country, and all other countries had been regarded asbarbaric, for a civilized country was then taken to mean a country withurban industrial crafts and agriculture. In our present period, however, China's relations with the Middle East and with southern Asia were soclose that the existence of civilized countries outside China had to beadmitted. Consequently, when alien dynasties ruled in northern China anda new high civilization came into existence there, it was impossible tospeak of its rulers as barbarians any longer. Even the theory that theChinese emperor was the Son of Heaven and enthroned at the centre of theworld was no longer tenable. Thus a vast widening of China'sintellectual horizon took place. Economically, our present period witnessed an adjustment in South Chinabetween the Chinese way of life, which had penetrated from the north, and that of the natives of the south. Large groups of Chinese had toturn over from wheat culture in dry fields to rice culture in wetfields, and from field culture to market gardening. In North China theconflict went on between Chinese agriculture and the cattle breeding ofCentral Asia. Was the will of the ruler to prevail and North China tobecome a country of pasturage, or was the country to keep to theagrarian tradition of the people under this rule? The Turkish and Mongolconquerors had recently given up their old supplementary agriculture andhad turned into pure nomads, obtaining the agricultural produce theyneeded by raiding or trade. The conquerors of North China were now facedwith a different question: if they were to remain nomads, they musteither drive the peasants into the south, or make them into slaveherdsmen, or exterminate them. There was one more possibility: theymight install themselves as a ruling upper class, as nobles over thesubjugated native peasants. The same question was faced much later bythe Mongols, and at first they answered it differently from the peoplesof our present period. Only by attention to this problem shall we be ina position to explain why the rule of the Turkish peoples did not last, why these peoples were gradually absorbed and disappeared. 2 _Status of the two southern Kingdoms_ When the last emperor of the Han period had to abdicate in favour ofTs'ao P'ei and the Wei dynasty began, China was in no way a unifiedrealm. Almost immediately, in 221, two other army commanders, who hadlong been independent, declared themselves emperors. In the south-westof China, in the present province of Szechwan, the Shu Han dynasty wasfounded in this way, and in the south-east, in the region of the presentNanking, the Wu dynasty. The situation of the southern kingdom of Shu Han (221-263) correspondedmore or less to that of the Chungking régime in the Second World War. West of it the high Tibetan mountains towered up; there was very littlereason to fear any major attack from that direction. In the north andeast the realm was also protected by difficult mountain country. Thesouth lay relatively open, but at that time there were few Chineseliving there, but only natives with a relatively low civilization. Thekingdom could only be seriously attacked from two corners--through thenorth-west, where there was a negotiable plateau, between the Ch'in-lingmountains in the north and the Tibetan mountains in the west, a plateauinhabited by fairly highly developed Tibetan tribes; and secondlythrough the south-east corner, where it would be possible to penetrateup the Yangtze. There was in fact incessant fighting at both thesedangerous corners. Economically, Shu Han was not in a bad position. The country had longbeen part of the Chinese wheat lands, and had a fairly large Chinesepeasant population in the well irrigated plain of Ch'engtu. There wasalso a wealthy merchant class, supplying grain to the surroundingmountain peoples and buying medicaments and other profitable Tibetanproducts. And there were trade routes from here through the presentprovince of Yünnan to India. Shu Han's difficulty was that its population was not large enough to beable to stand against the northern State of Wei; moreover, it wasdifficult to carry out an offensive from Shu Han, though the countrycould defend itself well. The first attempt to find a remedy was acampaign against the native tribes of the present Yünnan. The purpose ofthis was to secure man-power for the army and also slaves for sale; forthe south-west had for centuries been a main source for traffic inslaves. Finally it was hoped to gain control over the trade to India. All these things were intended to strengthen Shu Han internally, but inspite of certain military successes they produced no practical result, as the Chinese were unable in the long run to endure the climate or tohold out against the guerrilla tactics of the natives. Shu Han tried tobuy the assistance of the Tibetans and with their aid to carry out adecisive attack on Wei, whose dynastic legitimacy was not recognized byShu Han. The ruler of Shu Han claimed to be a member of the imperialfamily of the deposed Han dynasty, and therefore to be the rightful, legitimate ruler over China. His descent, however, was a littledoubtful, and in any case it depended on a link far back in the past. Against this the Wei of the north declared that the last ruler of theHan dynasty had handed over to them with all due form the seals of thestate and therewith the imperial prerogative. The controversy was of nogreat practical importance, but it played a big part in the ChineseConfucianist school until the twelfth century, and contributed largelyto a revision of the old conceptions of legitimacy. The political plans of Shu Han were well considered and far-seeing. Theywere evolved by the premier, a man from Shantung named Chu-ko Liang; forthe ruler died in 226 and his successor was still a child. But Chu-koLiang lived only for a further eight years, and after his death in 234the decline of Shu Han began. Its political leaders no longer had asense of what was possible. Thus Wei inflicted several defeats on ShuHan, and finally subjugated it in 263. The situation of the state of Wu was much less favourable than that ofShu Han, though this second southern kingdom lasted from 221 to 280. Itscountry consisted of marshy, water-logged plains, or mountains withnarrow valleys. Here Tai peoples had long cultivated their rice, whilein the mountains Yao tribes lived by hunting and by simple agriculture. Peasants immigrating from the north found that their wheat and pulse didnot thrive here, and slowly they had to gain familiarity with ricecultivation. They were also compelled to give up their sheep and cattleand in their place to breed pigs and water buffaloes, as was done by theformer inhabitants of the country. The lower class of the population wasmainly non-Chinese; above it was an upper class of Chinese, at firstrelatively small, consisting of officials, soldiers, and merchants in afew towns and administrative centres. The country was poor, and its onlyimportant economic asset was the trade in metals, timber, and othersouthern products; soon there came also a growing overseas trade withIndia and the Middle East, bringing revenues to the state in so far asthe goods were re-exported from Wu to the north. Wu never attempted to conquer the whole of China, but endeavoured toconsolidate its own difficult territory with a view to building up astate on a firm foundation. In general, Wu played mainly a passive partin the incessant struggles between the three kingdoms, though it wasactive in diplomacy. The Wu kingdom entered into relations with a manwho in 232 had gained control of the present South Manchuria and shortlyafterwards assumed the title of king. This new ruler of "Yen", as hecalled his kingdom, had determined to attack the Wei dynasty, and hoped, by putting pressure on it in association with Wu, to overrun Wei fromnorth and south. Wei answered this plan very effectively by recourse todiplomacy and it began by making Wu believe that Wu had reason to fearan attack from its western neighbour Shu Han. A mission was alsodispatched from Wei to negotiate with Japan. Japan was then emergingfrom its stone age and introducing metals; there were countless smallprincipalities and states, of which the state of Yamato, then ruled by aqueen, was the most powerful. Yamato had certain interests in Korea, where it already ruled a small coastal strip in the east. Wei offeredYamato the prospect of gaining the whole of Korea if it would turnagainst the state of Yen in South Manchuria. Wu, too, had turned toJapan, but the negotiations came to nothing, since Wu, as an ally ofYen, had nothing to offer. The queen of Yamato accordingly sent amission to Wei; she had already decided in favour of that state. ThusWei was able to embark on war against Yen, which it annihilated in 237. This wrecked Wu's diplomatic projects, and no more was heard of anyambitious plans of the kingdom of Wu. The two southern states had a common characteristic: both werecondottiere states, not built up from their own population but conqueredby generals from the north and ruled for a time by those generals andtheir northern troops. Natives gradually entered these northern armiesand reduced their percentage of northerners, but a gulf remained betweenthe native population, including its gentry, and the alien militaryrulers. This reduced the striking power of the southern states. On the other hand, this period had its positive element. For the firsttime there was an emperor in south China, with all the organization thatimplied. A capital full of officials, eunuchs, and all the satellites ofan imperial court provided incentives to economic advance, because itrepresented a huge market. The peasants around it were able to increasetheir sales and grew prosperous. The increased demand resulted in anincrease of tillage and a thriving trade. Soon the transport problem hadto be faced, as had happened long ago in the north, and new means oftransport, especially ships, were provided, and new trade routes openedwhich were to last far longer than the three kingdoms; on the otherhand, the costs of transport involved fresh taxation burdens for thepopulation. The skilled staff needed for the business of administrationcame into the new capital from the surrounding districts, for theconquerors and new rulers of the territory of the two southern dynastieshad brought with them from the north only uneducated soldiers andalmost equally uneducated officers. The influx of scholars andadministrators into the chief cities produced cultural and economiccentres in the south, a circumstance of great importance to China'slater development. 3 _The northern State of Wei_ The situation in the north, in the state of Wei (220-265) was anythingbut rosy. Wei ruled what at that time were the most important andrichest regions of China, the plain of Shensi in the west and the greatplain east of Loyang, the two most thickly populated areas of China. Butthe events at the end of the Han period had inflicted great economicinjury on the country. The southern and south-western parts of the Hanempire had been lost, and though parts of Central Asia still gaveallegiance to Wei, these, as in the past, were economically more of aburden than an asset, because they called for incessant expenditure. Atleast the trade caravans were able to travel undisturbed from and toChina through Turkestan. Moreover, the Wei kingdom, although muchsmaller than the empire of the Han, maintained a completely staffedcourt at great expense, because the rulers, claiming to rule the wholeof China, felt bound to display more magnificence than the rulers of thesouthern dynasties. They had also to reward the nineteen tribes of theHsiung-nu in the north for their military aid, not only with cessions ofland but with payments of money. Finally, they would not disarm butmaintained great armies for the continual fighting against the southernstates. The Wei dynasty did not succeed, however, in closelysubordinating the various army commanders to the central government. Thus the commanders, in collusion with groups of the gentry, were ableto enrich themselves and to secure regional power. The inadequatestrength of the central government of Wei was further undermined by therivalries among the dominant gentry. The imperial family (Ts'ao Pei, whoreigned from 220 to 226, had taken as emperor the name of Wen Ti) wasdescended from one of the groups of great landowners that had formed inthe later Han period. The nucleus of that group was a family namedTs'ui, of which there is mention from the Han period onward and whichmaintained its power down to the tenth century; but it remained in thebackground and at first held entirely aloof from direct intervention inhigh policy. Another family belonging to this group was the Hsia-houfamily which was closely united to the family of Wen Ti by adoption; andvery soon there was also the Ssŭ-ma family. Quite naturally Wen Ti, assoon as he came into power, made provision for the members of thesepowerful families, for only thanks to their support had he been able toascend the throne and to maintain his hold on the throne. Thus we findmany members of the Hsia-hou and Ssŭ-ma families in governmentpositions. The Ssŭ-ma family especially showed great activity, and atthe end of Wen Ti's reign their power had so grown that a certain Ssŭ-maI was in control of the government, while the new emperor Ming Ti(227-233) was completely powerless. This virtually sealed the fate ofthe Wei dynasty, so far as the dynastic family was concerned. The nextemperor was installed and deposed by the Ssŭ-ma family; dissensionsarose within the ruling family, leading to members of the familyassassinating one another. In 264 a member of the Ssŭ-ma family declaredhimself king; when he died and was succeeded by his son Ssŭ-ma Yen, thelatter, in 265, staged a formal act of renunciation of the throne of theWei dynasty and made himself the first ruler of the new Chin dynasty. There is nothing to gain by detailing all the intrigues that led up tothis event: they all took place in the immediate environment of thecourt and in no way affected the people, except that every item ofexpenditure, including all the bribery, had to come out of the taxespaid by the people. With such a situation at court, with the bad economic situation in thecountry, and with the continual fighting against the two southernstates, there could be no question of any far-reaching foreign policy. Parts of eastern Turkestan still showed some measure of allegiance toWei, but only because at the time it had no stronger opponent. TheHsiung-nu beyond the frontier were suffering from a period of depressionwhich was at the same time a period of reconstruction. They werebeginning slowly to form together with Mongol elements a new unit, theJuan-juan, but at this time were still politically inactive. Thenineteen tribes within north China held more and more closely togetheras militarily organized nomads, but did not yet represent a militarypower and remained loyal to the Wei. The only important element oftrouble seems to have been furnished by the Hsien-pi tribes, who hadjoined with Wu-huan tribes and apparently also with vestiges of theHsiung-nu in eastern Mongolia, and who made numerous raids over thefrontier into the Wei empire. The state of Yen, in southern Manchuria, had already been destroyed by Wei in 238 thanks to Wei's good relationswith Japan. Loose diplomatic relations were maintained with Japan in theperiod that followed; in that period many elements of Chinesecivilization found their way into Japan and there, together withsettlers from many parts of China, helped to transform the culture ofancient Japan. (B) The Western Chin dynasty (A. D. 265-317) 1 _Internal situation in the Chin empire_ The change of dynasty in the state of Wei did not bring any turn inChina's internal history. Ssŭ-ma Yen, who as emperor was called Wu Ti(265-289), had come to the throne with the aid of his clique and hisextraordinarily large and widely ramified family. To these he had togive offices as reward. There began at court once more the samespectacle as in the past, except that princes of the new imperial familynow played a greater part than under the Wei dynasty, whose ruling househad consisted of a small family. It was now customary, in spite of theabolition of the feudal system, for the imperial princes to receivelarge regions to administer, the fiscal revenues of which representedtheir income. The princes were not, however, to exercise full authorityin the style of the former feudal lords: their courts were full ofimperial control officials. In the event of war it was their duty tocome forward, like other governors, with an army in support of thecentral government. The various Chin princes succeeded, however, inmaking other governors, beyond the frontiers of their regions, dependenton them. Also, they collected armies of their own independently of thecentral government and used those armies to pursue personal policies. The members of the families allied with the ruling house, for theirpart, did all they could to extend their own power. Thus the first rulerof the dynasty was tossed to and fro between the conflicting interestsand was himself powerless. But though intrigue was piled on intrigue, the ruler who, of course, himself had come to the head of the state bymeans of intrigues, was more watchful than the rulers of the Wei dynastyhad been, and by shrewd counter-measures he repeatedly succeeded inplaying off one party against another, so that the dynasty remained inpower. Numerous widespread and furious risings nevertheless took place, usually led by princes. Thus during this period the history of thedynasty was of an extraordinarily dismal character. In spite of this, the Chin troops succeeded in overthrowing the secondsouthern state, that of Wu (A. D. 280), and in so restoring the unity ofthe empire, the Shu Han realm having been already conquered by the Wei. After the destruction of Wu there remained no external enemy thatrepresented a potential danger, so that a general disarmament wasdecreed (280) in order to restore a healthy economic and financialsituation. This disarmament applied, of course, to the troops directlyunder the orders of the dynasty, namely the troops of the court and thecapital and the imperial troops in the provinces. Disarmament couldnot, however, be carried out in the princes' regions, as the princesdeclared that they needed personal guards. The dismissal of the troopswas accompanied by a decree ordering the surrender of arms. It may beassumed that the government proposed to mint money with the metal of theweapons surrendered, for coin (the old coin of the Wei dynasty) hadbecome very scarce; as we indicated previously, money had largely beenreplaced by goods so that, for instance, grain and silks were used forthe payment of salaries. China, from _c_. 200 A. D. On until the eighthcentury, remained in a period of such partial "natural economy". Naturally the decree for the surrender of weapons remained adead-letter. The discharged soldiers kept their weapons at first andthen preferred to sell them. A large part of them was acquired by theHsiung-nu and the Hsien-pi in the north of China; apparently theyusually gave up land in return. In this way many Chinese soldiers, though not all by any means, went as peasants to the regions in thenorth of China and beyond the frontier. They were glad to do so, for theHsiung-nu and the Hsien-pi had not the efficient administration andrigid tax collection of the Chinese; and above all, they had no greatlandowners who could have organized the collection of taxes. For theirpart, the Hsiung-nu and the Hsien-pi had no reason to regret thisimmigration of peasants, who could provide them with the farm producethey needed. And at the same time they were receiving from them largequantities of the most modern weapons. This ineffective disarmament was undoubtedly the most pregnant event ofthe period of the western Chin dynasty. The measure was intended to savethe cost of maintaining the soldiers and to bring them back to the landas peasants (and taxpayers); but the discharged men were not given landby the government. The disarmament achieved nothing, not even thedesired increase in the money in circulation; what did happen was thatthe central government lost all practical power, while the militarystrength both of the dangerous princes within the country and also ofthe frontier people was increased. The results of these mistakenmeasures became evident at once and compelled the government to armanew. 2 _Effect on the frontier peoples_ Four groups of frontier peoples drew more or less advantage from thedemobilization law--the people of the Toba, the Tibetans, and theHsien-pi in the north, and the nineteen tribes of the Hsiung-nu withinthe frontiers of the empire. In the course of time all sorts ofcomplicated relations developed among those ascending peoples as wellas between them and the Chinese. The Toba (T'o-pa) formed a small group in the north of the presentprovince of Shansi, north of the city of Tat'ungfu, and they were aboutto develop their small state. They were primarily of Turkish origin, buthad absorbed many tribes of the older Hsiung-nu and the Hsien-pi. Inconsidering the ethnical relationships of all these northern peoples wemust rid ourselves of our present-day notions of national unity. Amongthe Toba there were many Turkish tribes, but also Mongols, and probablya Tungus tribe, as well as perhaps others whom we cannot yet analyse. These tribes may even have spoken different languages, much as later notonly Mongol but also Turkish was spoken in the Mongol empire. Thepolitical units they formed were tribal unions, not national states. Such a union or federation can be conceived of, structurally, as a cone. At the top point of the cone there was the person of the ruler of thefederation. He was a member of the leading family or clan of the leadingtribe (the two top layers of the cone). If we speak of the Toba as ofTurkish stock, we mean that according to our present knowledge, thisleading tribe (_a_) spoke a language belonging to the Turkish languagefamily and (_b_) exhibited a pattern of culture which belonged to thetype called above in Chapter One as "North-western Culture". The nextlayer of the cone represented the "inner circle of tribes", i. E. Suchtribes as had joined with the leading tribe at an early moment. Theleading family of the leading tribe often took their wives from theleading families of the "inner tribes", and these leaders served asadvisors and councillors to the leader of the federation. The next lowerlayer consisted of the "outer tribes", i. E. Tribes which had joined thefederation only later, often under strong pressure; their number wasalways much larger than the number of the "inner tribes", but theirpolitical influence was much weaker. Every layer below that of the"outer tribes" was regarded as inferior and more or less "unfree". Therewas many a tribe which, as a tribe, had to serve a free tribe; and therewere others who, as tribes, had to serve the whole federation. Inaddition, there were individuals who had quit or had been forced to quittheir tribe or their home and had joined the federation leader as hispersonal "bondsmen"; further, there were individual slaves and, finally, there were the large masses of agriculturists who had been conquered bythe federation. When such a federation was dissolved, by defeat or innerdissent, individual tribes or groups of tribes could join a newfederation or could resume independent life. Typically, such federations exhibited two tendencies. In the case of theHsiung-nu we indicated already previously that the leader of thefederation repeatedly attempted to build up a kind of bureaucraticsystem, using his bondsmen as a nucleus. A second tendency was toreplace the original tribal leaders by members of the family of thefederation leader. If this initial step, usually first taken when "outertribes" were incorporated, was successful, a reorganization wasattempted: instead of using tribal units in war, military units on thebasis of "Groups of Hundred", "Groups of Thousand", etc. , were createdand the original tribes were dissolved into military regiments. In thecourse of time, and especially at the time of the dissolution of afederation, these military units had gained social coherence andappeared to be tribes again; we are probably correct in assuming thatall "tribes" which we find from this time on were already "secondary"tribes of this type. A secondary tribe often took its name from itsleader, but it could also revive an earlier "primary tribe" name. The Toba represented a good example for this "cone" structure ofpastoral society. Also the Hsiung-nu of this time seem to have had asimilar structure. Incidentally, we will from now on call the Hsiung-nu"Huns" because Chinese sources begin to call them "Hu", a term whichalso had a more general meaning (all non-Chinese in the north and westof China) as well as a more special meaning (non-Chinese in Central Asiaand India). The Tibetans fell apart into two sub-groups, the Ch'iang and the Ti. Both names appeared repeatedly as political conceptions, but theTibetans, like all other state-forming groups of peoples, sheltered intheir realms countless alien elements. In the course of the third andsecond centuries B. C. The group of the Ti, mainly living in theterritory of the present Szechwan, had mixed extensively with remains ofthe Yüeh-chih; the others, the Ch'iang, were northern Tibetans orso-called Tanguts; that is to say, they contained Turkish and Mongolelements. In A. D. 296 there began a great rising of the Ti, whose leaderCh'i Wan-nien took on the title emperor. The Ch'iang rose with them, butit was not until later, from 312, that they pursued an independentpolicy. The Ti State, however, though it had a second emperor, very soonlost importance, so that we shall be occupied solely with the Ch'iang. As the tribal structure of Tibetan groups was always weak and asleadership developed among them only in times of war, their statesalways show a military rather than a tribal structure, and thecontinuation of these states depended strongly upon the personalqualities of their leaders. Incidentally, Tibetans fundamentally weresheep-breeders and not horse-breeders and, therefore, they alwaysshowed inclination to incorporate infantry into their armies. Thus, Tibetan states differed strongly from the aristocratically organized"Turkish" states as well as from the tribal, non-aristocratic "Mongol"states of that period. The Hsien-pi, according to our present knowledge, were under "Mongol"leadership, i. E. We believe that the language of the leading groupbelonged to the family of Mongolian languages and that their culturebelonged to the type described above as "Northern culture". They had, inaddition, a strong admixture of Hunnic tribes. Throughout the periodduring which they played a part in history, they never succeeded informing any great political unit, in strong contrast to the Huns, whoexcelled in state formation. The separate groups of the Hsien-pi pursueda policy of their own; very frequently Hsien-pi fought each other, andthey never submitted to a common leadership. Thus their history isentirely that of small groups. As early as the Wei period there had beensmall-scale conflicts with the Hsien-pi tribes, and at times the tribeshad had some success. The campaigns of the Hsien-pi against North Chinanow increased, and in the course of them the various tribes formedfirmer groupings, among which the Mu-jung tribes played a leading part. In 281, the year after the demobilization law, this group marched southinto China, and occupied the region round Peking. After fierce fighting, in which the Mu-jung section suffered heavy losses, a treaty was signedin 289, under which the Mu-jung tribe of the Hsien-pi recognized Chineseoverlordship. The Mu-jung were driven to this step mainly because theyhad been continually attacked from southern Manchuria by anotherHsien-pi tribe, the Yü-wen, the tribe most closely related to them. TheMu-jung made use of the period of their so-called subjection to organizetheir community in North China. South of the Toba were the nineteen tribes of the Hsiung-nu or Huns, aswe are now calling them. Their leader in A. D. 287, Liu Yüan, was one ofthe principal personages of this period. His name is purely Chinese, buthe was descended from the Hun _shan-yü_, from the family and line of MaoTun. His membership of that long-famous noble line and old ruling familyof Huns gave him a prestige which he increased by his great organizingability. 3 _Struggles for the throne_ We shall return to Liu Yüan later; we must now cast another glance atthe official court of the Chin. In that court a family named Yang hadbecome very powerful, a daughter of this family having become empress. When, however, the emperor died, the wife of the new emperor Hui Ti(290-306) secured the assassination of the old empress Yang and of herwhole family. Thus began the rule at court of the Chia family. In 299the Chia family got rid of the heir to the throne, to whom theyobjected, assassinating this prince and another one. This event becamethe signal for large-scale activity on the part of the princes, each ofwhom was supported by particular groups of families. The princes had notcomplied with the disarmament law of 280 and so had become militarilysupreme. The generals newly appointed in the course of the imperialrearmament at once entered into alliance with the princes, and thus werequite unreliable as officers of the government. Both the generals andthe princes entered into agreements with the frontier peoples to assuretheir aid in the struggle for power. The most popular of theseauxiliaries were the Hsien-pi, who were fighting for one of the princeswhose territory lay in the east. Since the Toba were the natural enemiesof the Hsien-pi, who were continually contesting their hold on theirterritory, the Toba were always on the opposite side to that supportedby the Hsien-pi, so that they now supported generals who were ostensiblyloyal to the government. The Huns, too, negotiated with several generalsand princes and received tempting offers. Above all, all the frontierpeoples were now militarily well equipped, continually receiving new warmaterial from the Chinese who from time to time were co-operating withthem. In A. D. 300 Prince Lun assassinated the empress Chia and removed hergroup. In 301 he made himself emperor, but in the same year he waskilled by the prince of Ch'i. This prince was killed in 302 by theprince of Ch'ang-sha, who in turned was killed in 303 by the prince ofTung-hai. The prince of Ho-chien rose in 302 and was killed in 306; theprince of Ch'engtu rose in 303, conquered the capital in 305, and then, in 306, was himself removed. I mention all these names and dates only toshow the disunion within the ruling groups. 4 _Migration of Chinese_ All these struggles raged round the capital, for each of the princeswanted to secure full power and to become emperor. Thus the borderregions remained relatively undisturbed. Their population suffered muchless from the warfare than the unfortunate people in the neighbourhoodof the central government. For this reason there took place a massmigration of Chinese from the centre of the empire to its periphery. This process, together with the shifting of the frontier peoples, is oneof the most important events of that epoch. A great number of Chinesemigrated especially into the present province of Kansu, where a governorwho had originally been sent there to fight the Hsien-pi had created asort of paradise by his good administration and maintenance of peace. The territory ruled by this Chinese, first as governor and then inincreasing independence, was surrounded by Hsien-pi, Tibetans, and otherpeoples, but thanks to the great immigration of Chinese and to itssituation on the main caravan route to Turkestan, it was able to holdits own, to expand, and to become prosperous. Other groups of Chinese peasants migrated southwards into theterritories of the former state of Wu. A Chinese prince of the house ofthe Chin was ruling there, in the present Nanking. His purpose was toorganize that territory, and then to intervene in the struggles of theother princes. We shall meet him again at the beginning of the Hun ruleover North China in 317, as founder and emperor of the first southChinese dynasty, which was at once involved in the usual internal andexternal struggles. For the moment, however, the southern region wasrelatively at peace, and was accordingly attracting settlers. Finally, many Chinese migrated northward, into the territories of thefrontier peoples, not only of the Hsien-pi but especially of the Huns. These alien peoples, although in the official Chinese view they werestill barbarians, at least maintained peace in the territories theyruled, and they left in peace the peasants and craftsmen who came tothem, even while their own armies were involved in fighting insideChina. Not only peasants and craftsmen came to the north but more andmore educated persons. Members of families of the gentry that hadsuffered from the fighting, people who had lost their influence inChina, were welcomed by the Huns and appointed teachers and politicaladvisers of the Hun nobility. 5 _Victory of the Huns. The Hun Han dynasty (later renamed the EarlierChao dynasty)_ With its self-confidence thus increased, the Hun council of noblesdeclared that in future the Huns should no longer fight now for one andnow for another Chinese general or prince. They had promised loyalty tothe Chinese emperor, but not to any prince. No one doubted that theChinese emperor was a complete nonentity and no longer played any partin the struggle for power. It was evident that the murders wouldcontinue until one of the generals or princes overcame the rest and madehimself emperor. Why should not the Huns have the same right? Why shouldnot they join in this struggle for the Chinese imperial throne? There were two arguments against this course, one of which was alreadyout of date. The Chinese had for many centuries set down the Huns asuncultured barbarians; but the inferiority complex thus engendered inthe Huns had virtually been overcome, because in the course of timetheir upper class had deliberately acquired a Chinese education and soranked culturally with the Chinese. Thus the ruler Liu Yüan, forexample, had enjoyed a good Chinese education and was able to read allthe classical texts. The second argument was provided by the rigidconceptions of legitimacy to which the Turkish-Hunnic aristocraticsociety adhered. The Huns asked themselves: "Have we, as aliens, anyright to become emperors and rulers in China, when we are not descendedfrom an old Chinese family?" On this point Liu Yüan and his advisersfound a good answer. They called Liu Yüan's dynasty the "Han dynasty", and so linked it with the most famous of all the Chinese dynasties, pointing to the pact which their ancestor Mao Tun had concluded fivehundred years earlier with the first emperor of the Han dynasty andwhich had described the two states as "brethren". They further recalledthe fact that the rulers of the Huns were closely related to the Chineseruling family, because Mao Tun and his successors had married Chineseprincesses. Finally, Liu Yüan's Chinese family name, Liu, had also beenthe family name of the rulers of the Han dynasty. Accordingly the HunLius came forward not as aliens but as the rightful successors incontinuation of the Han dynasty, as legitimate heirs to the Chineseimperial throne on the strength of relationship and of treaties. Thus the Hun Liu Yüan had no intention of restoring the old empire ofMao Tun, the empire of the nomads; he intended to become emperor ofChina, emperor of a country of farmers. In this lay the fundamentaldifference between the earlier Hun empire and this new one. The questionwhether the Huns should join in the struggle for the Chinese imperialthrone was therefore decided among the Huns themselves in 304 in theaffirmative, by the founding of the "Hun Han dynasty". All that remainedwas the practical question of how to hold out with their small army of50, 000 men if serious opposition should be offered to the "barbarians". Meanwhile Liu Yüan provided himself with court ceremonial on the Chinesemodel, in a capital which, after several changes, was established atP'ing-ch'êng in southern Shansi. He attracted more and more of theChinese gentry, who were glad to come to this still rather barbaric butwell-organized court. In 309 the first attack was made on the Chinesecapital, Loyang. Liu Yüan died in the following year, and in 311, underhis successor Liu Ts'ung (310-318), the attack was renewed and Loyangfell. The Chin emperor, Huai Ti, was captured and kept a prisoner inP'ing-ch'êng until in 313 a conspiracy in his favour was brought tolight in the Hun empire, and he and all his supporters were killed. Meanwhile the Chinese clique of the Chin dynasty had hastened to make aprince emperor in the second capital, Ch'ang-an (Min Ti, 313-316) whilethe princes' struggles for the throne continued. Nobody troubled aboutthe fate of the unfortunate emperor in his capital. He received noreinforcements, so that he was helpless in face of the next attack ofthe Huns, and in 316 he was compelled to surrender like his predecessor. Now the Hun Han dynasty held both capitals, which meant virtually thewhole of the western part of North China, and the so-called "WesternChin dynasty" thus came to its end. Its princes and generals and many ofits gentry became landless and homeless and had to flee into the south. (C) The alien empires in North China, down to the Toba (A. D. 317-385) 1 _The Later Chao dynasty in eastern North China (Hun_; 329-352) At this time the eastern part of North China was entirely in the handsof Shih Lo, a former follower of Liu Yüan. Shih Lo had escaped fromslavery in China and had risen to be a military leader amongdetribalized Huns. In 310 he had not only undertaken a great campaignright across China to the south, but had slaughtered more than 100, 000Chinese, including forty-eight princes of the Chin dynasty, who hadformed a vast burial procession for a prince. This achievement addedconsiderably to Shih Lo's power, and his relations with Liu Ts'ung, already tense, became still more so. Liu Yüan had tried to organize theHun state on the Chinese model, intending in this way to gain efficientcontrol of China; Shih Lo rejected Chinese methods, and held to the oldwarrior-nomad tradition, making raids with the aid of nomad fighters. Hedid not contemplate holding the territories of central and southernChina which he had conquered; he withdrew, and in the two years 314-315he contented himself with bringing considerable expanses innorth-eastern China, especially territories of the Hsien-pi, under hisdirect rule, as a base for further raids. Many Huns in Liu Ts'ung'sdominion found Shih Lo's method of rule more to their taste than livingin a state ruled by officials, and they went over to Shih Lo and joinedhim in breaking entirely with Liu Ts'ung. There was a further motive forthis: in states founded by nomads, with a federation of tribes as theirbasis, the personal qualities of the ruler played an important part. Thechiefs of the various tribes would not give unqualified allegiance tothe son of a dead ruler unless the son was a strong personality or gavepromise of becoming one. Failing that, there would be independencemovements. Liu Ts'ung did not possess the indisputable charisma of hispredecessor Liu Yüan; and the Huns looked with contempt on his courtsplendour, which could only have been justified if he had conquered allChina. Liu Ts'ung had no such ambition; nor had his successor Liu Yao(319-329), who gave the Hun Han dynasty retroactively, from its startwith Liu Yüan, the new name of "Earlier Chao dynasty" (304-329). Manytribes then went over to Shih Lo, and the remainder of Liu Yao's empirewas reduced to a precarious existence. In 329 the whole of it wasannexed by Shih Lo. Although Shih Lo had long been much more powerful than the emperors ofthe "Earlier Chao dynasty", until their removal he had not ventured toassume the title of emperor. The reason for this seems to have lain inthe conceptions of nobility held by the Turkish peoples in general andthe Huns in particular, according to which only those could become_shan-yü_ (or, later, emperor) who could show descent from the Tu-kutribe the rightful _shan-yü_ stock. In accordance with this conception, all later Hun dynasties deliberately disowned Shih Lo. For Shih Lo, after his destruction of Liu Yao, no longer hesitated: ex-slave as hewas, and descended from one of the non-noble stocks of the Huns, he madehimself emperor of the "Later Chao dynasty" (329-352). Shih Lo was a forceful army commander, but he was a man withoutstatesmanship, and without the culture of his day. He had no Chineseeducation; he hated the Chinese and would have been glad to make northChina a grazing ground for his nomad tribes of Huns. Accordingly he hadno desire to rule all China. The part already subjugated, embracing thewhole of north China with the exception of the present province ofKansu, sufficed for his purpose. The governor of that province was a loyal subject of the Chinese Chindynasty, a man famous for his good administration, and himself aChinese. After the execution of the Chin emperor Huai Ti by the Huns in313, he regarded himself as no longer bound to the central government;he made himself independent and founded the "Earlier Liang dynasty", which was to last until 376. This mainly Chinese realm was not verylarge, although it had admitted a broad stream of Chinese emigrants fromthe dissolving Chin empire; but economically the Liang realm was veryprosperous, so that it was able to extend its influence as far asTurkestan. During the earlier struggles Turkestan had been virtually inisolation, but now new contacts began to be established. Many tradersfrom Turkestan set up branches in Liang. In the capital there were wholequarters inhabited only by aliens from western and eastern Turkestan andfrom India. With the traders came Buddhist monks; trade and Buddhismseemed to be closely associated everywhere. In the trading centresmonasteries were installed in the form of blocks of houses within strongwalls that successfully resisted many an attack. Consequently theBuddhists were able to serve as bankers for the merchants, who depositedtheir money in the monasteries, which made a charge for its custody; themerchants also warehoused their goods in the monasteries. Sometimes theprocess was reversed, a trade centre being formed around an existingmonastery. In this case the monastery also served as a hostel for themerchants. Economically this Chinese state in Kansu was much more like aTurkestan city state that lived by commerce than the agrarian states ofthe Far East, although agriculture was also pursued under the EarlierLiang. From this trip to the remote west we will return first to the Huncapital. From 329 onward Shih Lo possessed a wide empire, but anunstable one. He himself felt at all times insecure, because the Hunsregarded him, on account of his humble origin, as a "revolutionary". Heexterminated every member of the Liu family, that is to say theold _shan-yü_ family, of whom he could get hold, in order to remove anypossible pretender to the throne; but he could not count on the loyaltyof the Hun and other Turkish tribes under his rule. During this periodnot a few Huns went over to the small realm of the Toba; other Huntribes withdrew entirely from the political scene and lived with theirherds as nomad tribes in Shansi and in the Ordos region. The generalinsecurity undermined the strength of Shih Lo's empire. He died in 333, and there came to the throne, after a short interregnum, anotherpersonality of a certain greatness, Shih Hu (334-349). He transferredthe capital to the city of Yeh, in northern Honan, where the rulers ofthe Wei dynasty had reigned. There are many accounts of the magnificenceof the court of Yeh. Foreigners, especially Buddhist monks, played agreater part there than Chinese. On the one hand, it was not easy forShih Hu to gain the active support of the educated Chinese gentry afterthe murders of Shih Lo and, on the other hand, Shih Hu seems to haveunderstood that foreigners without family and without other relations tothe native population, but with special skills, are the most reliableand loyal servants of a ruler. Indeed, his administration seems to havebeen good, but the regime remained completely parasitic, with nosupport of the masses or the gentry. After Shih Hu's death there werefearful combats between his sons; ultimately a member of an entirelydifferent family of Hun origin seized power, but was destroyed in 352 bythe Hsien-pi, bringing to an end the Later Chao dynasty. 2 _Earlier Yen dynasty in the north-east (proto-Mongol; 352-370), andthe Earlier Ch'in dynasty in all north China (Tibetan; 351-394)_ In the north, proto-Mongol Hsien-pi tribes had again made themselvesindependent; in the past they had been subjects of Liu Yüan and then ofShih Lo. A man belonging to one of these tribes, the tribe of theMu-jung, became the leader of a league of tribes, and in 337 founded thestate of Yen. This proto-Mongol state of the Mu-jung, which thehistorians call the "Earlier Yen" state, conquered parts of southernManchuria and also the state of Kao-li in Korea, and there began then animmigration of Hsien-pi into Korea, which became noticeable at a laterdate. The conquest of Korea, which was still, as in the past, a Japanesemarket and was very wealthy, enormously strengthened the state of Yen. Not until a little later, when Japan's trade relations were diverted tocentral China, did Korea's importance begin to diminish. Although this"Earlier Yen dynasty" of the Mu-jung officially entered on the heritageof the Huns, and its régime was therefore dated only from 352 (until370), it failed either to subjugate the whole realm of the "Later Chao"or effectively to strengthen the state it had acquired. This old Hunterritory had suffered economically from the anti-agrarian nomadtendency of the last of the Hun emperors; and unremunerative warsagainst the Chinese in the south had done nothing to improve itsposition. In addition to this, the realm of the Toba was dangerouslygaining strength on the flank of the new empire. But the most dangerousenemy was in the west, on former Hun soil, in the province ofShensi--Tibetans, who finally came forward once more with claims todominance. These were Tibetans of the P'u family, which later changedits name to Fu. The head of the family had worked his way up as a leaderof Tibetan auxiliaries under the "Later Chao", gaining more and morepower and following. When under that dynasty the death of Shih Hu markedthe beginning of general dissolution, he gathered his Tibetans aroundhim in the west, declared himself independent of the Huns, and madehimself emperor of the "Earlier Ch'in dynasty" (351-394). He died in355, and was followed after a short interregnum by Fu Chien (357-385), who was unquestionably one of the most important figures of the fourthcentury. This Tibetan empire ultimately defeated the "Earlier Yendynasty" and annexed the realm of the Mu-jung. Thus the Mu-jung Hsien-picame under the dominion of the Tibetans; they were distributed among anumber of places as garrisons of mounted troops. The empire of the Tibetans was organized quite differently from theempires of the Huns and the Hsien-pi tribes. The Tibetan organizationwas purely military and had nothing to do with tribal structure. Thishad its advantages, for the leader of such a formation had no need totake account of tribal chieftains; he was answerable to no one andpossessed considerable personal power. Nor was there any need for him tobe of noble rank or descended from an old family. The Tibetan ruler FuChien organized all his troops, including the non-Tibetans, on thissystem, without regard to tribal membership. Fu Chien's state showed another innovation: the armies of the Huns andthe Hsien-pi had consisted entirely of cavalry, for the nomads of thenorth were, of course, horsemen; to fight on foot was in their eyes notonly contrary to custom but contemptible. So long as a state consistedonly of a league of tribes, it was simply out of the question totransform part of the army into infantry. Fu Chien, however, with hismilitary organization that paid no attention to the tribal element, created an infantry in addition to the great cavalry units, recruitingfor it large numbers of Chinese. The infantry proved extremely valuable, especially in the fighting in the plains of north China and in layingsiege to fortified towns. Fu Chien thus very quickly achieved militarypredominance over the neighbouring states. As we have seen already, heannexed the "Earlier Yen" realm of the proto-Mongols (370), but he alsoannihilated the Chinese "Earlier Liang" realm (376) and in the same yearthe small Turkish Toba realm. This made him supreme over all north Chinaand stronger than any alien ruler before him. He had in his possessionboth the ancient capitals, Ch'ang-an and Loyang; the whole of the richagricultural regions of north China belonged to him; he also controlledthe routes to Turkestan. He himself had had a Chinese education, and heattracted Chinese to his court; he protected the Buddhists; and he triedin every way to make the whole country culturally Chinese. As soon as FuChien had all north China in his power, as Liu Yüan and his Huns haddone before him, he resolved, like Liu Yüan, to make every effort togain the mastery over all China, to become emperor of China. Liu Yüan'ssuccessors had not had the capacity for which such a venture called; FuChien was to fail in it for other reasons. Yet, from a military pointof view, his chances were not bad. He had far more soldiers under hiscommand than the Chinese "Eastern Chin dynasty" which ruled the south, and his troops were undoubtedly better. In the time of the founder ofthe Tibetan dynasty the southern empire had been utterly defeated by histroops (354), and the south Chinese were no stronger now. Against them the north had these assets: the possession of the bestnorthern tillage, the control of the trade routes, and "Chinese" cultureand administration. At the time, however, these represented onlypotentialities and not tangible realities. It would have taken ten totwenty years to restore the capacities of the north after itsdevastation in many wars, to reorganize commerce, and to set up a reallyreliable administration, and thus to interlock the various elements andconsolidate the various tribes. But as early as 383 Fu Chien started hisgreat campaign against the south, with an army of something like amillion men. At first the advance went well. The horsemen from thenorth, however, were men of the mountain country, and in the soggyplains of the Yangtze region, cut up by hundreds of water-courses andcanals, they suffered from climatic and natural conditions to which theywere unaccustomed. Their main strength was still in cavalry; and theycame to grief. The supplies and reinforcements for the vast army failedto arrive in time; units did not reach the appointed places at theappointed dates. The southern troops under the supreme command of HsiehHsüan, far inferior in numbers and militarily of no great efficiency, made surprise attacks on isolated units before these were in regularformation. Some they defeated, others they bribed; they spread falsereports. Fu Chien's army was seized with widespread panic, so that hewas compelled to retreat in haste. As he did so it became evident thathis empire had no inner stability: in a very short time it fell intofragments. The south Chinese had played no direct part in this, for inspite of their victory they were not strong enough to advance far to thenorth. 3 _The fragmentation of north China_ The first to fall away from the Tibetan ruler was a noble of theMu-jung, a member of the ruling family of the "Earlier Yen dynasty", whowithdrew during the actual fighting to pursue a policy of his own. Withthe vestiges of the Hsien-pi who followed him, mostly cavalry, he foughthis way northwards into the old homeland of the Hsien-pi and there, incentral Hopei, founded the "Later Yen dynasty" (384-409), himselfreigning for twelve years. In the remaining thirteen years of theexistence of that dynasty there were no fewer than five rulers, thelast of them a member of another family. The history of this Hsien-pidynasty, as of its predecessor, is an unedifying succession ofintrigues; no serious effort was made to build up a true state. In the same year 384 there was founded, under several other Mu-jungprinces of the ruling family of the "Earlier Yen dynasty", the "WesternYen dynasty" (384-394). Its nucleus was nothing more than a detachmentof troops of the Hsien-pi which had been thrown by Fu Chien into thewest of his empire, in Shensi, in the neighbourhood of the old capitalCh'ang-an. There its commanders, on learning the news of Fu Chien'scollapse, declared their independence. In western China, however, farremoved from all liaison with the main body of the Hsien-pi, they wereunable to establish themselves, and when they tried to fight their wayto the north-east they were dispersed, so that they failed entirely toform an actual state. There was a third attempt in 384 to form a state in north China. ATibetan who had joined Fu Chien with his followers declared himselfindependent when Fu Chien came back, a beaten man, to Shensi. He causedFu Chien and almost the whole of his family to be assassinated, occupiedthe capital, Ch'ang-an, and actually entered into the heritage of FuChien. This Tibetan dynasty is known as the "Later Ch'in dynasty"(384-417). It was certainly the strongest of those founded in 384, butit still failed to dominate any considerable part of China and remainedof local importance, mainly confined to the present province of Shensi. Fu Chien's empire nominally had three further rulers, but they did notexert the slightest influence on events. With the collapse of the state founded by Fu Chien, the tribes ofHsien-pi who had left their homeland in the third century and migratedto the Ordos region proceeded to form their own state: a man of theHsien-pi tribe of the Ch'i-fu founded the so-called "Western Ch'indynasty" (385-431). Like the other Hsien-pi states, this one was of weakconstruction, resting on the military strength of a few tribes andfailing to attain a really secure basis. Its territory lay in the eastof the present province of Kansu, and so controlled the eastern end ofthe western Asian caravan route, which might have been a source ofwealth if the Ch'i-fu had succeeded in attracting commerce by discreettreatment and in imposing taxation on it. Instead of this, the bulk ofthe long-distance traffic passed through the Ordos region, a littlefarther north, avoiding the Ch'i-fu state, which seemed to the merchantsto be too insecure. The Ch'i-fu depended mainly on cattle-breeding inthe remote mountain country in the south of their territory, a regionthat gave them relative security from attack; on the other hand, thismade them unable to exercise any influence on the course of politicalevents in western China. Mention must be made of one more state that rose from the ruins of FuChien's empire. It lay in the far west of China, in the western part ofthe present province of Kansu, and was really a continuation of theChinese "Earlier Liang" realm, which had been annexed ten years earlier(376) by Fu Chien. A year before his great march to the south, Fu Chienhad sent the Tibetan Lü Kuang into the "Earlier Liang" region in orderto gain influence over Turkestan. As mentioned previously, after thegreat Hun rulers Fu Chien was the first to make a deliberate attempt tosecure cultural and political overlordship over the whole of China. Although himself a Tibetan, he never succumbed to the temptation ofpursuing a "Tibetan" policy; like an entirely legitimate ruler of China, he was concerned to prevent the northern peoples along the frontier fromuniting with the Tibetan peoples of the west for political ends. Thepossession of Turkestan would avert that danger, which had shown signsof becoming imminent of late: some tribes of the Hsien-pi had migratedas far as the high mountains of Tibet and had imposed themselves as aruling class on the still very primitive Tibetans living there. Fromthis symbiosis there began to be formed a new people, the so-calledT'u-yü-hun, a hybridization of Mongol and Tibetan stock with a slightTurkish admixture. Lü Kuang had had considerable success in Turkestan;he had brought considerable portions of eastern Turkestan under FuChien's sovereignty and administered those regions almost independently. When the news came of Fu Chien's end, he declared himself an independentruler, of the "Later Liang" dynasty (386-403). Strictly speaking, thiswas simply a trading State, like the city-states of Turkestan: its basiswas the transit traffic that brought it prosperity. For commerce broughtgood profit to the small states that lay right across the caravan route, whereas it was of doubtful benefit, as we know, to agrarian China as awhole, because the luxury goods which it supplied to the court were paidfor out of the production of the general population. This "Later Liang" realm was inhabited not only by a few Tibetans andmany Chinese, but also by Hsien-pi and Huns. These heterogeneouselements with their divergent cultures failed in the long run to holdtogether in this long but extremely narrow strip of territory, which wasalmost incapable of military defence. As early as 397 a group of Huns inthe central section of the country made themselves independent, assumingthe name of the "Northern Liang" (397-439). These Huns quickly conqueredother parts of the "Later Liang" realm, which then fell entirely topieces. Chinese again founded a state, "West Liang" (400-421) in westernKansu, and the Hsien-pi founded "South Liang" (379-414) in easternKansu. Thus the "Later Liang" fell into three parts, more or lessdiffering ethnically, though they could not be described as ethnicallyunadulterated states. 4 _Sociological analysis of the two great alien empires_ The two great empires of north China at the time of its division hadbeen founded by non-Chinese--the first by the Hun Liu Yüan, the secondby the Tibetan Fu Chien. Both rulers went to work on the same principleof trying to build up truly "Chinese" empires, but the traditions ofHuns and Tibetans differed, and the two experiments turned outdifferently. Both failed, but not for the same reasons and not with thesame results. The Hun Liu Yüan was the ruler of a league of feudaltribes, which was expected to take its place as an upper class above theunchanged Chinese agricultural population with its system of officialsand gentry. But Liu Yüan's successors were national reactionaries whostood for the maintenance of the nomad life against that new plan oftransition to a feudal class of urban nobles ruling an agrarianpopulation. Liu Yüan's more far-seeing policy was abandoned, with theresult that the Huns were no longer in a position to rule an immenseagrarian territory, and the empire soon disintegrated. For the variousHun tribes this failure meant falling back into politicalinsignificance, but they were able to maintain their national characterand existence. Fu Chien, as a Tibetan, was a militarist and soldier, in accordance withthe past of the Tibetans. Under him were grouped Tibetans without tribalchieftains; the great mass of Chinese; and dispersed remnants of tribesof Huns, Hsien-pi, and others. His organization was militaristic and, outside the military sphere, a militaristic bureaucracy. The Chinesegentry, so far as they still existed, preferred to work with him ratherthan with the feudalist Huns. These gentry probably supported Fu Chien'ssouthern campaign, for, in consequence of the wide ramifications oftheir families, it was to their interest that China should form a singleeconomic unit. They were, of course, equally ready to work with anothergroup, one of southern Chinese, to attain the same end by other means, if those means should prove more advantageous: thus the gentry were nota reliable asset, but were always ready to break faith. Among otherthings, Fu Chien's southern campaign was wrecked by that faithlessness. When an essentially military state suffers military defeat, it can onlygo to pieces. This explains the disintegration of that great empirewithin a single year into so many diminutive states, as alreadydescribed. 5 _Sociological analysis of the petty States_ The states that took the place of Fu Chien's empire, those manydiminutive states (the Chinese speak of the period of the SixteenKingdoms), may be divided from the economic point of view into twogroups--trading states and warrior states; sociologically they also fallinto two groups, tribal states and military states. The small states in the west, in Kansu (the Later Liang and the Western, Northern, and Southern Liang), were trading states: they lived on theearnings of transit trade with Turkestan. The eastern states werewarrior states, in which an army commander ruled by means of an armedgroup of non-Chinese and exploited an agricultural population. It isonly logical that such states should be short-lived, as in fact they allwere. Sociologically regarded, during this period only the Southern andNorthern Liang were still tribal states. In addition to these came theyoung Toba realm, which began in 385 but of which mention has not yetbeen made. The basis of that state was the tribe, not the family or theindividual; after its political disintegration the separate tribesremained in existence. The other states of the east, however, weremilitary states, made up of individuals with no tribal allegiance butsubject to a military commandant. But where there is no tribalassociation, after the political downfall of a state founded by ethnicalgroups, those groups sooner or later disappear as such. We see this inthe years immediately following Fu Chien's collapse: the Tibetanethnical group to which he himself belonged disappeared entirely fromthe historical scene. The two Tibetan groups that outlasted him, alsoforming military states and not tribal states, similarly came to an endshortly afterwards for all time. The Hsien-pi groups in the variousfragments of the empire, with the exception of the petty states inKansu, also continued, only as tribal fragments led by a few old rulingfamilies. They, too, after brief and undistinguished military rule, cameto an end; they disappeared so completely that thereafter we no longerfind the term Hsien-pi in history. Not that they had been exterminated. When the social structure and its corresponding economic form fall topieces, there remain only two alternatives for its individuals. Eitherthey must go over to a new form, which in China could only mean thatthey became Chinese; many Hsien-pi in this way became Chinese in thedecades following 384. Or, they could retain their old way of living inassociation with another stock of similar formation; this, too, happenedin many cases. Both these courses, however, meant the end of theHsien-pi as an independent ethnical unit. We must keep this process andits reasons in view if we are to understand how a great people candisappear once and for all. The Huns, too, so powerful in the past, were suddenly scarcely to befound any longer. Among the many petty states there were many Hsien-pikingdoms, but only a single, quite small Hun state, that of the NorthernLiang. The disappearance of the Huns was, however, only apparent; atthis time they remained in the Ordos region and in Shansi as separatenomad tribes with no integrating political organization; their time hadstill to come. 6 _Spread of Buddhism_ According to the prevalent Chinese view, nothing of importance wasachieved during this period in north China in the intellectual sphere;there was no culture in the north, only in the south. This is natural:for a Confucian this period, the fourth century, was one of degeneracyin north China, for no one came into prominence as a celebratedConfucian. Nothing else could be expected, for in the north the gentry, which had been the class that maintained Confucianism since the Hanperiod, had largely been destroyed; from political leadership especiallyit had been shut out during the periods of alien rule. Nor could weexpect to find Taoists in the true sense, that is to say followers ofthe teaching of Lao Tzŭ, for these, too, had been dependent since theHan period on the gentry. Until the fourth century, these two hadremained the dominant philosophies. What could take their place? The alien rulers had left little behindthem. Most of them had been unable to write Chinese, and in so far asthey were warriors they had no interest in literature or in politicalphilosophy, for they were men of action. Few songs and poems of theirsremain extant in translations from their language into Chinese, butthese preserve a strong alien flavour in their mental attitude and intheir diction. They are the songs of fighting men, songs that were sungon horseback, songs of war and its sufferings. These songs have nothingof the excessive formalism and aestheticism of the Chinese, but giveexpression to simple emotions in unpolished language with a directappeal. The epic of the Turkish peoples had clearly been developedalready, and in north China it produced a rudimentary ballad literature, to which four hundred years later no less attention was paid than to theemotional world of contemporary songs. The actual literature, however, and the philosophy of this period areBuddhist. How can we explain that Buddhism had gained such influence? It will be remembered that Buddhism came to China overland and by sea inthe Han epoch. The missionary monks who came from abroad with theforeign merchants found little approval among the Chinese gentry. Theywere regarded as second-rate persons belonging, according to Chinesenotions, to an inferior social class. Thus the monks had to turn to themiddle and lower classes in China. Among these they found widespreadacceptance, not of their profound philosophic ideas, but of theirdoctrine of the after life. This doctrine was in a certain senserevolutionary: it declared that all the high officials and superiors whotreated the people so unjustly and who so exploited them, would in theirnext reincarnation be born in poor circumstances or into inferior rankand would have to suffer punishment for all their ill deeds. The poorwho had to suffer undeserved evils would be born in their next life intohigh rank and would have a good time. This doctrine brought a ray oflight, a promise, to the country people who had suffered so much sincethe later Han period of the second century A. D. Their situation remainedunaltered down to the fourth century; and under their alien rulers theChinese country population became Buddhist. The merchants made use of the Buddhist monasteries as banks andwarehouses. Thus they, too, were well inclined towards Buddhism and gavemoney and land for its temples. The temples were able to settle peasantson this land as their tenants. In those times a temple was a morereliable landlord than an individual alien, and the poorer peasantsreadily became temple tenants; this increased their inclination towardsBuddhism. The Indian, Sogdian, and Turkestani monks were readily allowed to settleby the alien rulers of China, who had no national prejudice againstother aliens. The monks were educated men and brought some usefulknowledge from abroad. Educated Chinese were scarcely to be found, forthe gentry retired to their estates, which they protected as well asthey could from their alien ruler. So long as the gentry had no prospectof regaining control of the threads of political life that extendedthroughout China, they were not prepared to provide a class of officialsand scholars for the anti-Confucian foreigners, who showed interest onlyin fighting and trading. Thus educated persons were needed at the courtsof the alien rulers, and Buddhists were therefore engaged. These foreignBuddhists had all the important Buddhist writings translated intoChinese, and so made use of their influence at court for religiouspropaganda. This does not mean that every text was translated from Indian languages;especially in the later period many works appeared which came not fromIndia but from Sogdia or Turkestan, or had even been written in China bySogdians or other natives of Turkestan, and were then translated intoChinese. In Turkestan, Khotan in particular became a centre of Buddhistculture. Buddhism was influenced by vestiges of indigenous cults, sothat Khotan developed a special religious atmosphere of its own; deitieswere honoured there (for instance, the king of Heaven of thenortherners) to whom little regard was paid elsewhere. This "KhotanBuddhism" had special influence on the Buddhist Turkish peoples. Big translation bureaux were set up for the preparation of thesetranslations into Chinese, in which many copyists simultaneously tookdown from dictation a translation made by a "master" with the aid of afew native helpers. The translations were not literal but wereparaphrases, most of them greatly reduced in length, glosses wereintroduced when the translator thought fit for political or doctrinalreasons, or when he thought that in this way he could better adapt thetexts to Chinese feeling. Buddhism, quite apart from the special case of "Khotan Buddhism", underwent extensive modification on its way across Central Asia. Itsmain Indian form (Hinayana) was a purely individualistic religion ofsalvation without a God--related in this respect to genuine Taoism--andbased on a concept of two classes of people: the monks who could achievesalvation and, secondly, the masses who fed the monks but could notachieve salvation. This religion did not gain a footing in China; onlytraces of it can be found in some Buddhistic sects in China. MahayanaBuddhism, on the other hand, developed into a true popular religion ofsalvation. It did not interfere with the indigenous deities and did notdiscountenance life in human society; it did not recommend Nirvana atonce, but placed before it a here-after with all the joys worth strivingfor. In this form Buddhism was certain of success in Asia. On its wayfrom India to China it divided into countless separate streams, eachcharacterized by a particular book. Every nuance, from profoundphilosophical treatises to the most superficial little tracts writtenfor the simplest of souls, and even a good deal of Turkestan shamanismand Tibetan belief in magic, found their way into Buddhist writings, sothat some Buddhist monks practised Central Asian Shamanism. In spite of Buddhism, the old religion of the peasants retained itsvitality. Local diviners, Chinese shamans (_wu_), sorcerers, continuedtheir practices, although from now on they sometimes used Buddhistphraseology. Often, this popular religion is called "Taoism", because asystematization of the popular pantheon was attempted, and Lao Tzŭ andother Taoists played a role in this pantheon. Philosophic Taoismcontinued in this time, aside from the church-Taoism of Chang Ling and, naturally, all kinds of contacts between these three currents occurred. The Chinese state cult, the cult of Heaven saturated with Confucianism, was another living form of religion. The alien rulers, in turn, hadbrought their own mixture of worship of Heaven and shamanism. Theirworship of Heaven was their official "representative" religion; theirshamanism the private religion of the individual in his daily life. Thealien rulers, accordingly, showed interest in the Chinese shamans aswell as in the shamanistic aspects of Mahayana Buddhism. Notinfrequently competitions were arranged by the rulers between priests ofthe different religious systems, and the rulers often competed for thepossession of monks who were particularly skilled in magic orsoothsaying. But what was the position of the "official" religion? Were the aliens tohold to their own worship of heaven, or were they to take over theofficial Chinese cult, or what else? This problem posed itself alreadyin the fourth century, but it was left unsolved. (D) The Toba empire in North China (A. D. 385-550) 1 _The rise of the Toba State_ On the collapse of Fu Chien's empire one more state made its appearance;it has not yet been dealt with, although it was the most important one. This was the empire of the Toba, in the north of the present province ofShansi. Fu Chien had brought down the small old Toba state in 376, buthad not entirely destroyed it. Its territory was partitioned, and partwas placed under the administration of a Hun: in view of the old rivalrybetween Toba and Huns, this seemed to Fu Chien to be the best way ofpreventing any revival of the Toba. However, a descendant of the oldruling family of the Toba succeeded, with the aid of related families, in regaining power and forming a small new kingdom. Very soon manytribes which still lived in north China and which had not been broken upinto military units, joined him. Of these there were ultimately 119, including many Hun tribes from Shansi and also many Hsien-pi tribes. Thus the question who the Toba were is not easy to answer. The leadingtribe itself had migrated southward in the third century from thefrontier territory between northern Mongolia and northern Manchuria. After this migration the first Toba state, the so-called Tai state, wasformed (338-376); not much is known about it. The tribes that, from 385after the break-up of the Tibetan empire, grouped themselves round thisruling tribe, were both Turkish and Mongol; but from the culture andlanguage of the Toba we think it must be inferred that the ruling tribeitself as well as the majority of the other tribes were Turkish; in anycase, the Turkish element seems to have been stronger than theMongolian. Thus the new Toba kingdom was a tribal state, not a military state. Butthe tribes were no longer the same as in the time of Liu Yüan a hundredyears earlier. Their total population must have been quite small; wemust assume that they were but the remains of 119 tribes rather than 119full-sized tribes. Only part of them were still living the old nomadlife; others had become used to living alongside Chinese peasants andhad assumed leadership among the peasants. These Toba now faced adifficult situation. The country was arid and mountainous and did notyield much agricultural produce. For the many people who had come intothe Toba state from all parts of the former empire of Fu Chien, to saynothing of the needs of a capital and a court which since the time ofLiu Yüan had been regarded as the indispensable entourage of a ruler whoclaimed imperial rank, the local production of the Chinese peasants wasnot enough. All the government officials, who were Chinese, and all theslaves and eunuchs needed grain to eat. Attempts were made to settlemore Chinese peasants round the new capital, but without success;something had to be done. It appeared necessary to embark on a campaignto conquer the fertile plain of eastern China. In the course of a numberof battles the Hsien-pi of the "Later Yen" were annihilated and easternChina conquered (409). Now a new question arose: what should be done with all those people?Nomads used to enslave their prisoners and use them for watching theirflocks. Some tribal chieftains had adopted the practice of establishingcaptives on their tribal territory as peasants. There was an opportunitynow to subject the millions of Chinese captives to servitude to thevarious tribal chieftains in the usual way. But those captives who werepeasants could not be taken away from their fields without robbing thecountry of its food; therefore it would have been necessary to spreadthe tribes over the whole of eastern China, and this would have addedimmensely to the strength of the various tribes and would have greatlyweakened the central power. Furthermore almost all Chinese officials atthe court had come originally from the territories just conquered. Theyhad come from there about a hundred years earlier and still had alltheir relatives in the east. If the eastern territories had been placedunder the rule of separate tribes, and the tribes had been distributedin this way, the gentry in those territories would have been destroyedand reduced to the position of enslaved peasants. The Chinese officialsaccordingly persuaded the Toba emperor not to place the new territoriesunder the tribes, but to leave them to be administered by officials ofthe central administration. These officials must have a firm footing intheir territory, for only they could extract from the peasants the grainrequired for the support of the capital. Consequently the Tobagovernment did not enslave the Chinese in the eastern territory, butmade the local gentry into government officials, instructing them tocollect as much grain as possible for the capital. This Chinese localgentry worked in close collaboration with the Chinese officials atcourt, a fact which determined the whole fate of the Toba empire. The Hsien-pi of the newly conquered east no longer belonged to anytribe, but only to military units. They were transferred as soldiers tothe Toba court and placed directly under the government, which was thusnotably strengthened, especially as the millions of peasants under theirChinese officials were also directly responsible to the centraladministration. The government now proceeded to convert also its ownToba tribes into military formations. The tribal men of noble rank werebrought to the court as military officers, and so were separated fromthe common tribesmen and the slaves who had to remain with the herds. This change, which robbed the tribes of all means of independent action, was not carried out without bloodshed. There were revolts of tribalchieftains which were ruthlessly suppressed. The central government hadtriumphed, but it realized that more reliance could be placed on Chinesethan on its own people, who were used to independence. Thus the Tobawere glad to employ more and more Chinese, and the Chinese pressed moreand more into the administration. In this process the differing socialorganizations of Toba and Chinese played an important part. The Chinesehave patriarchal families with often hundreds of members. When a memberof a family obtains a good position, he is obliged to make provision forthe other members of his family and to secure good positions for themtoo; and not only the members of his own family but those of alliedfamilies and of families related to it by marriage. In contrast the Tobahad a patriarchal nuclear family system; as nomad warriors with no fixedabode, they were unable to form extended family groups. Among them theindividual was much more independent; each one tried to do his best forhimself. No Toba thought of collecting a large clique around himself;everybody should be the artificer of his own fortune. Thus, when aChinese obtained an official post, he was followed by countless others;but when a Toba had a position he remained alone, and so thesinification of the Toba empire went on incessantly. 2 _The Hun kingdom of the Hsia (407-431)_ At the rebuilding of the Toba empire, however, a good many Hun tribeswithdrew westward into the Ordos region beyond the reach of the Toba, and there they formed the Hun "Hsia" kingdom. Its ruler, Ho-lienP'o-p'o, belonged to the family of Mao Tun and originally, like LiuYüan, bore the sinified family name Liu; but he altered this to a Hunname, taking the family name of Ho-lien. This one fact alonedemonstrates that the Hsia rejected Chinese culture and werenationalistic Hun. Thus there were now two realms in North China, oneundergoing progressive sinification, the other falling back to the oldtraditions of the Huns. 3 _Rise of the Toba to a great Power_ The present province of Szechwan, in the west, had belonged to FuChien's empire. At the break-up of the Tibetan state that provincepassed to the southern Chinese empire and gave the southern Chineseaccess, though it was very difficult access, to the caravan routeleading to Turkestan. The small states in Kansu, which dominated theroute, now passed on the traffic along two routes, one northward to theToba and the other alien states in north China, the other throughnorth-west Szechwan to south China. In this way the Kansu states werestrengthened both economically and politically, for they were able todirect the commerce either to the northern states or to south China assuited them. When the South Chinese saw the break-up of Fu Chien'sempire into numberless fragments, Liu Yü, who was then all-powerful atthe South Chinese court, made an attempt to conquer the whole of westernChina. A great army was sent from South China into the province ofShensi, where the Tibetan empire of the "Later Ch'in" was situated. TheCh'in appealed to the Toba for help, but the Toba were themselves toohotly engaged to be able to spare troops. They also considered thatSouth China would be unable to maintain these conquests, and that theythemselves would find them later an easy prey. Thus in 417 the state of"Later Ch'in" received a mortal blow from the South Chinese army. Largenumbers of the upper class fled to the Toba. As had been foreseen, theSouth Chinese were unable to maintain their hold over the conqueredterritory, and it was annexed with ease by the Hun Ho-lien P'o-p'o. Butwhy not by the Toba? Towards the end of the fourth century, vestiges of Hun, Hsien-pi, andother tribes had united in Mongolia to form the new people of theJuan-juan (also called Ju-juan or Jou-jan). Scholars disagree as towhether the Juan-juan were Turks or Mongols; European investigatorsbelieve them to have been identical with the Avars who appeared in theNear East in 558 and later in Europe, and are inclined, on the strengthof a few vestiges of their language, to regard them as Mongols. Investigations concerning the various tribes, however, show that amongthe Juan-juan there were both Mongol and Turkish tribes, and that thequestion cannot be decided in favour of either group. Some of the tribesbelonging to the Juan-juan had formerly lived in China. Others had livedfarther north or west and came into the history of the Far East now forthe first time. This Juan-juan people threatened the Toba in the rear, from the north. It made raids into the Toba empire for the same reasons for which theHuns in the past had raided agrarian China; for agriculture had madeconsiderable progress in the Toba empire. Consequently, before the Tobacould attempt to expand southward, the Juan-juan peril must be removed. This was done in the end, after a long series of hard and not alwayssuccessful struggles. That was why the Toba had played no part in thefighting against South China, and had been unable to take immediateadvantage of that fighting. After 429 the Juan-juan peril no longer existed, and in the years thatfollowed the whole of the small states of the west were destroyed, oneafter another, by the Toba--the "Hsia kingdom" in 431, bringing downwith it the "Western Ch'in", and the "Northern Liang" in 439. Thenon-Chinese elements of the population of those countries were movednorthwards and served the Toba as soldiers; the Chinese also, especiallythe remains of the Kansu "Western Liang" state (conquered in 420), wereenslaved, and some of them transferred to the north. Here again, however, the influence of the Chinese gentry made itself felt after ashort time. As we know, the Chinese of "Western Liang" in Kansu hadoriginally migrated there from eastern China. Their eastern relativeswho had come under Toba rule through the conquest of eastern China andwho through their family connections with Chinese officials of the Tobaempire had found safety, brought their influence to bear on behalf ofthe Chinese of Kansu, so that several families regained office andsocial standing. [Illustration: Map 4: The Toba empire _(about A. D. 500)_] Their expansion into Kansu gave the Toba control of the commerce withTurkestan, and there are many mentions of tribute missions to the Tobacourt in the years that followed, some even from India. The Toba alsospread in the east. And finally there was fighting with South China(430-431), which brought to the Toba empire a large part of the provinceof Honan with the old capital, Loyang. Thus about 440 the Toba must bedescribed as the most powerful state in the Far East, ruling the wholeof North China. 4 _Economic and social conditions_ The internal changes of which there had only been indications in thefirst period of the Toba empire now proceeded at an accelerated pace. There were many different factors at work. The whole of the civiladministration had gradually passed into Chinese hands, the Tobaretaining only the military administration. But the wars in the southcalled for the services of specialists in fortification and in infantrywarfare, who were only to be found among the Chinese. The growinginfluence of the Chinese was further promoted by the fact that many Tobafamilies were exterminated in the revolts of the tribal chieftains, andothers were wiped out in the many battles. Thus the Toba lost groundalso in the military administration. The wars down to A. D. 440 had been large-scale wars of conquest, lightning campaigns that had brought in a great deal of booty. Withtheir loot the Toba developed great magnificence and luxury. Thecampaigns that followed were hard and long-drawn-out struggles, especially against South China, where there was no booty, because theenemy retired so slowly that they could take everything with them. TheToba therefore began to be impoverished, because plunder was the mainsource of their wealth. In addition to this, their herds graduallydeteriorated, for less and less use was made of them; for instance, horses were little required for the campaign against South China, andthere was next to no fighting in the north. In contrast with theimpoverishment of the Toba, the Chinese gentry grew not only morepowerful but more wealthy. The Toba seem to have tried to prevent this development by introducingthe famous "land equalization system" _(chün-t'ien)_, one of their mostimportant innovations. The direct purposes of this measure were toresettle uprooted farm population; to prevent further migrations offarmers; and to raise production and taxes. The founder of this systemwas Li An-shih, member of a Toba family and later husband of an imperialprincess. The plan was basically accepted in 477, put into action in485, and remained the land law until _c_. 750. Every man and everywoman had a right to receive a certain amount of land for life-time. After their death, the land was redistributed. In addition to this"personal land" there was so-called "mulberry land" on which farmerscould plant mulberries for silk production; but they also could plantother crops under the trees. This land could be inherited from father toson and was not redistributed. Incidentally we know many similarregulations for trees in the Near East and Central Asia. As the tax waslevied upon the personal land in form of grain, and on the tree land inform of silk, this regulation stimulated the cultivation of diversifiedcrops on the tree land which then was not taxable. The basic idea behindthis law was, that all land belonged to the state, a concept for whichthe Toba could point to the ancient Chou but which also fitted well fora dynasty of conquest. The new "_chün-t'ien_" system required a completeland and population survey which was done in the next years. We knowfrom much later census fragments that the government tried to enforcethis equalization law, but did not always succeed; we read statementssuch as "X has so and so much land; he has a claim on so and so muchland and, therefore, has to get so and so much"; but there are norecords that X ever received the land due to him. One consequence of the new land law was a legal fixation of the socialclasses. Already during Han time (and perhaps even earlier) adistinction had been made between "free burghers" _(liang-min)_ and"commoners" _(ch'ien-min)_. This distinction had continued as informaltradition until, now, it became a legal concept. Only "burghers", i. E. Gentry and free farmers, were real citizens with all rights of a freeman. The "commoners" were completely or partly unfree and fell underseveral heads. Ranking as the lowest class were the real slaves (_nu_), divided into state and private slaves. By law, slaves were regarded aspieces of property, not as members of human society. They were, however, forced to marry and thus, as a class, were probably reproducing at arate similar to that of the normal population, while slaves in Europereproduced at a lower rate than the population. The next higher classwere serfs (_fan-hu_), hereditary state servants, usually descendants ofstate slaves. They were obliged to work three months during the year forthe state and were paid for this service. They were not registered intheir place of residence but under the control of the Ministry ofAgriculture which distributed them to other offices, but did not usethem for farm work. Similar in status to them were the private bondsmen(_pu-ch'ü_), hereditarily attached to gentry families. These serfsreceived only 50 per cent of the land which a free burgher receivedunder the land law. Higher than these were the service families(_tsa-hu_) who were registered in their place of residence, but had toperform certain services; here we find "tomb families" who cared for theimperial tombs, "shepherd families", postal families, kiln families, soothsayer families, medical families, and musician families. Each ofthese categories of commoners had its own laws; each had to marry withinthe category. No intermarriage or adoption was allowed. It isinteresting to observe that a similar fixation of the social status ofcitizens occurred in the Roman Empire from _c. _ A. D. 300 on. Thus in the years between 440 and 490 there were great changes not onlyin the economic but in the social sphere. The Toba declined in numberand influence. Many of them married into rich families of the Chinesegentry and regarded themselves as no longer belonging to the Toba. Inthe course of time the court was completely sinified. The Chinese at the court now formed the leading element, and they triedto persuade the emperor to claim dominion over all China, at least intheory, by installing his capital in Loyang, the old centre of China. This transfer had the advantage for them personally that the territoriesin which their properties were situated were close to that capital, sothat the grain they produced found a ready market. And it was indeed nolonger possible to rule the great Toba empire, now covering the whole ofNorth China from North Shansi. The administrative staff was so greatthat the transport system was no longer able to bring in sufficientfood. For the present capital did not lie on a navigable river, and allthe grain had to be carted, an expensive and unsafe mode of transport. Ultimately, in 493-4, the Chinese gentry officials secured the transferof the capital to Loyang. In the years 490 to 499 the Toba emperor WenTi (471-499) took further decisive steps required by the stage reachedin internal development. All aliens were prohibited from using their ownlanguage in public life. Chinese became the official language. Chineseclothing and customs also became general. The system of administrationwhich had largely followed a pattern developed by the Wei dynasty in theearly third century, was changed and took a form which became the modelfor the T'ang dynasty in the seventh century. It is important to notethat in this period, for the first time, an office for religious affairswas created which dealt mainly with Buddhistic monasteries. While afterthe Toba period such an office for religious affairs disappeared again, this idea was taken up later by Japan when Japan accepted a Chinese-typeof administration. [Illustration: 6 Sun Ch'üan, ruler of Wu. _From a painting by YenLi-pen_ (_c. _ 640-680). ] [Illustration: 7 General view of the Buddhist cave-temples of Yün-kang. In the foreground, the present village; in the background, the rampart. _Photo H.  Hammer-Morrisson. _] Owing to his bringing up, the emperor no longer regarded himself as Tobabut as Chinese; he adopted the Chinese culture, acting as he wasbound to do if he meant to be no longer an alien ruler in North China. Already he regarded himself as emperor of all China, so that the SouthChinese empire was looked upon as a rebel state that had to beconquered. While, however, he succeeded in everything else, the campaignagainst the south failed except for some local successes. The transfer of the capital to Loyang was a blow to the Toba nobles. Their herds became valueless, for animal products could not be carriedover the long distance to the new capital. In Loyang the Toba noblesfound themselves parted from their tribes, living in an unaccustomedclimate and with nothing to do, for all important posts were occupied byChinese. The government refused to allow them to return to the north. Those who did not become Chinese by finding their way into Chinesefamilies grew visibly poorer and poorer. 5 _Victory and retreat of Buddhism_ What we said in regard to the religious position of the other alienpeoples applied also to the Toba. As soon, however, as their empiregrew, they, too, needed an "official" religion of their own. For a fewyears they had continued their old sacrifices to Heaven; then anothercourse opened to them. The Toba, together with many Chinese living inthe Toba empire, were all captured by Buddhism, and especially by itsshamanist element. One element in their preference of Buddhism wascertainly the fact that Buddhism accepted all foreigners alike--both theToba and the Chinese were "foreign" converts to an essentially Indianreligion; whereas the Confucianist Chinese always made the non-Chinesefeel that in spite of all their attempts they were still "barbarians"and that only real Chinese could be real Confucianists. Secondly, it can be assumed that the Toba rulers by fostering Buddhismintended to break the power of the Chinese gentry. A few centurieslater, Buddhism was accepted by the Tibetan kings to break the power ofthe native nobility, by the Japanese to break the power of a federationof noble clans, and still later by the Burmese kings for the samereason. The acceptance of Buddhism by rulers in the Far East alwaysmeant also an attempt to create a more autocratic, absolutistic régime. Mahayana Buddhism, as an ideal, desired a society without clear-cutclasses under one enlightened ruler; in such a society all believerscould strive to attain the ultimate goal of salvation. Throughout the early period of Buddhism in the Far East, the questionhad been discussed what should be the relations between the Buddhistmonks and the emperor, whether they were subject to him or not. This wasconnected, of course, with the fact that to the early fourth century theBuddhist monks were foreigners who, in the view prevalent in the FarEast, owed only a limited allegiance to the ruler of the land. TheBuddhist monks at the Toba court now submitted to the emperor, regardinghim as a reincarnation of Buddha. Thus the emperor became protector ofBuddhism and a sort of god. This combination was a good substitute forthe old Chinese theory that the emperor was the Son of Heaven; itincreased the prestige and the splendour of the dynasty. At the sametime the old shamanism was legitimized under a Buddhistreinterpretation. Thus Buddhism became a sort of official religion. Theemperor appointed a Buddhist monk as head of the Buddhist state church, and through this "Pope" he conveyed endowments on a large scale to thechurch. T'an-yao, head of the state church since 460, induced the stateto attach state slaves, i. E. Enslaved family members of criminals, andtheir families to state temples. They were supposed to work on templeland and to produce for the upkeep of the temples and monasteries. Thus, the institution of "temple slaves" was created, an institution whichexisted in South Asia and Burma for a long time, and which greatlystrengthened the economic position of Buddhism. Like all Turkish peoples, the Toba possessed a myth according to whichtheir ancestors came into the world from a sacred grotto. The Buddhiststook advantage of this conception to construct, with money from theemperor, the vast and famous cave-temple of Yün-kang, in northernShansi. If we come from the bare plains into the green river valley, wemay see to this day hundreds of caves cut out of the steep cliffs of theriver bank. Here monks lived in their cells, worshipping the deities ofwhom they had thousands of busts and reliefs sculptured in stone, someof more than life-size, some diminutive. The majestic impression madetoday by the figures does not correspond to their original effect, forthey were covered with a layer of coloured stucco. We know only few names of the artists and craftsmen who made theseobjects. Probably some at least were foreigners from Turkestan, for inspite of the predominantly Chinese character of these sculptures, someof them are reminiscent of works in Turkestan and even in the Near East. In the past the influences of the Near East on the Far East--influencestraced back in the last resort to Greece--were greatly exaggerated; itwas believed that Greek art, carried through Alexander's campaign as faras the present Afghanistan, degenerated there in the hands of Indianimitators (the so-called Gandhara art) and ultimately passed on in moreand more distorted forms through Turkestan to China. Actually, however, some eight hundred years lay between Alexander's campaign and the Tobaperiod sculptures at Yün-kang and, owing to the different culturaldevelopment, the contents of the Greek and the Toba-period art wereentirely different. We may say, therefore, that suggestions came fromthe centre of the Greco-Bactrian culture (in the present Afghanistan)and were worked out by the Toba artists; old forms were filled with anew content, and the elements in the reliefs of Yün-kang that seem to usto be non-Chinese were the result of this synthesis of Westerninspiration and Turkish initiative. It is interesting to observe thatall steppe rulers showed special interest in sculpture and, as a rule, in architecture; after the Toba period, sculpture flourished in China inthe T'ang period, the period of strong cultural influence from Turkishpeoples, and there was a further advance of sculpture and of thecave-dwellers' worship in the period of the "Five Dynasties" (906-960;three of these dynasties were Turkish) and in the Mongol period. But not all Buddhists joined the "Church", just as not all Taoists hadjoined the Church of Chang Ling's Taoism. Some Buddhists remained in thesmall towns and villages and suffered oppression from the centralChurch. These village Buddhist monks soon became instigators of aconsiderable series of attempts at revolution. Their Buddhism was of theso-called "Maitreya school", which promised the appearance on earth of anew Buddha who would do away with all suffering and introduce a GoldenAge. The Chinese peasantry, exploited by the gentry, came to the supportof these monks whose Messianism gave the poor a hope in this world. Thenomad tribes also, abandoned by their nobles in the capital andwandering in poverty with their now worthless herds, joined these monks. We know of many revolts of Hun and Toba tribes in this period, revoltsthat had a religious appearance but in reality were simply the result ofthe extreme impoverishment of these remaining tribes. In addition to these conflicts between state and popular Buddhism, clashes between Buddhists and representatives of organized Taoismoccurred. Such fights, however, reflected more the power strugglebetween cliques than between religious groups. The most famous incidentwas the action against the Buddhists in 446 which brought destruction tomany temples and monasteries and death to many monks. Here, a mightyChinese gentry faction under the leadership of the Ts'ui family hadunited with the Taoist leader K'ou Ch'ien-chih against another factionunder the leadership of the crown prince. With the growing influence of the Chinese gentry, however, Confucianismgained ground again, until with the transfer of the capital to Loyang itgained a complete victory, taking the place of Buddhism and becomingonce more as in the past the official religion of the state. Thisprocess shows us once more how closely the social order of the gentrywas associated with Confucianism. (E) Succession States of the Toba (A. D. 550-580): Northern Ch'i dynasty, Northern Chou dynasty 1 _Reasons for the splitting of the Toba empire_ Events now pursued their logical course. The contrast between thecentral power, now become entirely Chinese, and the remains of thetribes who were with their herds mainly in Shansi and the Ordos regionand were hopelessly impoverished, grew more and more acute. From 530onward the risings became more and more formidable. A few Toba who stillremained with their old tribes placed themselves at the head of therebels and conquered not only the whole of Shansi but also the capital, where there was a great massacre of Chinese and pro-Chinese Toba. Therebels were driven back; in this a man of the Kao family distinguishedhimself, and all the Chinese and pro-Chinese gathered round him. The Kaofamily, which may have been originally a Hsien-pi family, had itsestates in eastern China and so was closely associated with the easternChinese gentry, who were the actual rulers of the Toba State. In 534this group took the impotent emperor of their own creation to the cityof Yeh in the east, where he reigned _de jure_ for a further sixteenyears. Then he was deposed, and Kao Yang made himself the first emperorof the Northern Ch'i dynasty (550-577). The national Toba group, on the other hand, found another man of theimperial family and established him in the west. After a short time thispuppet was removed from the throne and a man of the Yü-wen family madehimself emperor, founding the "Northern Chou dynasty" (557-580). TheHsien-pi family of Yü-wen was a branch of the Hsien-pi, but was closelyconnected with the Huns and probably of Turkish origin. All the stillexisting remains of Toba tribes who had eluded sinification moved intothis western empire. The splitting of the Toba empire into these two separate realms was theresult of the policy embarked on at the foundation of the empire. Oncethe tribal chieftains and nobles had been separated from their tribesand organized militarily, it was inevitable that the two elements shouldhave different social destinies. The nobles could not hold their ownagainst the Chinese; if they were not actually eliminated in one way oranother, they disappeared into Chinese families. The rest, the people ofthe tribe, became destitute and were driven to revolt. The northernpeoples had been unable to perpetuate either their tribal or theirmilitary organization, and the Toba had been equally unsuccessful intheir attempt to perpetuate the two forms of organization alongside eachother. These social processes are of particular importance because the ethnicaldisappearance of the northern peoples in China had nothing to do withany racial inferiority or with any particular power of assimilation; itwas a natural process resulting from the different economic, social, andcultural organizations of the northern peoples and the Chinese. 2 _Appearance of the (Gök) Turks_ The Toba had liberated themselves early in the fifth century from theJuan-juan peril. None of the fighting that followed was of any greatimportance. The Toba resorted to the old means of defence againstnomads--they built great walls. Apart from that, after their movesouthward to Loyang, their new capital, they were no longer greatlyinterested in their northern territories. When the Toba empire splitinto the Ch'i and the Northern Chou, the remaining Juan-juan enteredinto treaties first with one realm and then with the other: each realmwanted to secure the help of the Juan-juan against the other. Meanwhile there came unexpectedly to the fore in the north a peoplegrouped round a nucleus tribe of Huns, the tribal union of the"T'u-chüeh", that is to say the Gök Turks, who began to pursue a policyof their own under their khan. In 546 they sent a mission to the westernempire, then in the making, of the Northern Chou, and created the firstbonds with it, following which the Northern Chou became allies of theTurks. The eastern empire, Ch'i, accordingly made terms with theJuan-juan, but in 552 the latter suffered a crushing defeat at the handsof the Turks, their former vassals. The remains of the Juan-juan eitherfled to the Ch'i state or went reluctantly into the land of the Chou. Soon there was friction between the Juan-juan and the Ch'i, and in 555the Juan-juan in that state were annihilated. In response to pressurefrom the Turks, the Juan-juan in the western empire of the Northern Chouwere delivered up to them and killed in the same year. The Juan-juanthen disappeared from the history of the Far East. They broke up intotheir several tribes, some of which were admitted into the Turks' triballeague. A few years later the Turks also annihilated the Ephthalites, who had been allied with the Juan-juan; this made the Turks the dominantpower in Central Asia. The Ephthalites (Yeh-ta, Haytal) were a mixedgroup which contained elements of the old Yüeh-chih and spoke anIndo-European language. Some scholars regard them as a branch of theTocharians of Central Asia. One menace to the northern states of Chinahad disappeared--that of the Juan-juan. Their place was taken by a muchmore dangerous power, the Turks. 3 _The Northern Ch'i dynasty; the Northern Chou dynasty_ In consequence of this development the main task of the Northern Choustate consisted in the attempt to come to some settlement with itspowerful Turkish neighbours, and meanwhile to gain what it could fromshrewd negotiations with its other neighbours. By means of intrigues anddiplomacy it intervened with some success in the struggles in SouthChina. One of the pretenders to the throne was given protection; he wasinstalled in the present Hankow as a quasi-feudal lord depending onChou, and there he founded the "Later Liang dynasty" (555-587). In thisway Chou had brought the bulk of South China under its control withoutitself making any real contribution to that result. Unlike the Chinese state of Ch'i, Chou followed the old Toba tradition. Old customs were revived, such as the old sacrifice to Heaven and thelifting of the emperor on to a carpet at his accession to the throne;family names that had been sinified were turned into Toba names again, and even Chinese were given Toba names; but in spite of this the innercohesion had been destroyed. After two centuries it was no longerpossible to go back to the old nomad, tribal life. There were also toomany Chinese in the country, with whom close bonds had been forgedwhich, in spite of all attempts, could not be broken. Consequently therewas no choice but to organize a state essentially similar to that of thegreat Toba empire. There is just as little of importance that can be said of the internalpolitics of the Ch'i dynasty. The rulers of that dynasty were thoroughlyrepulsive figures, with no positive achievements of any sort to theircredit. Confucianism had been restored in accordance with the Chinesecharacter of the state. It was a bad time for Buddhists, and especiallyfor the followers of the popularized Taoism. In spite of this, aboutA. D. 555 great new Buddhist cave-temples were created in Lung-men, nearLoyang, in imitation of the famous temples of Yün-kang. The fighting with the western empire, the Northern Chou state, stillcontinued, and Ch'i was seldom successful. In 563 Chou made preparationsfor a decisive blow against Ch'i, but suffered defeat because the Turks, who had promised aid, gave none and shortly afterwards began campaignsof their own against Ch'i. In 571 Ch'i had some success in the westagainst Chou, but then it lost parts of its territory to the SouthChinese empire, and finally in 576-7 it was defeated by Chou in a greatcounter-offensive. Thus for some three years all North China was oncemore under a single rule, though of nothing approaching the strength ofthe Toba at the height of their power. For in all these campaigns theTurks had played an important part, and at the end they annexed furtherterritory in the north of Ch'i, so that their power extended far intothe east. Meanwhile intrigue followed intrigue at the court of Chou; the mutualassassinations within the ruling group were as incessant as in the lastyears of the great Toba empire, until the real power passed from theemperor and his Toba entourage to a Chinese family, the Yang. YangChien's daughter was the wife of a Chou emperor; his son was married toa girl of the Hun family Tu-ku; her sister was the wife of the father ofthe Chou emperor. Amid this tangled relationship in the imperial houseit is not surprising that Yang Chien should attain great power. TheTu-ku were a very old family of the Hun nobility; originally the namebelonged to the Hun house from which the _shan-yü_ had to be descended. This family still observed the traditions of the Hun rulers, andrelationship with it was regarded as an honour even by the Chinese. Through their centuries of association with aristocratically organizedforeign peoples, some of the notions of nobility had taken root amongthe Chinese gentry; to be related with old ruling houses was a welcomemeans of evidencing or securing a position of special distinction amongthe gentry. Yang Chien gained useful prestige from his familyconnections. After the leading Chinese cliques had regained predominancein the Chou empire, much as had happened before in the Toba empire, YangChien's position was strong enough to enable him to massacre the membersof the imperial family and then, in 581, to declare himself emperor. Thus began the Sui dynasty, the first dynasty that was once more to ruleall China. But what had happened to the Toba? With the ending of the Chou empirethey disappeared for all time, just as the Juan-juan had done a littleearlier. So far as the tribes did not entirely disintegrate, the peopleof the tribes seem during the last years of Toba and Chou to have joinedTurkish and other tribes. In any case, nothing more is heard of them asa people, and they themselves lived on under the name of the tribe thatled the new tribal league. Most of the Toba nobility, on the other hand, became Chinese. Thisprocess can be closely followed in the Chinese annals. The tribes thathad disintegrated in the time of the Toba empire broke up into familiesof which some adopted the name of the tribe as their family name, whileothers chose Chinese family names. During the centuries that followed, in some cases indeed down to modern times, these families continue toappear, often playing an important part in Chinese history. (F) The Southern Empires 1 _Economic and social situation in the south_ During the 260 years of alien rule in North China, the picture of SouthChina also was full of change. When in 317 the Huns had destroyed theChinese Chin dynasty in the north, a Chin prince who normally would nothave become heir to the throne declared himself, under the name Yüan Ti, the first emperor of the "Eastern Chin dynasty" (317-419). The capitalof this new southern empire adjoined the present Nanking. Countlessmembers of the Chinese gentry had fled from the Huns at that time andhad come into the southern empire. They had not done so out of loyaltyto the Chinese dynasty or out of national feeling, but because they sawlittle prospect of attaining rank and influence at the courts of thealien rulers, and because it was to be feared that the aliens would turnthe fields into pasturage, and also that they would make an end of theeconomic and monetary system which the gentry had evolved for their ownbenefit. But the south was, of course, not uninhabited. There were already twogroups living there--the old autochthonous population, consisting ofYao, Tai and Yüeh, and the earlier Chinese immigrants from the north, who had mainly arrived in the time of the Three Kingdoms, at thebeginning of the third century A. D. The countless new immigrants nowcame into sharp conflict with the old-established earlier immigrants. Each group looked down on the other and abused it. The two immigrantgroups in particular not only spoke different dialects but had developeddifferently in respect to manners and customs. A look for example atFormosa in the years after 1948 will certainly help in an understandingof this situation: analogous tensions developed between the newrefugees, the old Chinese immigrants, and the native Formosanpopulation. But let us return to the southern empires. The two immigrant groups also differed economically and socially: theold immigrants were firmly established on the large properties they hadacquired, and dominated their tenants, who were largely autochthones; orthey had engaged in large-scale commerce. In any case, they possessedcapital, and more capital than was usually possessed by the gentry ofthe north. Some of the new immigrants, on the other hand, were militarypeople. They came with empty hands, and they had no land. They hopedthat the government would give them positions in the militaryadministration and so provide them with means; they tried to gainpossession of the government and to exclude the old settlers as far aspossible. The tension was increased by the effect of the influx ofChinese in bringing more land into cultivation, thus producing a boomperiod such as is produced by the opening up of colonial land. Everyonewas in a hurry to grab as much land as possible. There was yet a furtherdifference between the two groups of Chinese: the old settlers had longlost touch with the remainder of their families in the north. They hadbecome South Chinese, and all their interests lay in the south. The newimmigrants had left part of their families in the north under alienrule. Their interests still lay to some extent in the north. They wereworking for the reconquest of the north by military means; at timesindividuals or groups returned to the north, while others persuaded therest of their relatives to come south. It would be wrong to suppose thatthere was no inter-communication between the two parts into which Chinahad fallen. As soon as the Chinese gentry were able to regain anyfooting in the territories under alien rule, the official relations, often those of belligerency, proceeded alongside unofficial intercoursebetween individual families and family groupings, and these latter were, as a rule, in no way belligerent. The lower stratum in the south consisted mainly of the remains of theoriginal non-Chinese population, particularly in border and southernterritories which had been newly annexed from time to time. In thecentre of the southern state the way of life of the non-Chinese was veryquickly assimilated to that of the Chinese, so that the aborigines weresoon indistinguishable from Chinese. The remaining part of the lowerclass consisted of impoverished Chinese peasants. This whole lowersection of the population rarely took any active and visible part inpolitics, except at times in the form of great popular risings. Until the third century, the south had been of no great economicimportance, in spite of the good climate and the extraordinary fertilityof the Yangtze valley. The country had been too thinly settled, and theindigenous population had not become adapted to organized trade. Afterthe move southward of the Chin dynasty the many immigrants had made thecountry of the lower Yangtze more thickly populated, but notover-populated. The top-heavy court with more than the necessary numberof officials (because there was still hope for a re-conquest of thenorth which would mean many new jobs for administrators) was a greatconsumer; prices went up and stimulated local rice production. Theestates of the southern gentry yielded more than before, and naturallymuch more than the small properties of the gentry in the north where, moreover, the climate is far less favourable. Thus the southernlandowners were able to acquire great wealth, which ultimately madeitself felt in the capital. One very important development was characteristic in this period in thesouth, although it also occurred in the north. Already in pre-Han times, some rulers had gardens with fruit trees. The Han emperors had largehunting parks which were systematically stocked with rare animals; theyalso had gardens and hot-houses for the production of vegetables for thecourt. These "gardens" (_yüan_) were often called "manors" (_pieh-yeh_)and consisted of fruit plantations with luxurious buildings. We hearsoon of water-cooled houses for the gentry, of artificial ponds forpleasure and fish breeding, artificial water-courses, artificialmountains, bamboo groves, and parks with parrots, ducks, and largeanimals. Here, the wealthy gentry of both north and south, relaxed fromgovernment work, surrounded by their friends and by women. These manorsgrew up in the hills, on the "village commons" where formerly thevillagers had collected their firewood and had grazed their animals. Thus, the village commons begin to disappear. The original farm land wastaxed, because it produced one of the two products subject to taxation, namely grain or mulberry leaves for silk production. But the villagecommon had been and remained tax-free because it did not produce taxablethings. While land-holdings on the farmland were legally restricted intheir size, the "gardens" were unrestricted. Around A. D. 500 the rulerallowed high officials to have manors of three hundred mou size, whilein the north a family consisting of husband and wife and children belowfifteen years of age were allowed a farm of sixty mou only; but we hearof manors which were many times larger than the allowed size of threehundred. These manors began to play an important economic role, too:they were cultivated by tenants and produced fishes, vegetables, fruitand bamboo for the market, thus they gave more income than ordinary riceor wheat land. With the creation of manors the total amount of land under cultivationincreased, though not the amount of grain-producing land. We gain theimpression that from _c. _ the third century A. D. On to the eleventhcentury the intensity of cultivation was generally lower than in theperiod before. The period from _c_. A. D. 300 on also seems to be the time of the secondchange in Chinese dietary habits. The first change occurred probablybetween 400 and 100 B. C. When the meat-eating Chinese reduced their meatintake greatly, gave up eating beef and mutton and changed over to somepork and dog meat. This first change was the result of increase ofpopulation and decrease of available land for pasturage. Cattle breedingin China was then reduced to the minimum of one cow or water-buffalo perfarm for ploughing. Wheat was the main staple for the masses of thepeople. Between A. D. 300 and 600 rice became the main staple in thesouthern states although, theoretically, wheat could have been grown andsome wheat probably was grown in the south. The vitamin and proteindeficiencies which this change from wheat to rice brought forth, weremade up by higher consumption of vegetables, especially beans, andpartially also by eating of fish and sea food. In the north, rice becamethe staple food of the upper class, while wheat remained the main foodof the lower classes. However, new forms of preparation of wheat, suchas dumplings of different types, were introduced. The foreign rulersconsumed more meat and milk products. Chinese had given up the use ofmilk products at the time of the first change, and took to them to someextent only in periods of foreign rule. 2 _Struggles between cliques under the Eastern Chin dynasty_ (A. D. 317-419) The officials immigrating from the north regarded the south as colonialcountry, and so as more or less uncivilized. They went into itsprovinces in order to get rich as quickly as possible, and they had nodesire to live there for long: they had the same dislike of a provincialexistence as had the families of the big landowners. Thus as a rule thebulk of the families remained in the capital, close to the court. Thither the products accumulated in the provinces were sent, and theyfound a ready sale, as the capital was also a great and long-establishedtrading centre with a rich merchant class. Thus in the capital there wasevery conceivable luxury and every refinement of civilization. Thepeople of the gentry class, who were maintained in the capital byrelatives serving in the provinces as governors or senior officers, themselves held offices at court, though these gave them little to do. They had time at their disposal, and made use of it--in much worseintrigues than ever before, but also in music and poetry and in thesocial life of the harems. There is no question at all that the highestrefinement of the civilization of the Far East between the fourth andthe sixth century was to be found in South China, but the accompanimentsof this over-refinement were terrible. We cannot enter into all the intrigues recorded at this time. Thedetails are, indeed, historically unimportant. They were concerned onlywith the affairs of the court and its entourage. Not a single ruler ofthe Eastern Chin dynasty possessed personal or political qualities ofany importance. The rulers' power was extremely limited because, withthe exception of the founder of the state, Yüan Ti, who had come ratherearlier, they belonged to the group of the new immigrants, and so had nofirm footing and were therefore caught at once in the net of the newlyre-grouping gentry class. The emperor Yüan Ti lived to see the first great rising. This rising(under Wang Tun) started in the region of the present Hankow, a regionthat today is one of the most important in China; it was already acentre of special activity. To it lead all the trade routes from thewestern provinces of Szechwan and Kweichow and from the centralprovinces of Hupei, Hunan, and Kiangsi. Normally the traffic from thoseprovinces comes down the Yangtze, and thus in practice this region isunited with that of the lower Yangtze, the environment of Nanking, sothat Hankow might just as well have been the capital as Nanking. Forthis reason, in the period with which we are now concerned the region ofthe present Hankow was several times the place of origin of greatrisings whose aim was to gain control of the whole of the southernempire. Wang Tun had grown rich and powerful in this region; he also had nearrelatives at the imperial court; so he was able to march against thecapital. The emperor in his weakness was ready to abdicate but diedbefore that stage was reached. His son, however, defeated Wang Tun withthe aid of General Yü Liang (A. D. 323). Yü Liang was the empress'sbrother; he, too, came from a northern family. Yüan Ti's successor alsodied early, and the young son of Yü Liang's sister came to the throne asEmperor Ch'eng (326-342); his mother ruled as regent, but Yü Liangcarried on the actual business of government. Against this clique roseSu Chün, another member of the northern gentry, who had made himselfleader of a bandit gang in A. D. 300 but had then been given a militarycommand by the dynasty. In 328 he captured the capital and kidnapped theemperor, but then fell before the counterthrust of the Yü Liang party. The domination of Yü Liang's clique continued after the death of thetwenty-one-years-old emperor. His twenty-year-old brother was set inhis place; he, too, died two years later, and his two-year-old sonbecame emperor (Mu Ti, 345-361). Meanwhile this clique was reinforced by the very important Huan family. This family came from the same city as the imperial house and was a veryold gentry family of that city. One of the family attained a high postthrough personal friendship with Yü Liang: on his death his son Huan Wencame into special prominence as military commander. Huan Wen, like Wang Tun and others before him, tried to secure a firmfoundation for his power, once more in the west. In 347 he reconqueredSzechwan and deposed the local dynasty. Following this, Huan Wen and theYü family undertook several joint campaigns against northern states--thefirst reaction of the south against the north, which in the past hadalways been the aggressor. The first fighting took place directly to thenorth, where the collapse of the "Later Chao" seemed to makeintervention easy. The main objective was the regaining of the regionsof eastern Honan, northern Anhwei and Kiangsu, in which were the familyseats of Huan's and the emperor's families, as well as that of the Hsiehfamily which also formed an important group in the court clique. Thepurpose of the northern campaigns was not, of course, merely to defendprivate interests of court cliques: the northern frontier was the weakspot of the southern empire, for its plains could easily be overrun. Itwas then observed that the new "Earlier Ch'in" state was trying tospread from the north-west eastwards into this plain, and Ch'in wasattacked in an attempt to gain a more favourable frontier territory. These expeditions brought no important practical benefit to the south;and they were not embarked on with full force, because there was onlythe one court clique at the back of them, and that not whole-heartedly, since it was too much taken up with the politics of the court. Huan Wen's power steadily grew in the period that followed. He sent hisbrothers and relatives to administer the regions along the upperYangtze; those fertile regions were the basis of his power. In 371 hedeposed the reigning emperor and appointed in his place a frail oldprince who died a year later, as required, and was replaced by a child. The time had now come when Huan Wen might have ascended the thronehimself, but he died. None of his family could assemble as much power asHuan Wen had done. The equality of strength of the Huan and the Hsiehsaved the dynasty for a time. In 383 came the great assault of the Tibetan Fu Chien against thesouth. As we know, the defence was carried out more by the methods ofdiplomacy and intrigue than by military means, and it led to thedisaster in the north already described. The successes of the southernstate especially strengthened the Hsieh family, whose generals had cometo the fore. The emperor (Hsiao Wu Ti, 373-396), who had come to thethrone as a child, played no part in events at any time during hisreign. He occupied himself occasionally with Buddhism, and otherwiseonly with women and wine. He was followed by his five-year-old son. Atthis time there were some changes in the court clique. In the Huanfamily Huan Hsüan, a son of Huan Wen, came especially into prominence. He parted from the Hsieh family, which had been closest to the emperor, and united with the Wang (the empress's) and Yin families. The Wang, anold Shansi family, had already provided two empresses, and was thereforestrongly represented at court. The Yin had worked at first with theHsieh, especially as the two families came from the same region, butafterwards the Yin went over to Huan Hsüan. At first this new clique hadsuccess, but later one of its generals, Liu Lao-chih, went over to theHsieh clique, and its power declined. Wang Kung was killed, and YinChung-k'an fell away from Huan Hsüan and was killed by him in 399. HuanHsüan himself, however, held his own in the regions loyal to him. LiuLao-chih had originally belonged to the Hsieh clique, and his familycame from a region not far from that of the Hsieh. He was veryambitious, however, and always took the side which seemed most to hisown interest. For a time he joined Huan Hsüan; then he went over to theHsieh, and finally returned to Huan Hsüan in 402 when the latter reachedthe height of his power. At that moment Liu Lao-chih was responsible forthe defence of the capital from Huan Hsüan, but instead he passed overto him. Thus Huan Hsüan conquered the capital, deposed the emperor, andbegan a dynasty of his own. Then came the reaction, led by an earliersubordinate of Liu Lao-chih, Liu Yü. It may be assumed that these twoarmy commanders were in some way related, though the two branches oftheir family must have been long separated. Liu Yü had distinguishedhimself especially in the suppression of a great popular rising which, around the year 400, had brought wide stretches of Chinese territoryunder the rebels' power, beginning with the southern coast. This risingwas the first in the south. It was led by members of a secret societywhich was a direct continuation of the "Yellow Turbans" of the latterpart of the second century A. D. And of organized church-Taoism. Thewhole course of this rising of the exploited and ill-treated lowerclasses was very similar to that of the popular rising of the "YellowTurbans". The movement spread as far as the neighbourhood of Canton, but in the end it was suppressed, mainly by Liu Yü. Through these achievements Liu Yü's military power and politicalinfluence steadily increased; he became the exponent of all the cliquesworking against the Huan clique. He arranged for his supporters todispose of Huan Hsüan's chief collaborators; and then, in 404, hehimself marched on the capital. Huan Hsüan had to flee, and in hisflight he was killed in the upper Yangtze region. The emperor wasrestored to his throne, but he had as little to say as ever, for thereal power was Liu Yü's. Before making himself emperor, Liu Yü began his great northern campaign, aimed at the conquest of the whole of western China. The Toba hadpromised to remain neutral, and in 415 he was able to conquer the "LaterCh'in" in Shensi. The first aim of this campaign was to make moreaccessible the trade routes to Central Asia, which up to now had ledthrough the difficult mountain passes of Szechwan; to this end treatiesof alliance had been concluded with the states in Kansu against the"Later Ch'in". In the second place, this war was intended to increaseLiu Yü's military strength to such an extent that the imperial crownwould be assured to him; and finally he hoped to cut the claws ofpro-Huan Hsüan elements in the "Later Ch'in" kingdom who, for the sakeof the link with Turkestan, had designs on Szechwan. 3 _The Liu-Sung dynasty (A. D. 420-478) and the Southern Ch'i dynasty(479-501)_ After his successes in 416-17 in Shensi, Liu Yü returned to the capital, and shortly after he lost the chief fruits of his victory to Ho-lienP'o-p'o, the Hun ruler in the north, while Liu Yü himself was occupiedwith the killing of the emperor (419) and the installation of a puppet. In 420 the puppet had to abdicate and Liu Yü became emperor. He calledhis dynasty the Sung dynasty, but to distinguish it from another andmore famous Sung dynasty of later time his dynasty is also called theLiu-Sung dynasty. The struggles and intrigues of cliques against each other continued asbefore. We shall pass quickly over this period after a glance at thenature of these internal struggles. Part of the old imperial family and its following fled northwards fromLiu Yü and surrendered to the Toba. There they agitated for a campaignof vengeance against South China, and they were supported at the courtof the Toba by many families of the gentry with landed interests in thesouth. Thus long-continued fighting started between Sung and Toba, concerned mainly with the domains of the deposed imperial family andits following. This fighting brought little success to south China, andabout 450 it produced among the Toba an economic and social crisis thatbrought the wars to a temporary close. In this pause the Sung turned tothe extreme south, and tried to gain influence there and in Annam. Themerchant class and the gentry families of the capital who were alliedwith it were those chiefly interested in this expansion. About 450 began the Toba policy of shifting the central government tothe region of the Yellow River, to Loyang; for this purpose the frontierhad to be pushed farther south. Their great campaign brought the Toba in450 down to the Yangtze. The Sung suffered a heavy defeat; they had topay tribute, and the Toba annexed parts of their northern territory. The Sung emperors who followed were as impotent as their predecessorsand personally much more repulsive. Nothing happened at court butdrinking, licentiousness, and continual murders. From 460 onward there were a number of important risings of princes; insome of them the Toba had a hand. They hoped by supporting one oranother of the pretenders to gain overlordship over the whole of thesouthern empire. In these struggles in the south the Hsiao family, thanks mainly to General Hsiao Tao-ch'eng, steadily gained in power, especially as the family was united by marriage with the imperial house. In 477 Hsiao Tao-ch'eng finally had the emperor killed by an accomplice, the son of a shamaness; he set a boy on the throne and made himselfregent. Very soon after this the boy emperor and all the members of theimperial family were murdered, and Hsiao Tao-ch'eng created the"Southern Ch'i" dynasty (479-501). Once more the remaining followers ofthe deposed dynasty fled northward to the Toba, and at once fightingbetween Toba and the south began again. This fighting ended with a victory for the Toba and with the finalestablishment of the Toba in the new capital of Loyang. South China washeavily defeated again and again, but never finally conquered. Therewere intervals of peace. In the years between 480 and 490 there was lessdisorder in the south, at all events in internal affairs. Princes weremore often appointed to governorships, and the influence of the cliqueswas thus weakened. In spite of this, a stable régime was not built up, and in 494 a prince rose against the youthful emperor. This prince, withthe help of his clique including the Ch'en family, which later attainedimportance, won the day, murdered the emperor, and became emperorhimself. All that is recorded about him is that he fought unsuccessfullyagainst the Toba, and that he had the whole of his own family killedout of fear that one of its members might act exactly as he had done. After his death there were conflicts between the emperor's few remainingrelatives; in these the Toba again had a hand. The victor was a personnamed Hsiao Yen; he removed the reigning emperor in the usual way andmade himself emperor. Although he belonged to the imperial family, healtered the name of the dynasty, and reigned from 502 as the firstemperor of the "Liang dynasty". [Illustration: 8 Detail from the Buddhist cave-reliefs of Lungmen. _Froma print in the author's possession_. ] [Illustration: 9 Statue of Mi-lo (Maitreya, the next future Buddha), inthe 'Great Buddha Temple' at Chengting (Hopei). _Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson_. ] 4 _The Liang dynasty_ (A. D. 502-556) The fighting with the Toba continued until 515. As a rule the Toba werethe more successful, not at least through the aid of princes of thedeposed "Southern Ch'i dynasty" and their followers. Wars began also inthe west, where the Toba tried to cut off the access of the Liang to thecaravan routes to Turkestan. In 507, however, the Toba suffered animportant defeat. The southern states had tried at all times to workwith the Kansu states against the northern states; the Toba now followedsuit and allied themselves with a large group of native chieftains ofthe south, whom they incited to move against the Liang. This producedgreat native unrest, especially in the provinces by the upper Yangtze. The natives, who were steadily pushed back by the Chinese peasants, werereduced to migrating into the mountain country or to working for theChinese in semi-servile conditions; and they were ready for revolt andvery glad to work with the Toba. The result of this unrest was notdecisive, but it greatly reduced the strength of the regions along theupper Yangtze. Thus the main strength of the southern state was morethan ever confined to the Nanking region. The first emperor of the Liang dynasty, who assumed the name Wu Ti(502-549), became well known in the Western world owing to his love ofliterature and of Buddhism. After he had come to the throne with the aidof his followers, he took no further interest in politics; he left thatto his court clique. From now on, however, the political initiativereally belonged to the north. At this time there began in the Tobaempire the risings of tribal leaders against the government which wehave fully described above. One of these leaders, Hou Ching, who hadbecome powerful as a military leader in the north, tried in 547 toconclude a private alliance with the Liang to strengthen his ownposition. At the same time the ruler of the northern state of the"Northern Ch'i", then in process of formation, himself wanted tonegotiate an alliance with the Liang, in order to be able to get rid ofHou Ching. There was indecision in Liang. Hou Ching, who had beengetting into difficulties, now negotiated with a dissatisfied prince inLiang, invaded the country in 548 with the prince's aid, captured thecapital in 549, and killed Emperor Wu. Hou Ching now staged the usualspectacle: he put a puppet on the imperial throne, deposed him eighteenmonths later and made himself emperor. This man of the Toba on the throne of South China was unable, however, to maintain his position; he had not sufficient backing. He was at warwith the new rulers in the northern empire, and his own army, which wasnot very large, melted away; above all, he proceeded with excessiveharshness against the helpers who had gained access for him to theLiang, and thereafter he failed to secure a following from among theleading cliques at court. In 552 he was driven out by a Chinese army ledby one of the princes and was killed. The new emperor had been a prince in the upper Yangtze region, and hisclosest associates were engaged there. They did not want to move to thedistant capital, Nanking, because their private financial interestswould have suffered. The emperor therefore remained in the city nowcalled Hankow. He left the eastern territory in the hands of twopowerful generals, one of whom belonged to the Ch'en family, which he nolonger had the strength to remove. In this situation the generals in theeast made themselves independent, and this naturally produced tension atonce between the east and the west of the Liang empire; this tension wasnow exploited by the leaders of the Chou state then in the making in thenorth. On the invitation of a clique in the south and with its support, the Chou invaded the present province of Hupei and in 555 captured theLiang emperor's capital. They were now able to achieve their oldambition: a prince of the Chou dynasty was installed as a feudatory ofthe north, reigning until 587 in the present Hankow. He was permitted tocall his quasi-feudal territory a kingdom and his dynasty, as we knowalready, the "Later Liang dynasty". 5 _The Ch'en dynasty_ (A. D. 557-588) _and its ending by the Sui_ The more important of the independent generals in the east, Ch'enPa-hsien, installed a shadow emperor, forced him to abdicate, and madehimself emperor. The Ch'en dynasty which thus began was even feeblerthan the preceding dynasties. Its territory was confined to the lowerYangtze valley. Once more cliques and rival pretenders were at work andprevented any sort of constructive home policy. Abroad, certainadvantages were gained in north China over the Northern Ch'i dynasty, but none of any great importance. Meanwhile in the north Yang Chien had brought into power the Chinese Suidynasty. It began by liquidating the quasi-feudal state of the "LaterLiang". Then followed, in 588-9, the conquest of the Ch'en empire, almost without any serious resistance. This brought all China once moreunder united rule, and a period of 360 years of division was ended. 6 _Cultural achievements of the south_ For nearly three hundred years the southern empire had witnessedunceasing struggles between important cliques, making impossible anypeaceful development within the country. Culturally, however, the periodwas rich in achievement. The court and the palaces of wealthy members ofthe gentry attracted scholars and poets, and the gentry themselves hadtime for artistic occupations. A large number of the best-known Chinesepoets appeared in this period, and their works plainly reflect theconditions of that time: they are poems for the small circle of scholarsamong the gentry and for cultured patrons, spiced with quotations andallusions, elaborate in metre and construction, masterpieces ofaesthetic sensitivity--but unintelligible except to highly educatedmembers of the aristocracy. The works were of the most artificial type, far removed from all natural feeling. Music, too, was never so assiduously cultivated as at this time. But theold Chinese music disappeared in the south as in the north, wheredancing troupes and women musicians in the Sogdian commercial coloniesof the province of Kansu established the music of western Turkestan. Here in the south, native courtesans brought the aboriginal, non-Chinesemusic to the court; Chinese poets wrote songs in Chinese for this music, and so the old Chinese music became unfashionable and was forgotten. Theupper class, the gentry, bought these girls, often in large numbers, andorganized them in troupes of singers and dancers, who had to appear onfestal occasions and even at the court. For merchants and other peoplewho lacked full social recognition there were brothels, a quite naturalfeature wherever there were considerable commercial colonies orcollections of merchants, including the capital of the southern empire. In their ideology, as will be remembered, the Chinese gentry were alwaysin favour of Confucianism. Here in the south, however, the associationwith Confucianism was less serious, the southern gentry, with theirrelations with the merchant class, having acquired the character of"colonial" gentry. They were brought up as Confucians, but wereinterested in all sorts of different religious movements, andespecially in Buddhism. A different type of Buddhism from that in thenorth had spread over most of the south, a meditative Buddhism that wasvery close ideologically to the original Taoism, and so fulfilled thesame social functions as Taoism. Those who found the official life withits intrigues repulsive, occupied themselves with meditative Buddhism. The monks told of the sad fate of the wicked in the life to come, andindustriously filled the gentry with apprehension, so that they tried tomake up for their evil deeds by rich gifts to the monasteries. Manyemperors in this period, especially Wu Ti of the Liang dynasty, inclinedto Buddhism. Wu Ti turned to it especially in his old age, when he wasshut out entirely from the tasks of a ruler and was no longer satisfiedwith the usual pleasures of the court. Several times he institutedBuddhist ceremonies of purification on a large scale in the hope of sosecuring forgiveness for the many murders he had committed. Genuine Taoism also came to the fore again, and with it the popularreligion with its magic, now amplified with the many local deities thathad been taken over from the indigenous population of the south. For atime it became the fashion at court to pass the time in learneddiscussions between Confucians, Buddhists, and Taoists, which were quitesimilar to the debates between learned men centuries earlier at thewealthy little Indian courts. For the court clique this was more amatter of pastime than of religious controversy. It seems thoroughly inharmony with the political events that here, for the first time in thehistory of Chinese philosophy, materialist currents made theirappearance, running parallel with Machiavellian theories of power forthe benefit of the wealthiest of the gentry. Principal dynasties of North and South China _North and South_ Western Chin dynasty (A. D. 265-317) _North South_ 1. Earlier Chao (Hsiung-nu) 304-329 1. Eastern Chin (Chinese) 317-419 2. Later Chao (Hsiung-nu) 328-352 3. Earlier Ch'in (Tibetans) 351-394 4. Later Ch'in (Tibetans) 384-417 5. Western Ch'in (Hsiung-nu) 385-431 6. Earlier Yen (Hsien-pi) 352-370 7. Later Yen (Hsien-pi) 384-409 8. Western Yen (Hsien-pi) 384-395 9. Southern Yen (Hsien-pi) 398-410 10. Northern Yen (Hsien-pi) 409-436 11. Tai (Toba) 338-376 12. Earlier Liang (Chinese) 313-376 13. Northern Liang (Hsiung-nu) 397-439 14. Western Liang (Chinese?) 400-421 15. Later Liang (Tibetans) 386-403 16. Southern Liang (Hsien-pi) 379-414 17. Hsia (Hsiung-nu) 407-431 18. Toba (Turks) 385-550 2. Liu-Sung 420-478 3. Southern Ch'i 479-501 19. Northern Ch'i (Chinese?) 550-576 4. Liang 502-556 20. Northern Chou (Toba) 557-579 5. Ch'en 557-588 21. Sui (Chinese) 580-618 6. Sui 580-618 Chapter Eight THE EMPIRES OF THE SUI AND THE T'ANG (A) The Sui dynasty (A. D. 580-618) 1 _Internal situation in the newly unified empire_ The last of the northern dynasties, the Northern Chou, had been broughtto an end by Yang Chien: rapid campaigns had made an end of theremaining petty states, and thus the Sui dynasty had come into power. China, reunited after 360 years, was again under Chinese rule. Thisevent brought about a new epoch in the history of the Far East. But thehappenings of 360 years could not be wiped out by a change of dynasty. The short Sui period can only be described as a period of transition tounified forms. In the last resort the union of the various parts of China proceededfrom the north. The north had always, beyond question, been militarilysuperior, because its ruling class had consisted of warlike peoples. Yetit was not a northerner who had united China but a Chinese though, owingto mixed marriages, he was certainly not entirely unrelated to thenorthern peoples. The rule, however, of the actual northern peoples wasat an end. The start of the Sui dynasty, while the Chou still held thenorth, was evidence, just like the emergence in the north-east somethirty years earlier of the Northern Ch'i dynasty, that the Chinesegentry with their landowning basis had gained the upper hand over thewarrior nomads. The Chinese gentry had not come unchanged out of that struggle. Culturally they had taken over many things from the foreigners, beginning with music and the style of their clothing, in which they hadentirely adopted the northern pattern, and including other elements ofdaily life. Among the gentry were now many formerly alien families whohad gradually become entirely Chinese. On the other hand, theforeigners' feudal outlook had influenced the gentry, so that a senseof distinctions of rank had developed among them. There were Chinesefamilies who regarded themselves as superior to the rest, just as hadbeen the case among the northern peoples, and who married only amongthemselves or with the ruling house and not with ordinary families ofthe gentry. They paid great attention to their genealogies, had thestate keep records of them and insisted that the dynastic historiesmentioned their families and their main family members. Lists ofprominent gentry families were set up which mentioned the home of eachclan, so that pretenders could easily be detected. The rules of givingpersonal names were changed so that it became possible to identify aperson's genealogical position within the family. At the same time thecontempt of the military underwent modification; the gentry were evenready to take over high military posts, and also to profit by them. The new Sui empire found itself faced with many difficulties. During thethree and a half centuries of division, north and south had developed indifferent ways. They no longer spoke the same language in everyday life(we distinguish to this day between a Nanking and Peking "High Chinese", to say nothing of dialects). The social and economic structures werevery different in the two parts of the country. How could unity berestored in these things? Then there was the problem of population. The north-eastern plain hadalways been thickly populated; it had early come under Toba rule and hadbeen able to develop further. The region round the old northern capitalCh'ang-an, on the other hand, had suffered greatly from the strugglesbefore the Toba period and had never entirely recovered. Meanwhile, inthe south the population had greatly increased in the region north ofNanking, while the regions south of the Yangtze and the upper Yangtzevalley were more thinly peopled. The real South, i. E. The modernprovinces of Fukien, Kwangtung and Kwangsi, was still underdeveloped, mainly because of the malaria there. In the matter of population thenorth unquestionably remained prominent. The founder of the Sui dynasty, known by his reign name of Wen Ti(589-604), came from the west, close to Ch'ang-an. There he and hisfollowing had their extensive domains. Owing to the scanty populationthere and the resulting shortage of agricultural labourers, theseproperties were very much less productive than the small properties inthe north-east. This state of things was well known in the south, and itwas expected, with good reason, that the government would try totransfer parts of the population to the north-west, in order to settle apeasantry round the capital for the support of its greatly increasingstaff of officials, and to satisfy the gentry of the region. Thisproduced several revolts in the south. As an old soldier who had long been a subject of the Toba, Wen Ti had nogreat understanding of theory: he was a practical man. He wasanti-intellectual and emotionally attached to Buddhism; he opposedConfucianism for emotional reasons and believed that it could give himno serviceable officials of the sort he wanted. He demanded from hisofficials the same obedience and sense of duty as from his soldiers; andhe was above all thrifty, almost miserly, because he realized that thefinances of his state could only be brought into order by the greatestexertions. The budget had to be drawn up for the vast territory of theempire without any possibility of saying in advance whether the revenueswould come in and whether the transport of dues to the capital wouldfunction. This cautious calculation was entirely justified, but it aroused greatopposition. Both east and south were used to a much better style ofliving; yet the gentry of both regions were now required to cut downtheir consumption. On top of this they were excluded from the conduct ofpolitical affairs. In the past, under the Northern Ch'i empire in thenorth-east and under the Ch'en empire in the south, there had beenthousands of positions at court in which the whole of the gentry couldfind accommodation of some kind. Now the central government was far inthe west, and other people were its administrators. In the past thegentry had had a profitable and easily accessible market for theirproduce in the neighbouring capital; now the capital was far away, entailing long-distance transport at heavy risk with little profit. The dissatisfied circles of the gentry in the north-east and in thesouth incited Prince Kuang to rebellion. The prince and his followersmurdered the emperor and set aside the heir-apparent; and Kuang came tothe throne, assuming the name of Yang Ti. His first act was to transferthe capital back to the east, to Loyang, close to the grain-producingregions. His second achievement was to order the construction of greatcanals, to facilitate the transport of grain to the capital and toprovide a valuable new market for the producers in the north-east andthe south. It was at this time that the first forerunner of the famous"Imperial Canal" was constructed, the canal that connects the Yangtzewith the Yellow River. Small canals, connecting various streams, hadlong been in existence, so that it was possible to travel from north tosouth by water, but these canals were not deep enough or broad enough totake large freight barges. There are records of lighters of 500 and even800 tons capacity! These are dimensions unheard of in the West in thosetimes. In addition to a serviceable canal to the south, Yang Ti madeanother that went north almost to the present Peking. Hand in hand with these successes of the north-eastern and southerngentry went strong support for Confucianism, and a reorganization of theConfucian examination system. As a rule, however, the examinations werecircumvented as an unimportant formality; the various governors wereordered each to send annually to the capital three men with the requirededucation, for whose quality they were held personally responsible;merchants and artisans were expressly excluded. 2 _Relations with Turks and with Korea_ In foreign affairs an extraordinarily fortunate situation for the Suidynasty had come into existence. The T'u-chüeh, the Turks, much thestrongest people of the north, had given support now to one and now toanother of the northern kingdoms, and this, together with their manyarmed incursions, had made them the dominant political factor in thenorth. But in the first year of the Sui period (581) they split into twosections, so that the Sui had hopes of gaining influence over them. Atfirst both sections of the Turks had entered into alliance with China, but this was not a sufficient safeguard for the Sui, for one of theTurkish khans was surrounded by Toba who had fled from the vanishedstate of the Northern Chou, and who now tried to induce the Turks toundertake a campaign for the reconquest of North China. The leader ofthis agitation was a princess of the Yü-wen family, the ruling family ofthe Northern Chou. The Chinese fought the Turks several times; but muchmore effective results were gained by their diplomatic missions, whichincited the eastern against the western Turks and vice versa, and alsoincited the Turks against the Toba clique. In the end one of thesections of Turks accepted Chinese overlordship, and some tribes of theother section were brought over to the Chinese side; also, freshdisunion was sown among the Turks. Under the emperor Yang Ti, P'ei Chü carried this policy further. Heinduced the Tölös tribes to attack the T'u-yü-hun, and then himselfattacked the latter, so destroying their power. The T'u-yü-hun were apeople living in the extreme north of Tibet, under a ruling classapparently of Hsien-pi origin; the people were largely Tibetan. Thepurpose of the conquest of the T'u-yü-hun was to safeguard access toCentral Asia. An effective Turkestan policy was, however, impossible solong as the Turks were still a formidable power. Accordingly, theintrigues that aimed at keeping the two sections of Turks apart werecontinued. In 615 came a decisive counter-attack from the Turks. Theirkhan, Shih-pi, made a surprise assault on the emperor himself, with allhis following, in the Ordos region, and succeeded in surrounding them. They were in just the same desperate situation as when, eight centuriesearlier, the Chinese emperor had been beleaguered by Mao Tun. But theChinese again saved themselves by a trick. The young Chinese commander, Li Shih-min, succeeded in giving the Turks the impression that largereinforcements were on the way; a Chinese princess who was with theTurks spread the rumour that the Turks were to be attacked by anothertribe--and Shih-pi raised the siege, although the Chinese had beenentirely defeated. In the Sui period the Chinese were faced with a further problem. Koreaor, rather, the most important of the three states in Korea, hadgenerally been on friendly terms with the southern state during theperiod of China's division, and for this reason had been more or lessprotected from its North Chinese neighbours. After the unification ofChina, Korea had reason for seeking an alliance with the Turks, in orderto secure a new counterweight against China. A Turco-Korean alliance would have meant for China a sort ofencirclement that might have grave consequences. The alliance might beextended to Japan, who had certain interests in Korea. Accordingly theChinese determined to attack Korea, though at the same time negotiationswere set on foot. The fighting, which lasted throughout the Sui period, involved technical difficulties, as it called for combined land and seaattacks; in general it brought little success. 3 _Reasons for collapse_ The continual warfare entailed great expense, and so did the intrigues, because they depended for their success on bribery. Still more expensivewere the great canal works. In addition to this, the emperor Yang Ti, unlike his father, was very extravagant. He built enormous palaces andundertook long journeys throughout the empire with an immense following. All this wrecked the prosperity which his father had built up and hadtried to safeguard. The only productive expenditure was that on thecanals, and they could not begin to pay in so short a period. Theemperor's continual journeys were due, no doubt, in part simply to thepursuit of pleasure, though they were probably intended at the same timeto hinder risings and to give the emperor direct control over every partof the country. But the empire was too large and too complex for itsadministration to be possible in the midst of journeying. The whole ofthe chancellery had to accompany the emperor, and all the transportnecessary for the feeding of the emperor and his government hadcontinually to be diverted to wherever he happened to be staying. Allthis produced disorder and unrest. The gentry, who at first had sostrongly supported the emperor and had been able to obtain anything theywanted from him, now began to desert him and set up pretenders. From 615onward, after the defeat at the hands of the Turks, risings broke outeverywhere. The emperor had to establish his government in the south, where he felt safer. There, however, in 618, he was assassinated byconspirators led by Toba of the Yü-wen family. Everywhere nowindependent governments sprang up, and for five years China was split upinto countless petty states. [Illustration: Map 5: The T'ang realm _(about A. D. 750)_] (B) The T'ang dynasty (A. D. 618-906) 1 _Reforms and decentralization_ The hero of the Turkish siege, Li Shih-min, had allied himself with theTurks in 615-16. There were special reasons for his ability to do this. In his family it had been a regular custom to marry women belonging toToba families, so that he naturally enjoyed the confidence of the Tobaparty among the Turks. There are various theories as to the origin ofhis family, the Li. The family itself claimed to be descended from theruling family of the Western Liang. It is doubtful whether that familywas purely Chinese, and in any case Li Shih-min's descent from it is amatter of doubt. It is possible that his family was a sinified Tobafamily, or at least came from a Toba region. However this may be, LiShih-min continued the policy which had been pursued since the beginningof the Sui dynasty by the members of the deposed Toba ruling family ofthe Northern Chou--the policy of collaboration with the Turks in theeffort to remove the Sui. The nominal leadership in the rising that now began lay in the hands ofLi Shih-min's father, Li Yüan; in practice Li Shih-min saw toeverything. At the end of 617 he was outside the first capital of theSui, Ch'ang-an, with a Turkish army that had come to his aid on thestrength of the treaty of alliance. After capturing Ch'ang-an heinstalled a puppet emperor there, a grandson of Yang Ti. In 618 thepuppet was dethroned and Li Yüan, the father, was made emperor, in theT'ang dynasty. Internal fighting went on until 623, and only then wasthe whole empire brought under the rule of the T'ang. Great reforms then began. A new land law aimed at equalizing ownership, so that as far as possible all peasants should own the same amount ofland and the formation of large estates be prevented. The law aimed alsoat protecting the peasants from the loss of their land. The law was, however, nothing but a modification of the Toba land law (_chün-t'ien_), and it was hoped that now it would provide a sound and solid economicfoundation for the empire. From the first, however, members of thegentry who were connected with the imperial house were given aprivileged position; then officials were excluded from the prohibitionof leasing, so that there continued to be tenant farmers in addition tothe independent peasants. Moreover, the temples enjoyed specialtreatment, and were also exempted from taxation. All these exceptionsbrought grist to the mills of the gentry, and so did the failure tocarry into effect many of the provisions of the law. Before long a newgentry had been formed, consisting of the old gentry together with thosewho had directly aided the emperor's ascent to the throne. From thebeginning of the eighth century there were repeated complaints thatpeasants were "disappearing". They were entering the service of thegentry as tenant farmers or farm workers, and owing to the privilegedposition of the gentry in regard to taxation, the revenue sank inproportion as the number of independent peasants decreased. One of thereasons for the flight of farmers may have been the corvée lawsconnected with the "equal land" system: small families were much lessaffected by the corvée obligation than larger families with many sons. It may be, therefore, that large families or at least sons of the sonsin large families moved away in order to escape these obligations. Inorder to prevent irregularities, the T'ang renewed the old "_pao-chia_"system, as a part of a general reform of the administration in 624. Inthis system groups of five families were collectively responsible forthe payment of taxes, the corvée, for crimes committed by individualswithin one group, and for loans from state agencies. Such a system isattested for pre-Christian times already; it was re-activated in theeleventh century and again from time to time, down to the present. Yet the system of land equalization soon broke down and was abolishedofficially around A. D. 780. But the classification of citizens intodifferent classes, first legalized under the Toba, was retained and evenmore refined. As early as in the Han period there had been a dual administration--thecivil and, independent of it, the military administration. One and thesame area would belong to a particular administrative prefecture(_chün_) and at the same time to a particular military prefecture(_chou_). This dual organization had persisted during the Toba periodand, at first, remained unchanged in the beginning of the T'ang. The backbone of the military power in the seventh century was themilitia, some six hundred units of an average of a thousand men, recruited from the general farming population for short-term service:one month in five in the areas close to the capital. These men formed apart of the emperor's guards and were under the command of members ofthe Shensi gentry. This system which had its direct parallels in the Hantime and evolved out of a Toba system, broke down when short offensivewars were no longer fought. Other imperial guards were staffed withyoung sons of the gentry who were stationed in the most delicate partsof the palaces. The emperor T'ai-tsung had his personal bodyguard, apart of his own army of conquest, consisting of his former bondsmen(_pu-ch'ü_). The ranks of the Army of conquest were later filled bydescendants of the original soldiers and by orphans. In the provinces, the armies of the military prefectures gradually losttheir importance when wars became longer and militiamen provedinsufficient. Many of the soldiers here were convicts and exiles. It isinteresting to note that the title of the commander of these armies, _tu-tu_, in the fourth century meant a commander in the church-Taoistorganization; it was used by the Toba and from the seventh century onbecame widely accepted as title among the Uigurs, Tibetans, Sogdians, Turks and Khotanese. When the prefectural armies and the militia forces weakened, specialregional armies were created (from 678 on); this institution had existedamong the Toba, but they had greatly reduced these armies after 500. Thecommanders of these new T'ang armies soon became more important than thecivil administrators, because they commanded a number of districtsmaking up a whole province. This assured a better functioning of themilitary machine, but put the governors-general in a position to pursuea policy of their own, even against the central government. In additionto this, the financial administration of their commands was put underthem, whereas in the past it had been in the hands of the civiladministration of the various provinces. The civil administration wasalso reorganized (see the table on pages 83-84). Towards the end of the T'ang period the state secretariat was set up intwo parts: it was in possession of all information about the economicand political affairs of the empire, and it made the actual decisions. Moreover, a number of technical departments had been created--in all, asystem that might compare favourably with European systems of theeighteenth century. At the end of the T'ang period there was added tothis system a section for economic affairs, working quite independentlyof it and directly under the emperor; it was staffed entirely witheconomic or financial experts, while for the staffing of the otherdepartments no special qualification was demanded besides the passing ofthe state examinations. In addition to these, at the end of the T'angperiod a new department was in preparation, a sort of Privy Council, amainly military organization, probably intended to control the generals(section 3 of the table on page 83), just as the state secretariatcontrolled the civil officials. The Privy Council became more and moreimportant in the tenth century and especially in the Mongol epoch. Itsabsence in the early T'ang period gave the military governors much toogreat freedom, ultimately with baneful results. At first, however, the reforms of A. D. 624 worked well. Theadministration showed energy, and taxes flowed in. In the middle of theeighth century the annual budget of the state included the followingitems: over a million tons of grain for the consumption of the capitaland the palace and for salaries of civil and military officials;twenty-seven million pieces of textiles, also for the consumption ofcapital and palace and army, and for supplementary purchases of grain;two million strings of money (a string nominally held a thousand coppercoins) for salaries and for the army. This was much more than the statebudget of the Han period. The population of the empire had alsoincreased; it seems to have amounted to some fifty millions. In thecapital a large staff of officials had been created to meet alladministrative needs. The capital grew enormously, at times containingtwo million people. Great numbers of young members of the gentrystreamed into the capital for the examinations held under the Confuciansystem. The crowding of people into the capital and the accumulation ofresources there promoted a rich cultural life. We know of many poets ofthat period whose poems were real masterpieces; and artists whose workswere admired centuries later. These poets and artists were the pioneersof the flourishing culture of the later T'ang period. Hand in hand withthis went luxury and refinement of manners. For those who retired fromthe bustle of the capital to work on their estates and to enjoy thesociety of their friends, there was time to occupy themselves withTaoism and Buddhism, especially meditative Buddhism. Everyone, ofcourse, was Confucian, as was fitting for a member of the gentry, butConfucianism was so taken for granted that it was not discussed. It wasthe basis of morality for the gentry, but held no problems. It no longercontained anything of interest. Conditions had been much the same once before, at the court of the Hanemperors, but with one great difference: at that time everything ofimportance took place in the capital; now, in addition to the actualcapital, Ch'ang-an, there was the second capital, Loyang, in no wayinferior to the other in importance; and the great towns in the southalso played their part as commercial and cultural centres that haddeveloped in the 360 years of division between north and south. Therethe local gentry gathered to lead a cultivated life, though not quite inthe grand style of the capital. If an official was transferred to theYangtze, it no longer amounted to a punishment as in the past; he wouldnot meet only uneducated people, but a society resembling that of thecapital. The institution of governors-general further promoted thisdecentralization: the governor-general surrounded himself with a littlecourt of his own, drawn from the local gentry and the localintelligentsia. This placed the whole edifice of the empire on a muchbroader foundation, with lasting results. 2 _Turkish policy_ The foreign policy of this first period of the T'ang, lasting untilabout 690, was mainly concerned with the Turks and Turkestan. There werestill two Turkish realms in the Far East, both of considerable strengthbut in keen rivalry with each other. The T'ang had come into power withthe aid of the eastern Turks, but they admitted the leader of thewestern Turks to their court; he had been at Ch'ang-an in the time ofthe Sui. He was murdered, however, by Chinese at the instigation of theeastern Turks. The next khan of the eastern Turks nevertheless turnedagainst the T'ang, and gave his support to a still surviving pretenderto the throne representing the Sui dynasty; the khan contended that theold alliance of the eastern Turks had been with the Sui and not with theT'ang. The T'ang therefore tried to come to terms once more with thewestern Turks, who had been affronted by the assassination; but thenegotiations came to nothing in face of an approach made by the easternTurks to the western, and of the distrust of the Chinese with which allthe Turks were filled. About 624 there were strong Turkish invasions, carried right up to the capital. Suddenly, however, for reasons notdisclosed by the Chinese sources, the Turks withdrew, and the T'ang wereable to conclude a fairly honourable peace. This was the time of themaximum power of the eastern Turks. Shortly afterwards disturbancesbroke out (627), under the leadership of Turkish Uighurs and theirallies. The Chinese took advantage of these disturbances, and in a greatcampaign in 629-30 succeeded in overthrowing the eastern Turks; the khanwas taken to the imperial court in Ch'ang-an, and the Chinese emperormade himself "Heavenly Khan" of the Turks. In spite of the protest ofmany of the ministers, who pointed to the result of the settlementpolicy of the Later Han dynasty, the eastern Turks were settled in thebend of the upper Hwang-ho and placed more or less under theprotectorate of two governors-general. Their leaders were admitted intothe Chinese army, and the sons of their nobles lived at the imperialcourt. No doubt it was hoped in this way to turn the Turks into Chinese, as had been done with the Toba, though for entirely different reasons. More than a million Turks were settled in this way, and some of themactually became Chinese later and gained important posts. In general, however, this in no way broke the power of the Turks. Thegreat Turkish empire, which extended as far as Byzantium, continued toexist. The Chinese success had done no more than safeguard the frontierfrom a direct menace and frustrate the efforts of the supporters of theSui dynasty and the Toba dynasty, who had been living among the easternTurks and had built on them. The power of the western Turks remained alasting menace to China, especially if they should succeed inco-operating with the Tibetans. After the annihilation of the T'u-yü-hunby the Sui at the very beginning of the seventh century, a new politicalunit had formed in northern Tibet, the T'u-fan, who also seem to havehad an upper class of Turks and Mongols and a Tibetan lower class. Justas in the Han period, Chinese policy was bound to be directed topreventing a union between Turks and Tibetans. This, together withcommercial interests, seems to have been the political motive of theChinese Turkestan policy under the T'ang. 3 _Conquest of Turkestan and Korea. Summit of power_ The Turkestan wars began in 639 with an attack on the city-state ofKao-ch'ang (Khocho). This state had been on more or less friendly termswith North China since the Toba period, and it had succeeded again andagain in preserving a certain independence from the Turks. Now, however, Kao-ch'ang had to submit to the western Turks, whose power wasconstantly increasing. China made that submission a pretext for war. By640 the whole basin of Turkestan was brought under Chinese dominance. The whole campaign was really directed against the western Turks, towhom Turkestan had become subject. The western Turks had been crippledby two internal events, to the advantage of the Chinese: there had beena tribal rising, and then came the rebellion and the rise of the Uighurs(640-650). These events belong to Turkish history, and we shall confineourselves here to their effects on Chinese history. The Chinese wereable to rely on the Uighurs; above all, they were furnished by the TölösTurks with a large army, with which they turned once more againstTurkestan in 647-48, and now definitely established their rule there. The active spirit at the beginning of the T'ang rule had not been theemperor but his son Li Shih-min, who was not, however, named as heir tothe throne because he was not the eldest son. The result of this wastension between Li Shih-min and his father and brothers, especially theheir to the throne. When the brothers learned that Li Shih-min wasclaiming the succession, they conspired against him, and in 626, at thevery moment when the western Turks had made a rapid incursion and wereonce more threatening the Chinese capital, there came an armed collisionbetween the brothers, in which Li Shih-min was the victor. The brothersand their families were exterminated, the father compelled to abdicate, and Li Shih-min became emperor, assuming the name T'ai Tsung (627-649). His reign marked the zenith of the power of China and of the T'angdynasty. Their inner struggles and the Chinese penetration of Turkestanhad weakened the position of the Turks; the reorganization of theadministration and of the system of taxation, the improved transportresulting from the canals constructed under the Sui, and the usefulresults of the creation of great administrative areas under strongmilitary control, had brought China inner stability and in consequenceexternal power and prestige. The reputation which she then obtained asthe most powerful state of the Far East endured when her inner stabilityhad begun to deteriorate. Thus in 638 the Sassanid ruler Jedzgerd sent amission to China asking for her help against the Arabs. Three furthermissions came at intervals of a good many years. The Chinese declined, however, to send a military expedition to such a distance; they merelyconferred on the ruler the title of a Chinese governor; this was oflittle help against the Arabs, and in 675 the last ruler, Peruz, fled tothe Chinese court. The last years of T'ai Tsung's reign were filled with a great waragainst Korea, which represented a continuation of the plans of the Suiemperor Yang Ti. This time Korea came firmly into Chinese possession. In661, under T'ai Tsung's son, the Korean fighting was resumed, this timeagainst Japanese who were defending their interests in Korea. This wasthe period of great Japanese enthusiasm for China. The Chinese system ofadministration was copied, and Buddhism was adopted, together with everypossible element of Chinese culture. This meant increased trade withJapan, bringing in large profits to China, and so the Korean middlemanwas to be eliminated. T'ai Tsung's son, Kao Tsung (650-683), merely carried to a conclusionwhat had been begun. Externally China's prestige continued at itszenith. The caravans streamed into China from western and central Asia, bringing great quantities of luxury goods. At this time, however, theforeign colonies were not confined to the capital but were installed inall the important trading ports and inland trade centres. The wholecountry was covered by a commercial network; foreign merchants who hadcome overland to China met others who had come by sea. The foreignersset up their own counting-houses and warehouses; whole quarters of thecapital were inhabited entirely by foreigners who lived as if they werein their own country. They brought with them their own religions:Manichaeism, Mazdaism, and Nestorian Christianity. The first Jews cameinto China, apparently as dealers in fabrics, and the first ArabianMohammedans made their appearance. In China the the foreigners boughtsilkstuffs and collected everything of value that they could find, especially precious metals. Culturally this influx of foreignersenriched China; economically, as in earlier periods, it did not; itsdisadvantages were only compensated for a time by the very beneficialresults of the trade with Japan, and this benefit did not last long. 4 _The reign of the empress Wu: Buddhism and capitalism_ The pressure of the western Turks had been greatly weakened in thisperiod, especially as their attention had been diverted to the west, where the advance of Islam and of the Arabs was a new menace for them. On the other hand, from 650 onward the Tibetans gained immensely inpower, and pushed from the south into the Tarim basin. In 678 theyinflicted a heavy defeat on the Chinese, and it cost the T'ang decadesof diplomatic effort before they attained, in 699, their aim of breakingup the Tibetans' realm and destroying their power. In the last year ofKao Tsung's reign, 683, came the first of the wars of liberation of thenorthern Turks, known until then as the western Turks, against theChinese. And with the end of Kao Tsung's reign began the decline of theT'ang regime. Most of the historians attribute it to a woman, the laterempress Wu. She had been a concubine of T'ai Tsung, and after his deathhad become a Buddhist nun--a frequent custom of the time--until KaoTsung fell in love with her and made her a concubine of his own. In theend he actually divorced the empress and made the concubine empress(655). She gained more and more influence, being placed on a par withthe emperor and soon entirely eliminating him in practice; in 680 sheremoved the rightful heir to the throne and put her own son in hisplace; after Kao Tsung's death in 683 she became regent for her son. Soon afterward she dethroned him in favour of his twenty-two-year-oldbrother; in 690 she deposed him too and made herself empress in the"Chou dynasty" (690-701). This officially ended the T'ang dynasty. Matters, however, were not so simple as this might suggest. Forotherwise on the empress's deposition there would not have been a massof supporters moving heaven and earth to treat the new empress Wei(705-712) in the same fashion. There is every reason to suppose thatbehind the empress Wu there was a group opposing the ruling clique. Inspite of everything, the T'ang government clique was very pro-Turkish, and many Turks and members of Toba families had government posts and, above all, important military commands. No campaign of that period wasundertaken without Turkish auxiliaries. The fear seems to have been feltin some quarters that this T'ang group might pursue a military policyhostile to the gentry. The T'ang group had its roots mainly in westernChina; thus the eastern Chinese gentry were inclined to be hostile toit. The first act of the empress Wu had been to transfer the capital toLoyang in the east. Thus, she tried to rely upon the co-operation of theeastern gentry which since the Northern Chou and Sui dynasties had beenout of power. While the western gentry brought their children intogovernment positions by claiming family privileges (a son of a highofficial had the right to a certain position without having passed theregular examinations), the sons of the eastern gentry had to passthrough the examinations. Thus, there were differences in education andoutlook between both groups which continued long after the death of theempress. In addition, the eastern gentry, who supported the empress Wuand later the empress Wei, were closely associated with the foreignmerchants of western Asia and the Buddhist Church to which they adhered. In gratitude for help from the Buddhists, the empress Wu endowed themwith enormous sums of money, and tried to make Buddhism a sort of statereligion. A similar development had taken place in the Toba and also inthe Sui period. Like these earlier rulers, the empress Wu seems to haveaimed at combining spiritual leadership with her position as ruler ofthe empire. In this epoch Buddhism helped to create the first beginnings oflarge-scale capitalism. In connection with the growing foreign trade, the monasteries grew in importance as repositories of capital; thetemples bought more and more land, became more and more wealthy, and sogained increasing influence over economic affairs. They accumulatedlarge quantities of metal, which they stored in the form of bronzefigures of Buddha, and with these stocks they exercised controllinginfluence over the money market. There is a constant succession ofrecords of the total weight of the bronze figures, as an indication ofthe money value they represented. It is interesting to observe thattemples and monasteries acquired also shops and had rental income fromthem. They further operated many mills, as did the owners of privateestates (now called "_chuang_") and thus controlled the price of flour, and polished rice. The cultural influence of Buddhism found expression in new and improvedtranslations of countless texts, and in the passage of pilgrims alongthe caravan routes, helped by the merchants, as far as western Asia andIndia, like the famous Hsüan-tsang. Translations were made not only fromIndian or other languages into Chinese, but also, for instance, fromChinese into the Uighur and other Turkish tongues, and into Tibetan, Korean, and Japanese. The attitude of the Turks can only be understood when we realize thatthe background of events during the time of empress Wu was formed by theactivities of groups of the eastern Chinese gentry. The northern Turks, who since 630 had been under Chinese overlordship, had fought many warsof liberation against the Chinese; and through the conquest ofneighbouring Turks they had gradually become once more, in thedecade-and-a-half after the death of Kao Tsung, a great Turkish realm. In 698 the Turkish khan, at the height of his power, demanded a Chineseprince for his daughter--not, as had been usual in the past, a princessfor his son. His intention, no doubt, was to conquer China with theprince's aid, to remove the empress Wu, and to restore the T'angdynasty--but under Turkish overlordship! Thus, when the empress Wu senta member of her own family, the khan rejected him and demanded therestoration of the deposed T'ang emperor. To enforce this demand, heembarked on a great campaign against China. In this the Turks must havebeen able to rely on the support of a strong group inside China, forbefore the Turkish attack became dangerous the empress Wu recalled thedeposed emperor, at first as "heir to the throne"; thus she yielded tothe khan's principal demand. In spite of this, the Turkish attacks did not cease. After a series ofimbroglios within the country in which a group under the leadership ofthe powerful Ts'ui gentry family had liquidated the supporters of theempress Wu shortly before her death, a T'ang prince finally succeeded inkilling empress Wei and her clique. At first, his father ascended thethrone, but was soon persuaded to abdicate in favour of his son, nowcalled emperor Hsüang Tsung (713-755), just as the first ruler of theT'ang dynasty had done. The practice of abdicating--in contradictionwith the Chinese concept of the ruler as son of Heaven and the duties ofa son towards his father--seems to have impressed Japan where similarsteps later became quite common. With Hsüan Tsung there began now aperiod of forty-five years, which the Chinese describe as the secondblossoming of T'ang culture, a period that became famous especially forits painting and literature. 5 _Second blossoming of T'ang culture_ The T'ang literature shows the co-operation of many favourable factors. The ancient Chinese classical style of official reports and decreeswhich the Toba had already revived, now led to the clear prose style ofthe essayists, of whom Han Yü (768-825) and Liu Tsung-yüan (747-796)call for special mention. But entirely new forms of sentences make theirappearance in prose writing, with new pictures and similes brought fromIndia through the medium of the Buddhist translations. Poetry was alsoenriched by the simple songs that spread in the north under Turkishinfluence, and by southern influences. The great poets of the T'angperiod adopted the rules of form laid down by the poetic art of thesouth in the fifth century; but while at that time the writing of poetrywas a learned pastime, precious and formalistic, the T'ang poets broughtto it genuine feeling. Widespread fame came to Li T'ai-po (701-762) andTu Fu (712-770); in China two poets almost equal to these two inpopularity were Po Chü-i (772-846) and Yüan Chen (779-831), who in theirworks kept as close as possible to the vernacular. New forms of poetry rarely made their appearance in the T'ang period, but the existing forms were brought to the highest perfection. Not untilthe very end of the T'ang period did there appear the form of a "free"versification, with lines of no fixed length. This form came from theindigenous folk-songs of south-western China, and was spread through theagency of the _filles de joie_ in the tea-houses. Before long it becamethe custom to string such songs together in a continuous series--thefirst step towards opera. For these song sequences were sung by way ofaccompaniment to the theatrical productions. The Chinese theatre haddeveloped from two sources--from religious games, bullfights andwrestling, among Turkish and Mongol peoples, which developed intodancing displays; and from sacrificial games of South Chinese origin. Thus the Chinese theatre, with its union with music, should rather becalled opera, although it offers a sort of pantomimic show. Whatamounted to a court conservatoire trained actors and musicians as earlyas in the T'ang period for this court opera. These actors and musicianswere selected from the best-looking "commoners", but they soon tended tobecome a special caste with a legal status just below that of"burghers". In plastic art there are fine sculptures in stone and bronze, and wehave also technically excellent fabrics, the finest of lacquer, andremains of artistic buildings; but the principal achievement of theT'ang period lies undoubtedly in the field of painting. As in poetry, inpainting there are strong traces of alien influences; even before theT'ang period, the painter Hsieh Ho laid down the six fundamental laws ofpainting, in all probability drawn from Indian practice. Foreigners werecontinually brought into China as decorators of Buddhist temples, sincethe Chinese could not know at first how the new gods had to bepresented. The Chinese regarded these painters as craftsmen, but admiredtheir skill and their technique and learned from them. The most famous Chinese painter of the T'ang period is Wu Tao-tzŭ, whowas also the painter most strongly influenced by Central Asian works. Asa pious Buddhist he painted pictures for temples among others. Among thelandscape painters, Wang Wei (721-759) ranks first; he was also a famouspoet and aimed at uniting poem and painting into an integral whole. Withhim begins the great tradition of Chinese landscape painting, whichattained its zenith later, in the Sung epoch. Porcelain had been invented in China long ago. There was as yet none ofthe white porcelain that is preferred today; the inside was abrownish-yellow; but on the whole it was already technically andartistically of a very high quality. Since porcelain was at firstproduced only for the requirements of the court and of highdignitaries--mostly in state factories--a few centuries later the T'angporcelain had become a great rarity. But in the centuries that followed, porcelain became an important new article of Chinese export. The Chineseprisoners taken by the Arabs in the great battle of Samarkand (751), thefirst clash between the world of Islam and China, brought to the Westthe knowledge of Chinese culture, of several Chinese crafts, of the artof papermaking, and also of porcelain. The emperor Hsüan Tsung gave active encouragement to all thingsartistic. Poets and painters contributed to the elegance of hismagnificent court ceremonial. As time went on he showed less and lessinterest in public affairs, and grew increasingly inclined to Taoism andmysticism in general--an outcome of the fact that the conduct of mattersof state was gradually taken out of his hands. On the whole, however, Buddhism was pushed into the background in favour of Confucianism, as areaction from the unusual privileges that had been accorded to theBuddhists in the past fifteen years under the empress Wu. 6 _Revolt of a military governor_ At the beginning of Hsüan Tsung's reign the capital had been in the eastat Loyang; then it was transferred once more to Ch'ang-an in the westdue to pressure of the western gentry. The emperor soon came under theinfluence of the unscrupulous but capable and energetic Li Lin-fu, adistant relative of the ruler. Li was a virtual dictator at the courtfrom 736 to 752, who had first advanced in power by helping theconcubine Wu, a relative of the famous empress Wu, and by continuallyplaying the eastern against the western gentry. After the death of theconcubine Wu, he procured for the emperor a new concubine named Yang, ofa western family. This woman, usually called "Concubine Yang" (YangKui-fei), became the heroine of countless stage-plays and stories andeven films; all the misfortunes that marked the end of Hsüan Tsung'sreign were attributed solely to her. This is incorrect, as she was but alink in the chain of influences that played upon the emperor. Naturallyshe found important official posts for her brothers and all herrelatives; but more important than these was a military governor namedAn Lu-shan (703-757). His mother was a Turkish shamaness, his father, aforeigner probably of Sogdian origin. An Lu-shan succeeded in gainingfavour with the Li clique, which hoped to make use of him for its ownends. Chinese sources describe him as a prodigy of evil, and it will bevery difficult today to gain a true picture of his personality. In anycase, he was certainly a very capable officer. His rise started from avictory over the Kitan in 744. He spent some time establishing relationswith the court and then went back to resume operations against theKitan. He made so much of the Kitan peril that he was permitted a largerarmy than usual, and he had command of 150, 000 troops in theneighbourhood of Peking. Meanwhile Li Lin-fu died. He had sponsored Anas a counterbalance against the western gentry. When now, within theclique of Li Lin-fu, the Yang family tried to seize power, they turnedagainst An Lu-shan. But he marched against the capital, Ch'ang-an, with200, 000 men; on his way he conquered Loyang and made himself emperor(756: Yen dynasty). T'ang troops were sent against him under theleadership of the Chinese Kuo Tzŭ-i, a Kitan commander, and a Turk, Ko-shu Han. The first two generals had considerable success, but Ko-shu Han, whosetask was to prevent access to the western capital, was quickly defeatedand taken prisoner. The emperor fled betimes, and An Lu-shan capturedCh'ang-an. The emperor now abdicated; his son, emperor Su Tsung(756-762), also fled, though not with him into Szechwan, but intonorth-western Shensi. There he defended himself against An Lu-shan andhis capable general Shih Ssŭ-ming (himself a Turk), and sought aid inCentral Asia. A small Arab troop came from the caliph Abu-Jafar, andalso small bands from Turkestan; of more importance was the arrival ofUighur cavalry in substantial strength. At the end of 757 there was agreat battle in the neighbourhood of the capital, in which An Lu-shanwas defeated by the Uighurs; shortly afterwards he was murdered by oneof his eunuchs. His followers fled; Loyang was captured and looted bythe Uighurs. The victors further received in payment from the T'anggovernment 10, 000 rolls of silk with a promise of 20, 000 rolls a year;the Uighur khan was given a daughter of the emperor as his wife. AnLu-shan's general, the Turk Shih Ssŭ-ming, entered into An Lu-shan'sheritage, and dominated so large a part of eastern China that theChinese once more made use of the Uighurs to bring him down. Thecommanders in the fighting against Shih Ssŭ-ming this time were oncemore Kuo Tzŭ-i and the Kitan general, together with P'u-ku Huai-en, amember of a Tölös family that had long been living in China. At firstShih Ssŭ-ming was victorious, and he won back Loyang, but then he wasmurdered by his own son, and only by taking advantage of thedisturbances that now arose were the government troops able to quell thedangerous rising. In all this, two things seem interesting and important. To begin with, An Lu-shan had been a military governor. His rising showed that whilethis new office, with its great command of power, was of value inattacking external enemies, it became dangerous, especially if thecentral power was weak, the moment there were no external enemies of anyimportance. An Lu-shan's rising was the first of many similar ones inthe later T'ang period. The gentry of eastern China had shown themselvesentirely ready to support An Lu-shan against the government, becausethey had hoped to gain advantage as in the past from a realm with itscentre once more in the east. In the second place, the important partplayed by aliens in events within China calls for notice: not only werethe rebels An Lu-shan and Shih Ssŭ-ming non-Chinese, but so also weremost of the generals opposed to them. But they regarded themselves asChinese, not as members of another national group. The Turkish Uighursbrought in to help against them were fighting actually against Turks, though they regarded those Turks as Chinese. We must not bring to thecircumstances of those times the present-day notions with regard tonational feeling. 7 _The role of the Uighurs. Confiscation of the capital of themonasteries_ This rising and its sequels broke the power of the dynasty, and also ofthe empire. The extremely sanguinary wars had brought fearful sufferingupon the population. During the years of the rising, no taxes came infrom the greater part of the empire, but great sums had to be paid tothe peoples who had lent aid to the empire. And the looting bygovernment troops and by the auxiliaries injured the population as muchas the war itself did. When the emperor Su Tsung died, in 762, Tengri, the khan of the Uighurs, decided to make himself ruler over China. The events of the precedingyears had shown him that China alone was entirely defenceless. Part ofthe court clique supported him, and only by the intervention of P'u-kuHuai-en, who was related to Tengri by marriage, was his plan frustrated. Naturally there were countless intrigues against P'u-ku Huai-en. Heentered into alliance with the Tibetan T'u-fan, and in this way theunion of Turks and Tibetans, always feared by the Chinese, had come intoexistence. In 763 the Tibetans captured and burned down the westerncapital, while P'u-ku Huai-en with the Uighurs advanced from the north. Undoubtedly this campaign would have been successful, giving an entirelydifferent turn to China's destiny, if P'u-ku Huai-en had not died in 765and the Chinese under Kuo Tzŭ-i had not succeeded in breaking up thealliance. The Uighurs now came over into an alliance with the Chinese, and the two allies fell upon the Tibetans and robbed them of theirbooty. China was saved once more. Friendship with the Uighurs had to be paid for this time even moredearly. They crowded into the capital and compelled the Chinese to buyhorses, in payment for which they demanded enormous quantities ofsilkstuffs. They behaved in the capital like lords, and expected to bemaintained at the expense of the government. The system of militarygovernors was adhered to in spite of the country's experience of them, while the difficult situation throughout the empire, and especiallyalong the western and northern frontiers, facing the Tibetans and themore and more powerful Kitan, made it necessary to keep considerablenumbers of soldiers permanently with the colours. This made the militarygovernors stronger and stronger; ultimately they no longer remitted anytaxes to the central government, but spent them mainly on their armies. Thus from 750 onward the empire consisted of an impotent centralgovernment and powerful military governors, who handed on theirpositions to their sons as a further proof of their independence. Whenin 781 the government proposed to interfere with the inheriting of theposts, there was a great new rising, which in 783 again extended as faras the capital; in 784 the T'ang government at last succeeded inovercoming it. A compromise was arrived at between the government andthe governors, but it in no way improved the situation. Life became moreand more difficult for the central government. In 780, the "equal land"system was finally officially given up and with it a tax system whichwas based upon the idea that every citizen had the same amount of landand, therefore, paid the same amount of taxes. The new system tried toequalize the tax burden and the corvée obligation, but not the land. This change may indicate a step towards greater freedom for privateenterprise. Yet it did not benefit the government, as most of the taxincome was retained by the governors and was used for their armies andtheir own court. In the capital, eunuchs ruled in the interests of various cliques. Several emperors fell victim to them or to the drinking of "elixirs oflong life". Abroad, the Chinese lost their dominion over Turkestan, for whichUighurs and Tibetans competed. There is nothing to gain from any fulldescription of events at court. The struggle between cliques soon becamea struggle between eunuchs and literati, in much the same way as at theend of the second Han dynasty. Trade steadily diminished, and the statebecame impoverished because no taxes were coming in and great armies hadto be maintained, though they did not even obey the government. Events that exerted on the internal situation an influence not to bebelittled were the break-up of the Uighurs (from 832 onward) theappearance of the Turkish Sha-t'o, and almost at the same time, thedissolution of the Tibetan empire (from 842). Many other foreigners hadplaced themselves under the Uighurs living in China, in order to be ableto do business under the political protection of the Uighur embassy, butthe Uighurs no longer counted, and the T'ang government decided to seizethe capital sums which these foreigners had accumulated. It was hoped inthis way especially to remedy the financial troubles of the moment, which were partly due to a shortage of metal for minting. As the tradingcapital was still placed with the temples as banks, the governmentattacked the religion of the Uighurs, Manichaeism, and also thereligions of the other foreigners, Mazdaism, Nestorianism, andapparently also Islam. In 843 alien religions were prohibited; alienswere also ordered to dress like Chinese. This gave them the status ofChinese citizens and no longer of foreigners, so that Chinese justicehad a hold over them. That this law abolishing foreign religions wasaimed solely at the foreigners' capital is shown by the proceedings atthe same time against Buddhism which had long become a completelyChinese Church. Four thousand, six hundred Buddhist temples, 40, 000shrines and monasteries were secularized, and all statues were requiredto be melted down and delivered to the government, even those in privatepossession. Two hundred and sixty thousand, five hundred monks were tobecome ordinary citizens once more. Until then monks had been free oftaxation, as had millions of acres of land belonging to the temples andleased to tenants or some 150, 000 temple slaves. Thus the edict of 843 must not be described as concerned with religion:it was a measure of compulsion aimed at filling the government coffers. All the property of foreigners and a large part of the property of theBuddhist Church came into the hands of the government. The law was notapplied to Taoism, because the ruling gentry of the time were, as sooften before, Confucianist and at the same time Taoist. As early as 846there came a reaction: with the new emperor, Confucians came into powerwho were at the same time Buddhists and who now evicted some of theTaoists. From this time one may observe closer co-operation betweenConfucianism and Buddhism; not only with meditative Buddhism (Dhyana) asat the beginning of the T'ang epoch and earlier, but with the mainbranch of Buddhism, monastery Buddhism (Vinaya). From now onward theBuddhist doctrines of transmigration and retribution, which had beenreally directed against the gentry and in favour of the common people, were turned into an instrument serving the gentry: everyone who wasunfortunate in this life must show such amenability to the governmentand the gentry that he would have a chance of a better existence atleast in the next life. Thus the revolutionary Buddhist doctrine ofretribution became a reactionary doctrine that was of great service tothe gentry. One of the Buddhist Confucians in whose works this revisedversion makes its appearance most clearly was Niu Seng-yu, who was atonce summoned back to court in 846 by the new emperor. Three new largeBuddhist sects came into existence in the T'ang period. One of them, theschool of the Pure Land (_Ching-t'u tsung_, since 641) required of itsmainly lower class adherents only the permanent invocation of the BuddhaAmithabha who would secure them a place in the "Western Paradise"--aplace without social classes and economic troubles. The cult ofMaitreya, which was always more revolutionary, receded for a while. 8 _First successful peasant revolt. Collapse of the empire_ The chief sufferers from the continual warfare of the militarygovernors, the sanguinary struggles between the cliques, and theuniversal impoverishment which all this fighting produced, were, ofcourse, the common people. The Chinese annals are filled with records ofpopular risings, but not one of these had attained any wide extent, forwant of organization. In 860 began the first great popular rising, arevolt caused by famine in the province of Chekiang. Government troopssuppressed it with bloodshed. Further popular risings followed. In 874began a great rising in the south of the present province of Hopei, thechief agrarian region. The rising was led by a peasant, Wang Hsien-chih, together with HuangCh'ao, a salt merchant, who had fallen into poverty and had joined thehungry peasants, forming a fighting group of his own. It is important tonote that Huang was well educated. It is said that he failed in thestate examination. Huang is not the first merchant who became rebel. AnLu-shan, too, had been a businessman for a while. It was pointed outthat trade had greatly developed in the T'ang period; of the lowerYangtze region people it was said that "they were so much interested inbusiness that they paid no attention to agriculture". Yet merchants weresubject to many humiliating conditions. They could not enter theexaminations, except by illegal means. In various periods, from the Hantime on, they had to wear special dress. Thus, a law from _c_. A. D. 300required them to wear a white turban on which name and type of businesswas written, and to wear one white and one black shoe. They were subjectto various taxes, but were either not allowed to own land, or wereallotted less land than ordinary citizens. Thus they could not easilyinvest in land, the safest investment at that time. Finally, thegovernment occasionally resorted to the method which was often used inthe Near East: when in 782 the emperor ran out of money, he requestedthe merchants of the capital to "loan" him a large sum--a request whichin fact was a special tax. Wang and Huang both proved good organizers of the peasant masses, and ina short time they had captured the whole of eastern China, without themilitary governors being able to do anything against them, for theprovincial troops were more inclined to show sympathy to the peasantarmies than to fight them. The terrified government issued an order toarm the people of the other parts of the country against the rebels;naturally this helped the rebels more than the government, since thepeasants thus armed went over to the rebels. Finally Wang was offered ahigh office. But Huang urged him not to betray his own people, and Wangdeclined the offer. In the end the government, with the aid of thetroops of the Turkish Sha-t'o, defeated Wang and beheaded him (878). Huang Ch'ao now moved into the south-east and the south, where in 879 hecaptured and burned down Canton; according to an Arab source, over120, 000 foreign merchants lost their lives in addition to the Chinese. From Canton Huang Ch'ao returned to the north, laden with loot from thatwealthy commercial city. His advance was held up again by the Sha-t'otroops; he turned away to the lower Yangtze, and from there marchednorth again. At the end of 880 he captured the eastern capital. Theemperor fled from the western capital, Ch'ang-an, into Szechwan, andHuang Ch'ao now captured with ease the western capital as well, andremoved every member of the ruling family on whom he could lay hands. Hethen made himself emperor, in a Ch'i dynasty. It was the first time thata peasant rising had succeeded against the gentry. There was still, however, the greatest disorder in the empire. Therewere other peasant armies on the move, armies that had deserted theirgovernors and were fighting for themselves; finally, there were still afew supporters of the imperial house and, above all, the TurkishSha-t'o, who had a competent commander with the sinified name of LiK'o-yung. The Sha-t'o, who had remained loyal to the government, revolted the moment the government had been overthrown. They ran therisk, however, of defeat at the hands of an alien army of the Chinesegovernment's, commanded by an Uighur, and they therefore fled to theTatars. In spite of this, the Chinese entered again into relations withthe Sha-t'o, as without them there could be no possibility of gettingrid of Huang Ch'ao. At the end of 881 Li K'o-yung fell upon the capital;there was a fearful battle. Huang Ch'ao was able to hold out, but afurther attack was made in 883 and he was defeated and forced to flee;in 884 he was killed by the Sha-t'o. This popular rising, which had only been overcome with the aid offoreign troops, brought the end of the T'ang dynasty. In 885 the T'angemperor was able to return to the capital, but the only question now waswhether China should be ruled by the Sha-t'o under Li K'o-yung or bysome other military commander. In a short time Chu Ch'üan-chung, aformer follower of Huang Ch'ao, proved to be the strongest of thecommanders. In 890 open war began between the two leaders. Li K'o-yungwas based on Shansi; Chu Ch'üan-chung had control of the plains in theeast. Meanwhile the governors of Szechwan in the west and Chekiang inthe south-east made themselves independent. Both declared themselveskings or emperors and set up dynasties of their own (from 895). Within the capital, the emperor was threatened several times by revolts, so that he had to flee and place himself in the hands of Li K'o-yung asthe only leader on whose loyalty he could count. Soon after this, however, the emperor fell into the hands of Chu Ch'üan-chung, who killedthe whole entourage of the emperor, particularly the eunuchs; after atime he had the emperor himself killed, set a puppet--as had becomecustomary--on the throne, and at the beginning of 907 took over the rulefrom him, becoming emperor in the "Later Liang dynasty". That was the end of the T'ang dynasty, at the beginning of which Chinahad risen to unprecedented power. Its downfall had been brought about bythe military governors, who had built up their power and had becomeindependent hereditary satraps, exploiting the people for their ownpurposes, and by their continual mutual struggles undermining theeconomic structure of the empire. In addition to this, the empire hadbeen weakened first by its foreign trade and then by the dependence onforeigners, especially Turks, into which it had fallen owing to internalconditions. A large part of the national income had gone abroad. Such isthe explanation of the great popular risings which ultimately broughtthe dynasty to its end. MODERN TIMES Chapter Nine THE EPOCH OF THE SECOND DIVISION OF CHINA (A) The period of transition: the Five Dynasties (A. D. 906-960) 1 _Beginning of a new epoch_ The rebellion of Huang Ch'ao in fact meant the end of the T'ang dynastyand the division of China into a number of independent states. Only forreasons of convenience we keep the traditional division into dynastiesand have our new period begin with the official end of the T'ang dynastyin 906. We decided to call the new thousand years of Chinese history"Modern Times" in order to indicate that from _c_. 860 on changes inChina's social structure came about which set this epoch off from theearlier thousand years which we called "The Middle Ages". Any divisioninto periods is arbitrary as changes do not happen from one year to thenext. The first beginnings of the changes which lead to the "ModernTimes" actually can be seen from the end of An Lu-shan's rebellion on, from _c_. A. D. 780 on, and the transformation was more or less completedonly in the middle of the eleventh century. If we want to characterize the "Modern Times" by one concept, we wouldhave to call this epoch the time of the emergence of a middle class, andit will be remembered that the growth of the middle class in Europe wasalso the decisive change between the Middle Ages and Modern Times inEurope. The parallelism should, however, not be overdone. The gentrycontinued to play a role in China during the Modern Times, much morethan the aristocracy did in Europe. The middle class did not ever reallyget into power during the whole period. While we will discuss the individual developments later in some detail, a few words about the changes in general might be given already here. The wars which followed Huang Ch'ao's rebellion greatly affected theruling gentry. A number of families were so strongly affected that theylost their importance and disappeared. Commoners from the followers ofHuang Ch'ao or other armies succeeded to get into power, to acquireproperty and to enter the ranks of the gentry. At about A. D. 1000 almosthalf of the gentry families were new families of low origin. The state, often ruled by men who had just moved up, was no more interested in thearistocratic manners of the old gentry families, especially no moreinterested in their genealogies. When conditions began to improve afterA. D. 1000, and when the new families felt themselves as real gentryfamilies, they tried to set up a mechanism to protect the status oftheir families. In the eleventh century private genealogies began to bekept, so that any claim against the clan could be checked. Clans set uprules of behaviour and procedure to regulate all affairs of the clanwithout the necessity of asking the state to interfere in case ofconflict. Many such "clan rules" exist in China and also in Japan whichtook over this innovation. Clans set apart special pieces of land asclan land; the income of this land was to be used to secure a minimum ofsupport for every clan member and his own family, so that no member evercould fall into utter poverty. Clan schools which were run by incomefrom special pieces of clan land were established to guarantee aneducation for the members of the clan, again in order to make sure thatthe clan would remain a part of the _élite_. Many clans set up specialmarriage rules for clan members, and after some time cross-cousinmarriages between two or three families were legally allowed; suchmarriages tended to fasten bonds between clans and to prevent the lossof property by marriage. While on the one hand, a new "clanconsciousness" grew up among the gentry families in order to securetheir power, tax and corvée legislation especially in the eleventhcentury induced many families to split up into small families. It can be shown that over the next centuries, the power of the familyhead increased. He was now regarded as owner of the property, not onlymere administrator of family property. He got power over life and deathof his children. This increase of power went together with a change ofthe position of the ruler. The period transition (until _c_. A. D. 1000)was followed by a period of "moderate absolutism" (until 1278) in whichemperors as persons played a greater role than before, and someemperors, such as Shen Tsung (in 1071), even declared that they regardedthe welfare of the masses as more important than the profit of thegentry. After 1278, however, the personal influence of the emperors grewfurther towards absolutism and in times became pure despotism. Individuals, especially family heads, gained more freedom in "ModernTimes". Not only the period of transition, but also the following periodwas a time of much greater social mobility than existed in the MiddleAges. By various legal and/or illegal means people could move up intopositions of power and wealth: we know of many merchants who succeededin being allowed to enter the state examina and thus got access to jobsin the administration. Large, influential gentry families in the capitalprotected sons from less important families and thus gave them a chanceto move into the gentry. Thus, these families built up a clientele oflesser gentry families which assisted them and upon the loyalty of whichthey could count. The gentry can from now on be divided into two parts. First, there was a "big gentry" which consisted of much fewer familiesthan in earlier times and which directed the policy in the capital; andsecondly, there was a "small gentry" which was operating mainly in theprovincial cities, directing local affairs and bound by ties of loyaltyto big gentry families. Gentry cliques now extended into the provincesand it often became possible to identify a clique with a geographicalarea, which, however, usually did not indicate particularistictendencies. Individual freedom did not show itself only in greater social mobility. The restrictions which, for instance, had made the craftsmen andartisans almost into serfs, were gradually lifted. From the earlysixteenth century on, craftsmen were free and no more subject to forcedlabour services for the state. Most craftsmen in this epoch still hadtheir shops in one lane or street and lived above their shops, as theyhad done in the earlier period. But from now on, they began to organizein guilds of an essentially religious character, as similar guilds inother parts of Asia at the same time also did. They provided welfareservices for their members, made some attempts towards standardizationof products and prices, imposed taxes upon their members, kept theirstreets clean and tried to regulate salaries. Apprentices were initiatedin a kind of semi-religious ceremony, and often meetings took place intemples. No guild, however, connected people of the same craft living indifferent cities. Thus, they did not achieve political power. Furthermore, each trade had its own guild; in Peking in the nineteenthcentury there existed over 420 different guilds. Thus, guilds failed toachieve political influence even within individual cities. Probably at the same time, regional associations, the so-called"_hui-kuan_" originated. Such associations united people from one cityor one area who lived in another city. People of different trades, butmainly businessmen, came together under elected chiefs and councillors. Sometimes, such regional associations could function as pressure groups, especially as they were usually financially stronger than the guilds. They often owned city property or farm land. Not all merchants, however, were so organized. Although merchants remained under humiliatingrestrictions as to the colour and material of their dress and theprohibition to ride a horse, they could more often circumvent suchrestrictions and in general had much more freedom in this epoch. Trade, including overseas trade, developed greatly from now on. Soon wefind in the coastal ports a special office which handled custom andregistration affairs, supplied interpreters for foreigners, receivedthem officially and gave good-bye dinners when they left. Down to thethirteenth century, most of this overseas trade was still in the handsof foreigners, mainly Indians. Entrepreneurs hired ships, if they werenot ship-owners, hired trained merchants who in turn hired sailorsmainly from the South-East Asian countries, and sold their ownmerchandise as well as took goods on commission. Wealthy Chinese gentryfamilies invested money in such foreign enterprises and in some caseseven gave their daughters in marriage to foreigners in order to profitfrom this business. We also see an emergence of industry from the eleventh century on. Wefind men who were running almost monopolistic enterprises, such aspreparing charcoal for iron production and producing iron and steel atthe same time; some of these men had several factories, operating underhired and qualified managers with more than 500 labourers. We findbeginnings of a labour legislation and the first strikes (A. D. 782 thefirst strike of merchants in the capital; 1601 first strike of textileworkers). Some of these labourers were so-called "vagrants", farmers who hadsecretly left their land or their landlord's land for various reasons, and had shifted to other regions where they did not register and thusdid not pay taxes. Entrepreneurs liked to hire them for industriesoutside the towns where supervision by the government was not so strong;naturally, these "vagrants" were completely at the mercy of theiremployers. Since _c. _ 780 the economy can again be called a money economy; more andmore taxes were imposed in form of money instead of in kind. Thispressure forced farmers out of the land and into the cities in order toearn there the cash they needed for their tax payments. These menprovided the labour force for industries, and this in turn led to thestrong growth of the cities, especially in Central China where trade andindustries developed most. Wealthy people not only invested in industrial enterprises, but alsobegan to make heavy investments in agriculture in the vicinity ofcities in order to increase production and thus income. We find men whodrained lakes in order to create fields below the water level for easyirrigation; others made floating fields on lakes and avoided land taxpayments; still others combined pig and fish breeding in one operation. The introduction of money economy and money taxes led to a need for morecoinage. As metal was scarce and minting very expensive, iron coins wereintroduced, silver became more and more common as means of exchange, andpaper money was issued. As the relative value of these moneys changedwith supply and demand, speculation became a flourishing business whichled to further enrichment of people in business. Even the governmentbecame more money-minded: costs of operations and even of wars werecarefully calculated in order to achieve savings; financial specialistswere appointed by the government, just as clans appointed such men forthe efficient administration of their clan properties. Yet no real capitalism or industrialism developed until towards the endof this epoch, although at the end of the twelfth century almost allconditions for such a development seemed to be given. 2 _Political situation in the tenth century_ The Chinese call the period from 906 to 960 the "period of the FiveDynasties" (_Wu Tai_). This is not quite accurate. It is true that therewere five dynasties in rapid succession in North China; but at the sametime there were ten other dynasties in South China. The ten southerndynasties, however, are regarded as not legitimate. The south was muchbetter off with its illegitimate dynasties than the north with thelegitimate ones. The dynasties in the south (we may dispense with givingtheir names) were the realms of some of the military governors so oftenmentioned above. These governors had already become independent at theend of the T'ang epoch; they declared themselves kings or emperors andruled particular provinces in the south, the chief of which covered theterritory of the present provinces of Szechwan, Kwangtung and Chekiang. In these territories there was comparative peace and economicprosperity, since they were able to control their own affairs and wereno longer dependent on a corrupt central government. They also madegreat cultural progress, and they did not lose their importance laterwhen they were annexed in the period of the Sung dynasty. As an example of these states one may mention the small state of Ch'u inthe present province of Hunan. Here, Ma Yin, a former carpenter (died931), had made himself a king. He controlled some of the main traderoutes, set up a clean administration, bought up all merchandise whichthe merchants brought, but allowed them to export only local products, mainly tea, iron and lead. This regulation gave him a personal income ofseveral millions every year, and in addition fostered the exploitationof the natural resources of this hitherto retarded area. 3 _Monopolistic trade in South China. Printing and paper money in thenorth_ The prosperity of the small states of South China was largely due to thegrowth of trade, especially the tea trade. The habit of drinking teaseems to have been an ancient Tibetan custom, which spread tosouth-eastern China in the third century A. D. Since then there had beentwo main centres of production, Szechwan and south-eastern China. Untilthe eleventh century Szechwan had remained the leading producer, and teahad been drunk in the Tibetan fashion, mixed with flour, salt, andginger. It then began to be drunk without admixture. In the T'ang epochtea drinking spread all over China, and there sprang up a class ofwholesalers who bought the tea from the peasants, accumulated stocks, and distributed them. From 783 date the first attempts of the state tomonopolize the tea trade and to make it a source of revenue; but itfailed in an attempt to make the cultivation a state monopoly. A teacommissariat was accordingly set up to buy the tea from the producersand supply it to traders in possession of a state licence. Therenaturally developed then a pernicious collaboration between stateofficials and the wholesalers. The latter soon eliminated the smalltraders, so that they themselves secured all the profit; officialsupport was secured by bribery. The state and the wholesalers alike werekeenly interested in the prevention of tea smuggling, which was strictlyprohibited. The position was much the same with regard to salt. We have here for thefirst time the association of officials with wholesalers or even with amonopoly trade. This was of the utmost importance in all later times. Monopoly progressed most rapidly in Szechwan, where there had alwaysbeen a numerous commercial community. In the period of politicalfragmentation Szechwan, as the principal tea-producing region and at thesame time an important producer of salt, was much better off than anyother part of China. Salt in Szechwan was largely produced by, technically, very interesting salt wells which existed there since _c. _the first century B. C. The importance of salt will be understood if weremember that a grown-up person in China uses an average of twelvepounds of salt per year. The salt tax was the top budget item aroundA. D. 900. South-eastern China was also the chief centre of porcelain production, although china clay is found also in North China. The use of porcelainspread more and more widely. The first translucent porcelain made itsappearance, and porcelain became an important article of commerce bothwithin the country and for export. Already the Muslim rulers of Baghdadaround 800 used imported Chinese porcelain, and by the end of thefourteenth century porcelain was known in Eastern Africa. Exports toSouth-East Asia and Indonesia, and also to Japan gained more and moreimportance in later centuries. Manufacture of high quality porcelaincalls for considerable amounts of capital investment and workingcapital; small manufacturers produce too many second-rate pieces; thuswe have here the first beginnings of an industry that developedindustrial towns such as Ching-tê, in which the majority of thepopulation were workers and merchants, with some 10, 000 families aloneproducing porcelain. Yet, for many centuries to come, the statecontrolled the production and even the design of porcelain andappropriated most of the production for use at court or as gifts. The third important new development to be mentioned was that ofprinting, which since _c_. 770 was known in the form of wood-blockprinting. The first reference to a printed book dated from 835, and themost important event in this field was the first printing of theClassics by the orders of Feng Tao (882-954) around 940. The firstattempts to use movable type in China occurred around 1045, althoughthis invention did not get general acceptance in China. It was morecommonly used in Korea from the thirteenth century on and revolutionizedEurope from 1538 on. It seems to me that from the middle of thetwentieth century on, the West, too, shows a tendency to come back tothe printing of whole pages, but replacing the wood blocks byphotographic plates or other means. In the Far East, just as in Europe, the invention of printing had far-reaching consequences. Books, whichuntil then had been very dear, because they had had to be produced bycopyists, could now be produced cheaply and in quantity. It becamepossible for a scholar to accumulate a library of his own and to work ina wide field, where earlier he had been confined to a few books or evena single text. The results were the spread of education, beginning withreading and writing, among wider groups, and the broadening ofeducation: a large number of texts were read and compared, and no longeronly a few. Private libraries came into existence, so that the imperiallibraries were no longer the only ones. Publishing soon grew in extent, and in private enterprise works were printed that were not so seriousand politically important as the classic books of the past. Thus a newtype of literature, the literature of entertainment, could come intoexistence. Not all these consequences showed themselves at once; somemade their first appearance later, in the Sung period. A fourth important innovation, this time in North China, was theintroduction of prototypes of paper money. The Chinese copper "cash" wasdifficult or expensive to transport, simply because of its weight. Itthus presented great obstacles to trade. Occasionally a region with anadverse balance of trade would lose all its copper money, with theresult of a local deflation. From time to time, iron money wasintroduced in such deficit areas; it had for the first time been used inSzechwan in the first century B. C. , and was there extensively used inthe tenth century when after the conquest of the local state all copperwas taken to the east by the conquerors. So long as there was an orderlyadministration, the government could send it money, though atconsiderable cost; but if the administration was not functioning well, the deflation continued. For this reason some provinces prohibited theexport of copper money from their territory at the end of the eighthcentury. As the provinces were in the hands of military governors, thecentral government could do next to nothing to prevent this. On theother hand, the prohibition automatically made an end of all externaltrade. The merchants accordingly began to prepare deposit certificates, and in this way to set up a sort of transfer system. Soon these depositcertificates entered into circulation as a sort of medium of payment atfirst again in Szechwan, and gradually this led to a banking system andthe linking of wholesale trade with it. This made possible a muchgreater volume of trade. Towards the end of the T'ang period thegovernment began to issue deposit certificates of its own: the merchantdeposited his copper money with a government agency, receiving inexchange a certificate which he could put into circulation like money. Meanwhile the government could put out the deposited money at interest, or throw it into general circulation. The government's depositcertificates were now printed. They were the predecessors of the papermoney used from the time of the Sung. 4 _Political history of the Five Dynasties_ The southern states were a factor not to be ignored in the calculationsof the northern dynasties. Although the southern kingdoms were involvedin a confusion of mutual hostilities, any one of them might come to thefore as the ally of Turks or other northern powers. The capital of thefirst of the five northern dynasties (once more a Liang dynasty, but notto be confused with the Liang dynasty of the south in the sixth century)was, moreover, quite close to the territories of the southern dynasties, close to the site of the present K'aifeng, in the fertile plain ofeastern China with its good means of transport. Militarily the towncould not be held, for its one and only defence was the Yellow River. The founder of this Later Liang dynasty, Chu Ch'üan-chung (906), washimself an eastern Chinese and, as will be remembered, a past supporterof the revolutionary Huang Ch'ao, but he had then gone over to the T'angand had gained high military rank. His northern frontier remained still more insecure than the southern, for Chu Ch'üan-chung did not succeed in destroying the Turkish generalLi K'o-yung; on the contrary, the latter continually widened the rangeof his power. Fortunately he, too, had an enemy at his back--the Kitan(or Khitan), whose ruler had made himself emperor in 916, and so stakeda claim to reign over all China. The first Kitan emperor held a middlecourse between Chu and Li, and so was able to establish and expand hisempire in peace. The striking power of his empire, which from 937 onwardwas officially called the Liao empire, grew steadily, because the oldtribal league of the Kitan was transformed into a centrally commandedmilitary organization. To these dangers from abroad threatening the Later Liang state internaltroubles were added. Chu Ch'üan-chung's dynasty was one of the threeChinese dynasties that have ever come to power through a popular rising. He himself was of peasant origin, and so were a large part of hissubordinates and helpers. Many of them had originally been independentpeasant leaders; others had been under Huang Ch'ao. All of them wereopposed to the gentry, and the great slaughter of the gentry of thecapital, shortly before the beginning of Chu's rule, had been welcomedby Chu and his followers. The gentry therefore would not co-operate withChu and preferred to join the Turk Li K'o-yung. But Chu could notconfidently rely on his old comrades. They were jealous of his successin gaining the place they all coveted, and were ready to join in anyindependent enterprise as opportunity offered. All of them, moreover, assoon as they were given any administrative post, busied themselves withthe acquisition of money and wealth as quickly as possible. These abusesnot only ate into the revenues of the state but actually produced acommon front between the peasantry and the remnants of the gentryagainst the upstarts. In 917, after Li K'o-yung's death, the Sha-t'o Turks beat off an attackfrom the Kitan, and so were safe for a time from the northern menace. They then marched against the Liang state, where a crisis had beenproduced in 912 after the murder of Chu Ch'üan-chung by one of his sons. The Liang generals saw no reason why they should fight for the dynasty, and all of them went over to the enemy. Thus the "Later T'ang dynasty"(923-936) came into power in North China, under the son of Li K'o-yung. The dominant element at this time was quite clearly the Chinese gentry, especially in western and central China. The Sha-t'o themselves musthave been extraordinarily few in number, probably little more than100, 000 men. Most of them, moreover, were politically passive, beingsimple soldiers. Only the ruling family and its following played anyactive part, together with a few families related to it by marriage. Thewhole state was regarded by the Sha-t'o rulers as a sort of familyenterprise, members of the family being placed in the most importantpositions. As there were not enough of them, they adopted into thefamily large numbers of aliens of all nationalities. Military posts weregiven to faithful members of Li K'o-yung's or his successor's bodyguard, and also to domestic servants and other clients of the family. Thus, while in the Later Liang state elements from the peasantry had risen inthe world, some of these neo-gentry reaching the top of the socialpyramid in the centuries that followed, in the Sha-t'o state some of itswarriors, drawn from the most various peoples, entered the gentry classthrough their personal relations with the ruler. But in spite of allthis the bulk of the officials came once more from the Chinese. Theseeducated Chinese not only succeeded in winning over the rulersthemselves to the Chinese cultural ideal, but persuaded them to adoptlaws that substantially restricted the privileges of the Sha-t'o andbrought advantages only to the Chinese gentry. Consequently all theChinese historians are enthusiastic about the "Later T'ang", andespecially about the emperor Ming Ti, who reigned from 927 onward, afterthe assassination of his predecessor. They also abused the Liang becausethey were against the gentry. In 936 the Later T'ang dynasty gave place to the Later Chin dynasty(936-946), but this involved no change in the structure of the empire. The change of dynasty meant no more than that instead of the sonfollowing the father the son-in-law had ascended the throne. It was ofmore importance that the son-in-law, the Sha-t'o Turk Shih Ching-t'ang, succeeded in doing this by allying himself with the Kitan and ceding tothem some of the northern provinces. The youthful successor, however, ofthe first ruler of this dynasty was soon made to realize that the Kitanregarded the founding of his dynasty as no more than a transition stageon the way to their annexation of the whole of North China. The oldSha-t'o nobles, who had not been sinified in the slightest, suggested apreventive war; the actual court group, strongly sinified, hesitated, but ultimately were unable to avoid war. The war was very quicklydecided by several governors in eastern China going over to the Kitan, who had promised them the imperial title. In the course of 946-7 theKitan occupied the capital and almost the whole of the country. In 947the Kitan ruler proclaimed himself emperor of the Kitan and the Chinese. [Illustration: Map 6: The State of the later Tang dynasty] The Chinese gentry seem to have accepted this situation because a Kitanemperor was just as acceptable to them as a Sha-t'o emperor; but theSha-t'o were not prepared to submit to the Kitan régime, because underit they would have lost their position of privilege. At the head of thisopposition group stood the Sha-t'o general Liu Chih-yüan, who foundedthe "Later Han dynasty" (947-950). He was able to hold out against theKitan only because in 947 the Kitan emperor died and his son had toleave China and retreat to the north; fighting had broken out betweenthe empress dowager, who had some Chinese support, and the young heir tothe throne. The new Turkish dynasty, however, was unable to withstandthe internal Chinese resistance. Its founder died in 948, and his son, owing to his youth, was entirely in the hands of a court clique. In hiseffort to free himself from the tutelage of this group he made amiscalculation, for the men on whom he thought he could depend werelargely supporters of the clique. So he lost his throne and his life, and a Chinese general, Kuo Wei, took his place, founding the "Later Choudynasty" (951-959). A feature of importance was that in the years of the short-lived "LaterHan dynasty" a tendency showed itself among the Chinese military leadersto work with the states in the south. The increase in the politicalinfluence of the south was due to its economic advance while the northwas reduced to economic chaos by the continual heavy fighting, and bythe complete irresponsibility of the Sha-t'o ruler in financial matters:several times in this period the whole of the money in the statetreasury was handed out to soldiers to prevent them from going over tosome enemy or other. On the other hand, there was a tendency in thesouth for the many neighbouring states to amalgamate, and as thisprocess took place close to the frontier of North China the northernstates could not passively look on. During the "Later Han" period therewere wars and risings, which continued in the time of the "Later Chou". On the whole, the few years of the rule of the second emperor of the"Later Chou" (954-958) form a bright spot in those dismal fifty-fiveyears. Sociologically regarded, that dynasty formed merely a transitionstage on the way to the Sung dynasty that now followed: the Chinesegentry ruled under the leadership of an upstart who had risen from theranks, and they ruled in accordance with the old principles of gentryrule. The Sha-t'o, who had formed the three preceding dynasties, hadbeen so reduced that they were now a tiny minority and no longercounted. This minority had only been able to maintain its positionthrough the special social conditions created by the "Later Liang"dynasty: the Liang, who had come from the lower classes of thepopulation, had driven the gentry into the arms of the Sha-t'o Turks. Assoon as the upstarts, in so far as they had not fallen again or beenexterminated, had more or less assimilated themselves to the old gentry, and on the other hand the leaders of the Sha-t'o had become numericallytoo weak, there was a possibility of resuming the old form of rule. There had been certain changes in this period. The north-west of China, the region of the old capital Ch'ang-an, had been so ruined by thefighting that had gone on mainly there and farther north, that it waseliminated as a centre of power for a hundred years to come; it had beenlargely depopulated. The north was under the rule of the Kitan: itstrade, which in the past had been with the Huang-ho basin, was nowperforce diverted to Peking, which soon became the main centre of thepower of the Kitan. The south, particularly the lower Yangtze region andthe province of Szechwan, had made economic progress, at least incomparison with the north; consequently it had gained in politicalimportance. One other event of this time has to be mentioned: the great persecutionof Buddhism in 955, but not only because 30, 336 temples and monasterieswere secularized and only some 2, 700 with 61, 200 monks were left. Although the immediate reason for this action seems to have been thattoo many men entered the monasteries in order to avoid being taken assoldiers, the effect of the law of 955 was that from now on theBuddhists were put under regulations which clarified once and for evertheir position within the framework of a society which had as its aim todefine clearly the status of each individual within each social class. Private persons were no more allowed to erect temples and monasteries. The number of temples per district was legally fixed. A person couldbecome monk only if the head of the family gave its permission. He hadto be over fifteen years of age and had to know by heart at least onehundred pages of texts. The state took over the control of theordinations which could be performed only after a successfulexamination. Each year a list of all monks had to be submitted to thegovernment in two copies. Monks had to carry six identification cardswith them, one of which was the ordination diploma for which a fee hadto be paid to the government (already since 755). The diploma was, inthe eleventh century, issued by the Bureau of Sacrifices, but the moneywas collected by the Ministry of Agriculture. It can be regarded as apayment _in lieu_ of land tax. The price was in the eleventh century 130strings, which represented the value of a small farm or the value ofsome 17, 000 litres of grain. The price of the diploma went up to 220strings in 1101, and the then government sold 30, 000 diplomas per yearin order to get still more cash. But as diplomas could be traded, ablack market developed, on which they were sold for as little as twentystrings. (B) Period of Moderate Absolutism (1) The Northern Sung dynasty 1 _Southward expansion_ The founder of the Sung dynasty, Chao K'uang-yin, came of a Chinesemilitary family living to the south of Peking. He advanced from generalto emperor, and so differed in no way from the emperors who had precededhim. But his dynasty did not disappear as quickly as the others; forthis there were several reasons. To begin with, there was the simplefact that he remained alive longer than the other founders of dynasties, and so was able to place his rule on a firmer foundation. But inaddition to this he followed a new course, which in certain wayssmoothed matters for him and for his successors, in foreign policy. This Sung dynasty, as Chao K'uang-yin named it, no longer turned againstthe northern peoples, particularly the Kitan, but against the south. This was not exactly an heroic policy: the north of China remained inthe hands of the Kitan. There were frequent clashes, but no real effortwas made to destroy the Kitan, whose dynasty was now called "Liao". Thesecond emperor of the Sung was actually heavily defeated several timesby the Kitan. But they, for their part, made no attempt to conquer thewhole of China, especially since the task would have become more andmore burdensome the farther south the Sung expanded. And very soon therewere other reasons why the Kitan should refrain from turning their wholestrength against the Chinese. [Illustration: 10 Ladies of the Court: clay models which accompanied thedead person to the grave. T'ang period. _In the collection of the Museumfür Völkerkunde, Berlin_. ] [Illustration: 11 Distinguished founder: a temple banner found atKhotcho, Turkestan. _Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, No. 1B_ 4524, _illustration B_ 408. ] As we said, the Sung turned at once against the states in the south. Some of the many small southern states had made substantial economic andcultural advance, but militarily they were not strong. ChaoK'uang-yin (named as emperor T'ai Tsu) attacked them in succession. Mostof them fell very quickly and without any heavy fighting, especiallysince the Sung dealt mildly with the defeated rulers and theirfollowing. The gentry and the merchants in these small states could notbut realize the advantages of a widened and well-ordered economic field, and they were therefore entirely in favour of the annexation of theircountry so soon as it proved to be tolerable. And the Sung empire couldonly endure and gain strength if it had control of the regions along theYangtze and around Canton, with their great economic resources. Theprocess of absorbing the small states in the south continued until 980. Before it was ended, the Sung tried to extend their influence in thesouth beyond the Chinese border, and secured a sort of protectorate overparts of Annam (973). This sphere of influence was politicallyinsignificant and not directly of any economic importance; but itfulfilled for the Sung the same functions which colonial territoriesfulfilled for Europeans, serving as a field of operation for thecommercial class, who imported raw materials from it--mainly, it istrue, luxury articles such as special sorts of wood, perfumes, ivory, and so on--and exported Chinese manufactures. As the power of the empiregrew, this zone of influence extended as far as Indonesia: the processhad begun in the T'ang period. The trade with the south had not thedeleterious effects of the trade with Central Asia. There was no sale ofrefined metals, and none of fabrics, as the natives produced their owntextiles which sufficed for their needs. And the export of porcelainbrought no economic injury to China, but the reverse. This Sung policy was entirely in the interest of the gentry and of thetrading community which was now closely connected with them. Undoubtedlyit strengthened China. The policy of nonintervention in the north wasendurable even when peace with the Kitan had to be bought by the paymentof an annual tribute. From 1004 onwards, 100, 000 ounces of silver and200, 000 bales of silk were paid annually to the Kitan, amounting invalue to about 270, 000 strings of cash, each of 1, 000 coins. The statebudget amounted to some 20, 000, 000 strings of cash. In 1038 the paymentsamounted to 500, 000 strings, but the budget was by then much larger. Oneis liable to get a false impression when reading of these big paymentsif one does not take into account what percentage they formed of thetotal revenues of the state. The tribute to the Kitan amounted to lessthan 2 per cent of the revenue, while the expenditure on the armyaccounted for 25 per cent of the budget. It cost much less to paytribute than to maintain large armies and go to war. Financialconsiderations played a great part during the Sung epoch. The taxationrevenue of the empire rose rapidly after the pacification of the south;soon after the beginning of the dynasty the state budget was double thatof the T'ang. If the state expenditure in the eleventh century had notcontinually grown through the increase in military expenditure--in spiteof everything!--there would have come a period of great prosperity inthe empire. 2 _Administration and army. Inflation_ The Sung emperor, like the rulers of the transition period, had gainedthe throne by his personal abilities as military leader; in fact, he hadbeen made emperor by his soldiers as had happened to so many emperors inlater Imperial Rome. For the next 300 years we observe a change in theposition of the emperor. On the one hand, if he was active andintelligent enough, he exercised much more personal influence than therulers of the Middle Ages. On the other hand, at the same time, theemperors were much closer to their ministers as before. We hear ofministers who patted the ruler on the shoulders when they retired froman audience; another one fell asleep on the emperor's knee and was notpunished for this familiarity. The emperor was called "_kuan-chia_"(Administrator) and even called himself so. And in the early twelfthcentury an emperor stated "I do not regard the empire as my personalproperty; my job is to guide the people". Financially-minded as the Sungdynasty was, the cost of the operation of the palace was calculated, sothat the emperor had a budget: in 1068 the salaries of all officials inthe capital amounted to 40, 000 strings of money per month, the armies100, 000, and the emperor's ordinary monthly budget was 70, 000 strings. For festivals, imperial birthdays, weddings and burials extra allowanceswere made. Thus, the Sung rulers may be called "moderate absolutists"and not despots. One of the first acts of the new Sung emperor, in 963, was a fundamentalreorganization of the administration of the country. The old system of acivil administration and a military administration independent of it wasbrought to an end and the whole administration of the country placed inthe hands of civil officials. The gentry welcomed this measure and gaveit full support, because it enabled the influence of the gentry to growand removed the fear of competition from the military, some of whom didnot belong by birth to the gentry. The generals by whose aid the empirehad been created were put on pension, or transferred to civilemployment, as quickly as possible. The army was demobilized, and thismeasure was bound up with the settlement of peasants in the regionswhich war had depopulated, or on new land. Soon after this the revenuenoticeably increased. Above all, the army was placed directly under thecentral administration, and the system of military governors was thusbrought to an end. The soldiers became mercenaries of the state, whereasin the past there had been conscription. In 975 the army had numberedonly 378, 000, and its cost had not been insupportable. Although thenumbers increased greatly, reaching 912, 000 in 1017 and 1, 259, 000 in1045, this implied no increase in military strength; for men who hadonce been soldiers remained with the army even when they were too oldfor service. Moreover, the soldiers grew more and more exacting; whendetachments were transferred to another region, for instance, thesoldiers would not carry their baggage; an army of porters had to beassembled. The soldiers also refused to go to regions remote from theirhomes until they were given extra pay. Such allowances gradually becamecustomary, and so the military expenditure grew by leaps and boundswithout any corresponding increase in the striking power of the army. The government was unable to meet the whole cost of the army out oftaxation revenue. The attempt was made to cover the expenditure bycoining fresh money. In connection with the increase in commercialcapital described above, and the consequent beginning of an industry, China's metal production had greatly increased. In 1050 thirteen timesas much silver, eight times as much copper, and fourteen times as muchiron was produced as in 800. Thus the circulation of the copper currencywas increased. The cost of minting, however, amounted in China to about75 per cent and often over 100 per cent of the value of the moneycoined. In addition to this, the metal was produced in the south, whilethe capital was in the north. The coin had therefore to be carried along distance to reach the capital and to be sent on to the soldiers inthe north. To meet the increasing expenditure, an unexampled quantity of new moneywas put into circulation. The state budget increased from 22, 200, 000 inA. D. 1000 to 150, 800, 000 in 1021. The Kitan state coined a great deal ofsilver, and some of the tribute was paid to it in silver. The greatlyincreased production of silver led to its being put into circulation inChina itself. And this provided a new field of speculation, through thevariations in the rates for silver and for copper. Speculation was alsopossible with the deposit certificates, which were issued in quantitiesby the state from the beginning of the eleventh century, and to whichthe first true paper money was soon added. The paper money and thecertificates were redeemable at a definite date, but at a reduction ofat least 3 per cent of their value; this, too, yielded a certain revenueto the state. The inflation that resulted from all these measures brought profit tothe big merchants in spite of the fact that they had to supply directlyor indirectly all non-agricultural taxes (in 1160 some 40, 000, 000strings annually), especially the salt tax (50 per cent), wine tax (36per cent), tea tax (7 per cent) and customs (7 per cent). Although theofficial economic thinking remained Confucian, i. E. Anti-business andpro-agrarian, we find in this time insight in price laws, for instance, that peace times and/or decrease of population induce deflation. Thegovernment had always attempted to manipulate the prices byinterference. Already in much earlier times, again and again, attemptshad been made to lower the prices by the so-called "ever-normalgranaries" of the government which threw grain on the market when priceswere too high and bought grain when prices were low. But now, inaddition to such measures, we also find others which exhibit a deeperinsight: in a period of starvation, the scholar and official FanChung-yen instead of officially reducing grain prices, raised the pricesin his district considerably. Although the population got angry, merchants started to import large amounts of grain; as soon as thishappened, Fan (himself a big landowner) reduced the price again. Similarresults were achieved by others by just stimulating merchants to importgrain into deficit areas. With the social structure of medieval Europe, similar financial andfiscal developments which gave new chances to merchants, eventually ledto industrial capitalism and industrial society. In China, however, thegentry in their capacity of officials hindered the growth of independenttrade, and permitted its existence only in association with themselves. As they also represented landed property, it was in land that thenewly-formed capital was invested. Thus we see in the Sung period, andespecially in the eleventh century, the greatest accumulation of estatesthat there had ever been up to then in China. Many of these estates came into origin as gifts of the emperor toindividuals or to temples, others were created on hillsides on landwhich belonged to the villages. From this time on, the rest of thevillage commons in China proper disappeared. Villagers could no longeruse the top-soil of the hills as fertilizer, or the trees as firewoodand building material. In addition, the hillside estates diverted thewater of springs and creeks, thus damaging severely the irrigation worksof the villagers in the plains. The estates _(chuang)_ were controlledby appointed managers who often became hereditary managers. The tenantson the estates were quite often non-registered migrants, of whom wespoke previously as "vagrants", and as such they depended upon themanagers who could always denounce them to the authorities which wouldlead to punishment because nobody was allowed to leave his home withoutofficially changing his registration. Many estates operated mills andeven textile factories with non-registered weavers. Others seem to havespecialized in sheep breeding. Present-day village names ending with_-chuang_ indicate such former estates. A new development in this periodwere the "clan estates" _(i-chuang)_, created by Fan Chung-yen(989-1052) in 1048. The income of these clan estates were used for thebenefit of the whole clan, were controlled by clan-appointed managersand had tax-free status, guaranteed by the government which regardedthem as welfare institutions. Technically, they might better be calledcorporations because they were similar in structure to some of ourindustrial corporations. Under the Chinese economic system, large-scalelandowning always proved socially and politically injurious. Up to veryrecent times the peasant who rented his land paid 40-50 per cent of theproduce to the landowner, who was responsible for payment of the normalland tax. The landlord, however, had always found means of evadingpayment. As each district had to yield a definite amount of taxation, the more the big landowners succeeded in evading payment the more had tobe paid by the independent small farmers. These independent peasantscould then either "give" their land to the big landowner and pay rent tohim, thus escaping from the attentions of the tax-officer, or simplyleave the district and secretly enter another one where they were notregistered. In either case the government lost taxes. Large-scale landowning proved especially injurious in the Sung period, for two reasons. To begin with, the official salaries, which had alwaysbeen small in China, were now totally inadequate, and so the officialswere given a fixed quantity of land, the yield of which was regarded asan addition to salary. This land was free from part of the taxes. Beforelong the officials had secured the liberation of the whole of their landfrom the chief taxes. In the second place, the taxation system wassimplified by making the amount of tax proportional to the amount ofland owned. The lowest bracket, however, in this new system of taxationcomprised more land than a poor peasant would actually own, and this wasa heavy blow to the small peasant-owners, who in the past had paid aproportion of their produce. Most of them had so little land that theycould barely live on its yield. Their liability to taxation was at alltimes a very heavy burden to them while the big landowners got offlightly. Thus this measure, though administratively a saving ofexpense, proved unsocial. All this made itself felt especially in the south with its great estatesof tax-evading landowners. Here the remaining small peasant-owners hadto pay the new taxes or to become tenants of the landowners and losetheir property. The north was still suffering from the war-devastationof the tenth century. As the landlords were always the first sufferersfrom popular uprisings as well as from war, they had disappeared, leaving their former tenants as free peasants. From this period on, wehave enough data to observe a social "law": as the capital was thelargest consumer, especially of high-priced products such as vegetableswhich could not be transported over long distances, the gentry alwaystried to control the land around the capital. Here, we find the highestconcentration of landlords and tenants. Production in this circleshifted from rice and wheat to mulberry trees for silk, and vegetablesgrown under the trees. These urban demands resulted in the growth of an"industrial" quarter on the outskirts of the capital, in whichespecially silk for the upper classes was produced. The next circle alsocontained many landlords, but production was more in staple foods suchas wheat and rice which could be transported. Exploitation in thissecond circle was not much less than in the first circle, because ofless close supervision by the authorities. In the third circle we findindependent subsistence farmers. Some provincial capitals, especially inSzechwan, exhibited a similar pattern of circles. With the shift of thecapital, a complete reorganization appeared: landlords and officialsgave up their properties, cultivation changed, and a new system ofcircles began to form around the new capital. We find, therefore, thegrotesque result that the thinly populated province of Shensi in thenorth-west yielded about a quarter of the total revenues of the state:it had no large landowners, no wealthy gentry, with their evasion oftaxation, only a mass of newly-settled small peasants' holdings. Forthis reason the government was particularly interested in that province, and closely watched the political changes in its neighbourhood. In 990 aman belonging to a sinified Toba family, living on the border of Shensi, had made himself king with the support of remnants of Toba tribes. In1034 came severe fighting, and in 1038 the king proclaimed himselfemperor, in the Hsia dynasty, and threatened the whole of north-westernChina. Tribute was now also paid to this state (250, 000 strings), butthe fight against it continued, to save that important province. These were the main events in internal and external affairs during theSung period until 1068. It will be seen that foreign affairs were ofmuch less importance than developments in the country. 3 _Reforms and Welfare schemes_ The situation just described was bound to produce a reaction. In spiteof the inflationary measures the revenue fell, partly in consequence ofthe tax evasions of the great landowners. It fell from 150, 000, 000 in1021 to 116, 000, 000 in 1065. Expenditure did not fall, and there was aconstant succession of budget deficits. The young emperor Shen Tsung(1068-1085) became convinced that the policy followed by the rulingclique of officials and gentry was bad, and he gave his adhesion to asmall group led by Wang An-shih (1021-1086). The ruling gentry cliquerepresented especially the interests of the large tea producers andmerchants in Szechwan and Kiangsi. It advocated a policyof _laisser-faire_ in trade: it held that everything would adjust itself. Wang An-shih himself came from Kiangsi and was therefore supported atfirst by the government clique, within which the Kiangsi group wastrying to gain predominance over the Szechwan group. But Wang An-shihcame from a poor family, as did his supporters, for whom he quicklysecured posts. They represented the interests of the small landholdersand the small dealers. This group succeeded in gaining power, and incarrying out a number of reforms, all directed against the monopolistmerchants. Credits for small peasants were introduced, and officialswere given bigger salaries, in order to make them independent and torecruit officials who were not big landowners. The army was greatlyreduced, and in addition to the paid soldiery a national militia wascreated. Special attention was paid to the province of Shensi, whoseconditions were taken more or less as a model. It seems that one consequence of Wang's reforms was a strong fall in theprices, i. E. A deflation; therefore, as soon as the first decrees wereissued, the large plantation owners and the merchants who were allied tothem, offered furious opposition. A group of officials and landlords whostill had large properties in the vicinity of Loyang--at that time aquiet cultural centre--also joined them. Even some of Wang An-shih'sformer adherents came out against him. After a few years the emperor wasno longer able to retain Wang An-shih and had to abandon the new policy. How really economic interests were here at issue may be seen from thefact that for many of the new decrees which were not directly concernedwith economic affairs, such, for instance, as the reform of theexamination system, Wang An-shih was strongly attacked though hisopponents had themselves advocated them in the past and had no practicalobjection to offer to them. The contest, however, between the two groupswas not over. The monopolistic landowners and their merchants had theupper hand from 1086 to 1102, but then the advocates of the policyrepresented by Wang again came into power for a short time. They had butlittle success to show, as they did not remain in power long enough and, owing to the strong opposition, they were never able to make theircontrol really effective. Basically, both groups were against allowing the developing middle classand especially the merchants to gain too much freedom, and whateverfreedom they in fact gained, came through extra-legal or illegalpractices. A proverb of the time said "People hate their ruler asanimals hate the net (of the hunter)". The basic laws of medieval timeswhich had attempted to create stable social classes remained: down tothe nineteenth century there were slaves, different classes of serfs or"commoners", and free burghers. Craftsmen remained under workobligation. Merchants were second-class people. Each class had to weardresses of special colour and material, so that the social status of aperson, even if he was not an official and thus recognizable by hisinsignia, was immediately clear when one saw him. The houses ofdifferent classes differed from one another by the type of tiles, thedecorations of the doors and gates; the size of the main reception roomof the house was prescribed and was kept small for all non-officials;and even size and form of the tombs was prescribed in detail for eachclass. Once a person had a certain privilege, he and his descendantseven if they had lost their position in the bureaucracy, retained theseprivileges over generations. All burghers were admitted to theexaminations and, thus, there was a certain social mobility allowedwithin the leading class of the society, and a new "small gentry"developed by this system. Yet, the wars of the transition period had created a feeling ofinsecurity within the gentry. The eleventh and twelfth centuries wereperiods of extensive social legislation in order to give the lowerclasses some degree of security and thus prevent them from attempting toupset the status quo. In addition to the "ever-normal granaries" of thestate, "social granaries" were revived, into which all farmers of avillage had to deliver grain for periods of need. In 1098 a bureau forhousing and care was created which created homes for the old anddestitute; 1102 a bureau for medical care sent state doctors to homesand hospitals as well as to private homes to care for poor patients;from 1104 a bureau of burials took charge of the costs of burials ofpoor persons. Doctors as craftsmen were under corvée obligation andcould easily be ordered by the state. Often, however, Buddhist prieststook charge of medical care, burial costs and hospitalization. The stategave them premiums if they did good work. The Ministry of Civil Affairsmade the surveys of cases and costs, while the Ministry of Finances paidthe costs. We hear of state orphanages in 1247, a free pharmacy in 1248, state hospitals were reorganized in 1143. In 1167 the government gavelow-interest loans to poor persons and (from 1159 on) sold cheap grainfrom state granaries. Fire protection services in large cities wereorganized. Finally, from 1141 on, the government opened up totwenty-three geisha houses for the entertainment of soldiers who werefar from home in the capital and had no possibility for otheramusements. Public baths had existed already some centuries ago; nowBuddhist temples opened public baths as social service. Social services for the officials were also extended. Already from theeighth century on, offices were closed every tenth day and duringholidays, a total of almost eighty days per year. Even criminals gotsome leave and exilees had the right of a home leave once every threeyears. The pensions for retired officials after the age of seventy whichamounted to 50 per cent of the salary from the eighth century on, wereagain raised, though widows did not receive benefits. 4 _Cultural situation (philosophy, religion, literature, painting)_ Culturally the eleventh century was the most active period China had sofar experienced, apart from the fourth century B. C. As a consequence ofthe immensely increased number of educated people resulting from theinvention of printing, circles of scholars and private schools set up byscholars were scattered all over the country. The various philosophicalschools differed in their political attitude and in the choice ofliterary models with which they were politically in sympathy. Thus WangAn-shih and his followers preferred the rigid classic style of Han Yü(768-825) who lived in the T'ang period and had also been an opponent ofthe monopolistic tendencies of pre-capitalism. For the Wang An-shihgroup formed itself into a school with a philosophy of its own and withits own commentaries on the classics. As the representative of the smallmerchants and the small landholders, this school advocated policies ofstate control and specialized in the study and annotation of classicalbooks which seemed to favour their ideas. But the Wang An-shih school was unable to hold its own against theschool that stood for monopolist trade capitalism, the new philosophydescribed as Neo-Confucianism or the Sung school. Here Confucianism andBuddhism were for the first time united. In the last centuries, Buddhistic ideas had penetrated all of Chinese culture: the slaughteringof animals and the executions of criminals were allowed only on certaindays, in accordance with Buddhist rules. Formerly, monks and nuns had togreet the emperor as all citizens had to do; now they were exempt fromthis rule. On the other hand, the first Sung emperor was willing tothrow himself to the earth in front of the Buddha statues, but he wastold he did not have to do it because he was the "Buddha of the presenttime" and thus equal to the God. Buddhist priests participated in thecelebrations on the emperor's birthday, and emperors from time to timegave free meals to large crowds of monks. Buddhist thought entered thefield of justice: in Sung time we hear complaints that judges did notapply the laws and showed laxity, because they hoped to gain religiousmerit by sparing the lives of criminals. We had seen how the maincurrent of Buddhism had changed from a revolutionary to a reactionarydoctrine. The new greater gentry of the eleventh century adopted anumber of elements of this reactionary Buddhism and incorporated them inthe Confucianist system. This brought into Confucianism a metaphysicwhich it had lacked in the past, greatly extending its influence on thepeople and at the same time taking the wind out of the sails ofBuddhism. The greater gentry never again placed themselves on the sideof the Buddhist Church as they had done in the T'ang period. When theygot tired of Confucianism, they interested themselves in Taoism of thepolitically innocent, escapist, meditative Buddhism. Men like Chou Tun-i (1017-1073) and Chang Tsai (1020-1077) developed acosmological theory which could measure up with Buddhistic cosmology andmetaphysics. But perhaps more important was the attempt of theNeo-Confucianists to explain the problem of evil. Confucius and hisfollowers had believed that every person could perfect himself byovercoming the evil in him. As the good persons should be the _élite_and rule the others, theoretically everybody who was a member of humansociety, could move up and become a leader. It was commonly assumed thathuman nature is good or indifferent, and that human feelings are eviland have to be tamed and educated. When in Han time with theestablishment of the gentry society and its social classes, the ideathat any person could move up to become a leader if he only perfectedhimself, appeared to be too unrealistic, the theory of different gradesof men was formed which found its clearest formulation by Han Yü: somepeople have a good, others a neutral, and still others a bad nature;therefore, not everybody can become a leader. The Neo-Confucianists, especially Ch'eng Hao (1032-1085) and Ch'eng I (1033-1107), tried tofind the reasons for this inequality. According to them, nature isneutral; but physical form originates with the combination of naturewith Material Force (_ch'i_). This combination produces individuals inwhich there is a lack of balance or harmony. Man should try to transformphysical form and recover original nature. The creative force by whichsuch a transformation is possible is _jen_, love, the creative, life-giving quality of nature itself. It should be remarked that Neo-Confucianism accepts an inequality ofmen, as early Confucianism did; and that _jen_, love, in its practicalapplication has to be channelled by _li_, the system of rules ofbehaviour. The _li_, however, always started from the idea of astratified class society. Chu Hsi (1130-1200), the famous scholar andsystematizer of Neo-Confucian thoughts, brought out rules of behaviourfor those burghers who did not belong to the gentry and could not, therefore, be expected to perform all _li_; his "simplified _li_"exercized a great influence not only upon contemporary China, but alsoupon Korea and Annam and there strengthened a hitherto looserpatriarchal, patrilinear family system. The Neo-Confucianists also compiled great analytical works of historyand encyclopaedias whose authority continued for many centuries. Theyinterpreted in these works all history in accordance with their outlook;they issued new commentaries on all the classics in order to spreadinterpretations that served their purposes. In the field of commentarythis school of thought was given perfect expression by Chu Hsi, who alsowrote one of the chief historical works. Chu Hsi's commentaries becamestandard works for centuries, until the beginning of the twentiethcentury. Yet, although Chu became the symbol of conservativism, he wasquite interested in science, and in this field he had an open eye forchanges. The Sung period is so important, because it is also the time of thegreatest development of Chinese science and technology. Many newtheories, but also many practical, new inventions were made. Medicinemade substantial progress. About 1145 the first autopsy was made, on thebody of a South Chinese captive. In the field of agriculture, newvarieties of rice were developed, new techniques applied, new plantsintroduced. The Wang An-shih school of political philosophy had opponents also inthe field of literary style, the so-called Shu Group (Shu means thepresent province of Szechwan), whose leaders were the famous Three Sus. The greatest of the three was Su Tung-p'o (1036-1101); the others werehis father, Su Shih, and his brother, Su Che. It is characteristic ofthese Shu poets, and also of the Kiangsi school associated with them, that they made as much use as they could of the vernacular. It had notbeen usual to introduce the phrases of everyday life into poetry, but SuTung-p'o made use of the most everyday expressions, without diminishinghis artistic effectiveness by so doing; on the contrary, the result wasto give his poems much more genuine feeling than those of other poets. These poets were in harmony with the writings of the T'ang period poetPo Chü-i (772-846) and were supported, like Neo-Confucianism, byrepresentatives of trade capitalism. Politically, in their conservatismthey were sharply opposed to the Wang An-shih group. Midway between thetwo stood the so-called Loyang-School, whose greatest leaders were thehistorian and poet Ssŭ-ma Kuang (1019-1086) and the philosopher-poetShao Yung (1011-1077). In addition to its poems, the Sung literature was famous for theso-called _pi-chi_ or miscellaneous notes. These consist of short notesof the most various sort, notes on literature, art, politics, archaeology, all mixed together. The _pi-chi_ are a treasure-house forthe history of the culture of the time; they contain many details, oftenof importance, about China's neighbouring peoples. They were intended toserve as suggestions for learned conversation when scholars cametogether; they aimed at showing how wide was a scholar's knowledge. Tothis group we must add the accounts of travel, of which some of greatvalue dating from the Sung period are still extant; they containinformation of the greatest importance about the early Mongols and alsoabout Turkestan and South China. While the Sung period was one of perfection in all fields of art, painting undoubtedly gained its highest development in this time. Wefind now two main streams in painting: some painters preferred thedecorative, pompous, but realistic approach, with great attention to thedetail. Later theoreticians brought this school in connection with oneschool of meditative Buddhism, the so-called northern school. Men whobelonged to this school of painting often were active court officials orpainted for the court and for other representative purposes. One of themost famous among them, Li Lung-mien (ca. 1040-1106), for instancepainted the different breeds of horses in the imperial stables. He wasalso famous for his Buddhistic figures. Another school, later called thesouthern school, regarded painting as an intimate, personal expression. They tried to paint inner realities and not outer forms. They, too, wereeducated, but they did not paint for anybody. They painted in theircountry houses when they felt in the mood for expression. Theirpaintings did not stress details, but tried to give the spirit of alandscape, for in this field they excelled most. Best known of them isMi Fei (ca. 1051-1107), a painter as well as a calligrapher, artcollector, and art critic. Typically, his paintings were not much likedby the emperor Hui Tsung (ruled 1101-1125) who was one of the greatestart collectors and whose catalogue of his collection became very famous. He created the Painting Academy, an institution which mainly gaveofficial recognition to painters in form of titles which gave thepainter access to and status at court. Ma Yüan (_c_. 1190-1224), memberof a whole painter's family, and Hsia Kui (_c_. 1180-1230) continued themore "impressionistic" tradition. Already in Sung time, however, manypainters could and did paint in different styles, "copying", i. E. Painting in the way of T'ang painters, in order to express theirchanging emotions by changed styles, a fact which often makes the datingof Chinese paintings very difficult. Finally, art craft has left us famous porcelains of the Sung period. Themost characteristic production of that time is the green porcelain knownas "Celadon". It consists usually of a rather solid paste, less likeporcelain than stoneware, covered with a green glaze; decoration isincised, not painted, under the glaze. In the Sung period, however, camethe first pure white porcelain with incised ornamentation under theglaze, and also with painting on the glaze. Not until near the end ofthe Sung period did the blue and white porcelain begin (blue painting ona white ground). The cobalt needed for this came from Asia Minor. Inexchange for the cobalt, Chinese porcelain went to Asia Minor. Thistrade did not, however, grow greatly until the Mongol epoch; laterreally substantial orders were placed in China, the Chinese executingthe patterns wanted in the West. 5 _Military collapse_ In foreign affairs the whole eleventh century was a period of diplomaticmanœuvring, with every possible effort to avoid war. There waslong-continued fighting with the Kitan, and at times also with theTurco-Tibetan Hsia, but diplomacy carried the day: tribute was paid toboth enemies, and the effort was made to stir up the Kitan against theHsia and vice versa; the other parties also intrigued in like fashion. In 1110 the situation seemed to improve for the Sung in this game, as anew enemy appeared in the rear of the Liao (Kitan), the Tungusic Juchên(Jurchen), who in the past had been more or less subject to the Kitan. In 1114 the Juchên made themselves independent and became a politicalfactor. The Kitan were crippled, and it became an easy matter to attackthem. But this pleasant situation did not last long. The Juchênconquered Peking, and in 1125 the Kitan empire was destroyed; but in thesame year the Juchên marched against the Sung. In 1126 they capturedthe Sung capital; the emperor and his art-loving father, who had retireda little earlier, were taken prisoner, and the Northern Sung dynasty wasat an end. The collapse came so quickly because the whole edifice of securitybetween the Kitan and the Sung was based on a policy of balance and ofdiplomacy. Neither state was armed in any way, and so both collapsed atthe first assault from a military power. (2) The Liao (Kitan) dynasty in the north (937-1125) 1 _Social structure. Claim to the Chinese imperial throne_ The Kitan, a league of tribes under the leadership of an apparentlyMongol tribe, had grown steadily stronger in north-eastern Mongoliaduring the T'ang epoch. They had gained the allegiance of many tribes inthe west and also in Korea and Manchuria, and in the end, about A. D. 900, had become the dominant power in the north. The process of growthof this nomad power was the same as that of other nomad states, such asthe Toba state, and therefore need not be described again in any detailhere. When the T'ang dynasty was deposed, the Kitan were among theclaimants to the Chinese throne, feeling fully justified in their claimas the strongest power in the Far East. Owing to the strength of theSha-t'o Turks, who themselves claimed leadership in China, the expansionof the Kitan empire slowed down. In the many battles the Kitan sufferedseveral setbacks. They also had enemies in the rear, a state namedPo-hai, ruled by Tunguses, in northern Korea, and the new Korean stateof Kao-li, which liberated itself from Chinese overlordship in 919. In 927 the Kitan finally destroyed Po-hai. This brought many Tungustribes, including the Jurchen (Juchên), under Kitan dominance. Then, in936, the Kitan gained the allegiance of the Turkish general ShihChing-t'ang, and he was set on the Chinese throne as a feudatory of theKitan. It was hoped now to secure dominance over China, and accordinglythe Mongol name of the dynasty was altered to "Liao dynasty" in 937, indicating the claim to the Chinese throne. Considerable regions ofNorth China came at once under the direct rule of the Liao. As a whole, however, the plan failed: the feudatory Shih Ching-t'ang tried to makehimself independent; Chinese fought the Liao; and the Chinese sceptresoon came back into the hands of a Sha-t'o dynasty (947). This ended theplans of the Liao to conquer the whole of China. For this there were several reasons. A nomad people was again rulingthe agrarian regions of North China. This time the representatives ofthe ruling class remained military commanders, and at the same timeretained their herds of horses. As early as 1100 they had well over10, 000 herds, each of more than a thousand animals. The army commandershad been awarded large regions which they themselves had conquered. Theycollected the taxes in these regions, and passed on to the state onlythe yield of the wine tax. On the other hand, in order to feed thearmies, in which there were now many Chinese soldiers, the frontierregions were settled, the soldiers working as peasants in times ofpeace, and peasants being required to contribute to the support of thearmy. Both processes increased the interest of the Kitan ruling class inthe maintenance of peace. That class was growing rich, and preferredliving on the income from its properties or settlements to going to war, which had become a more and more serious matter after the founding ofthe great Sung empire, and was bound to be less remunerative. The herdsof horses were a further excellent source of income, for they could besold to the Sung, who had no horses. Then, from 1004 onward, came thetribute payments from China, strengthening the interest in themaintenance of peace. Thus great wealth accumulated in Peking, thecapital of the Liao; in this wealth the whole Kitan ruling classparticipated, but the tribes in the north, owing to their remoteness, had no share in it. In 988 the Chinese began negotiations, as a move intheir diplomacy, with the ruler of the later realm of the Hsia; in 990the Kitan also negotiated with him, and they soon became a third partnerin the diplomatic game. Delegations were continually going from one toanother of the three realms, and they were joined by trade missions. Agreement was soon reached on frontier questions, on armament, onquestions of demobilization, on the demilitarization of particularregions, and so on, for the last thing anyone wanted was to fight. Then came the rising of the tribes of the north. They had remainedmilitary tribes; of all the wealth nothing reached them, and they weregiven no military employment, so that they had no hope of improvingtheir position. The leadership was assumed by the tribe of the Juchên(1114). In a campaign of unprecedented rapidity they captured Peking, and the Liao dynasty was ended (1125), a year earlier, as we know, thanthe end of the Sung. 2 _The State of the Kara-Kitai_ A small troop of Liao, under the command of a member of the rulingfamily, fled into the west. They were pursued without cessation, butthey succeeded in fighting their way through. After a few years ofnomad life in the mountains of northern Turkestan, they were able togain the collaboration of a few more tribes, and with them they theninvaded western Turkestan. There they founded the "Western Liao" state, or, as the western sources call it, the "Kara-Kitai" state, with itscapital at Balasagun. This state must not be regarded as a purely Kitanstate. The Kitan formed only a very thin stratum, and the real power wasin the hands of autochthonous Turkish tribes, to whom the Kitan soonbecame entirely assimilated in culture. Thus the history of this statebelongs to that of western Asia, especially as the relations of theKara-Kitai with the Far East were entirely broken off. In 1211 the statewas finally destroyed. (3) The Hsi-Hsia State in the north (1038-1227) 1 _Continuation of Turkish traditions_ After the end of the Toba state in North China in 550, some tribes ofthe Toba, including members of the ruling tribe with the tribal nameToba, withdrew to the borderland between Tibet and China, where theyruled over Tibetan and Tangut tribes. At the beginning of the T'angdynasty this tribe of Toba joined the T'ang. The tribal leader receivedin return, as a distinction, the family name of the T'ang dynasty, Li. His dependence on China was, however, only nominal and soon cameentirely to an end. In the tenth century the tribe gained in strength. It is typical of the long continuance of old tribal traditions that aleader of the tribe in the tenth century married a woman belonging tothe family to which the khans of the Hsiung-nu and all Turkish rulinghouses had belonged since 200 B. C. With the rise of the Kitan in thenorth and of the Tibetan state in the south, the tribe decided to seekthe friendship of China. Its first mission, in 982, was well received. Presents were sent to the chieftain of the tribe, he was helped againsthis enemies, and he was given the status of a feudatory of the Sung; in988 the family name of the Sung, Chao, was conferred on him. Then theKitan took a hand. They over-trumped the Sung by proclaiming the tribalchieftain king of Hsia (990). Now the small state became interesting. Itwas pampered by Liao and Sung in the effort to win it over or to keepits friendship. The state grew; in 1031 its ruler resumed the old familyname of the Toba, thus proclaiming his intention to continue the Tobaempire; in 1034 he definitely parted from the Sung, and in 1038 heproclaimed himself emperor in the Hsia dynasty, or, as the Chinesegenerally called it, the "HsiHsia", which means the Western Hsia. Thisname, too, had associations with the old Hun tradition; it recalledthe state of Ho-lien P'o-p'o in the early fifth century. The state sooncovered the present province of Kansu, small parts of the adjoiningTibetan territory, and parts of the Ordos region. It attacked theprovince of Shensi, but the Chinese and the Liao attached the greatestimportance to that territory. Thus that was the scene of most of thefighting. [Illustration: 12 Ancient tiled pagoda at Chengting (Hopei). _Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson. _] [Illustration: 13 Horse-training. Painting by Li Lung-mien. Late Sungperiod. _Manchu Royal House Collection_. ] The Hsia state had a ruling group of Toba, but these Toba had becomeentirely tibetanized. The language of the country was Tibetan; thecustoms were those of the Tanguts. A script was devised, in imitation ofthe Chinese script. Only in recent years has it begun to be studied. In 1125, when the Tungusic Juchên destroyed the Liao, the Hsia also lostlarge territories in the east of their country, especially the provinceof Shensi, which they had conquered; but they were still able to holdtheir own. Their political importance to China, however, vanished, sincethey were now divided from southern China and as partners were no longerof the same value to it. Not until the Mongols became a power did theHsia recover some of their importance; but they were among the firstvictims of the Mongols: in 1209 they had to submit to them, and in 1227, the year of the death of Genghiz Khan, they were annihilated. (4) The empire of the Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1279) 1 _Foundation_ In the disaster of 1126, when the Juchên captured the Sung capital anddestroyed the Sung empire, a brother of the captive emperor escaped. Hemade himself emperor in Nanking and founded the "Southern Sung" dynasty, whose capital was soon shifted to the present Hangchow. The foundationof the new dynasty was a relatively easy matter, and the new state wasmuch more solid than the southern kingdoms of 800 years earlier, for thesouth had already been economically supreme, and the great families thathad ruled the state were virtually all from the south. The loss of thenorth, i. E. The area north of the Yellow River and of parts of Kiangsu, was of no importance to this governing group and meant no loss ofestates to it. Thus the transition from the Northern to the SouthernSung was not of fundamental importance. Consequently the Juchên had nochance of success when they arranged for Liu Yü, who came of a northernChinese family of small peasants and had become an official, to beproclaimed emperor in the "Ch'i" dynasty in 1130. They hoped that thispuppet might attract the southern Chinese, but seven years later theydropped him. 2 _Internal situation_ As the social structure of the Southern Sung empire had not beenchanged, the country was not affected by the dynastic development. Onlythe policy of diplomacy could not be pursued at once, as the Juchên werebellicose at first and would not negotiate. There were therefore severalbattles at the outset (in 1131 and 1134), in which the Chinese wereactually the more successful, but not decisively. The Sung militarygroup was faced as early as in 1131 with furious opposition from thegreater gentry, led by Ch'in K'ui, one of the largest landowners of all. His estates were around Nanking, and so in the deployment region and theregion from which most of the soldiers had to be drawn for the defensivestruggle. Ch'in K'ui secured the assassination of the leader of themilitary party, General Yo Fei, in 1141, and was able to conclude peacewith the Juchên. The Sung had to accept the status of vassals and to payannual tribute to the Juchên. This was the situation that best pleasedthe greater gentry. They paid hardly any taxes (in many districts thegreater gentry directly owned more than 30 per cent of the land, inaddition to which they had indirect interests in the soil), and theywere now free from the war peril that ate into their revenues. Thetribute amounted only to 500, 000 strings of cash. Popular literature, however, to this day represents Ch'in K'ui as a traitor and Yo Fei as anational hero. In 1165 it was agreed between the Sung and the Juchên to regard eachother as states with equal rights. It is interesting to note here thatin the treaties during the Han time with the Hsiung-nu, the twocountries called one another brothers--with the Chinese ruler as theolder and thus privileged brother; but the treaties since the T'ang timewith northern powers and with Tibetans used the terms father-in-law andson-in-law. The foreign power was the "father-in-law", i. E. The olderand, therefore, in a certain way the more privileged; the Chinese werethe "son-in-law", the representative of the paternal lineage and, therefore, in another respect also the more privileged! In spite of suchagreements with the Juchên, fighting continued, but it was mainly of thecharacter of frontier engagements. Not until 1204 did the militaryparty, led by Han T'o-wei, regain power; it resolved upon an activepolicy against the north. In preparation for this a military reform wascarried out. The campaign proved a disastrous failure, as a result ofwhich large territories in the north were lost. The Sung sued forpeace; Han T'o-wei's head was cut off and sent to the Juchên. In thisway peace was restored in 1208. The old treaty relationship was nowresumed, but the relations between the two states remained tense. Meanwhile the Sung observed with malicious pleasure how the Mongols weregrowing steadily stronger, first destroying the Hsia state and thenaiming the first heavy blows against the Juchên. In the end the Sungentered into alliance with the Mongols (1233) and joined them inattacking the Juchên, thus hastening the end of the Juchên state. The Sung now faced the Mongols, and were defenceless against them. Allthe buffer states had gone. The Sung were quite without adequatemilitary defence. They hoped to stave off the Mongols in the same way asthey had met the Kitan and the Juchên. This time, however, theymisjudged the situation. In the great operations begun by the Mongols in1273 the Sung were defeated over and over again. In 1276 their capitalwas taken by the Mongols and the emperor was made prisoner. For threeyears longer there was a Sung emperor, in flight from the Mongols, untilthe last emperor perished near Macao in South China. 3 _Cultural situation; reasons for the collapse_ The Southern Sung period was again one of flourishing culture. Theimperial court was entirely in the power of the greater gentry; severaltimes the emperors, who personally do not deserve individual mention, were compelled to abdicate. They then lived on with a court of theirown, devoting themselves to pleasure in much the same way as the"reigning" emperor. Round them was a countless swarm of poets andartists. Never was there a time so rich in poets, though hardly one ofthem was in any way outstanding. The poets, unlike those of earliertimes, belonged to the lesser gentry who were suffering from theprevailing inflation. Salaries bore no relation to prices. Food was notdear, but the things which a man of the upper class ought to have werefar out of reach: a big house cost 2, 000 strings of cash, a concubine800 strings. Thus the lesser gentry and the intelligentsia all lived ontheir patrons among the greater gentry--with the result that they wereentirely shut out of politics. This explains why the literature of thetime is so unpolitical, and also why scarcely any philosophical worksappeared. The writers took refuge more and more in romanticism andflight from realities. The greater gentry, on the other hand, led a very elegant life, buildingthemselves magnificent palaces in the capital. They also speculated inevery direction. They speculated in land, in money, and above all inthe paper money that was coming more and more into use. In 1166 thepaper circulation exceeded the value of 10, 000, 000 strings! It seems that after 1127 a good number of farmers had left Honan and theYellow River plains when the Juchên conquered these places and showedlittle interest in fostering agriculture; more left the border areas ofSouthern Sung because of permanent war threat. Many of these livedmiserably as tenants on the farms of the gentry between Nanking andHangchow. Others migrated farther to the south, across Kiangsi intosouthern Fukien. These migrants seem to have been the ancestors of theHakka which in the following centuries continued their migration towardsthe south and who from the nineteenth century on were most stronglyconcentrated in Kwangtung and Kwangsi provinces as free farmers on hillslopes or as tenants of local landowners in the plains. The influx of migrants and the increase of tenants and their povertyseriously threatened the state and cut down its defensive strength moreand more. At this stage, Chia Ssu-tao drafted a reform law. Chia had come to thecourt through his sister becoming the emperor's concubine, but hehimself belonged to the lesser gentry. His proposal was that state fundsshould be applied to the purchase of land in the possession of thegreater gentry over and above a fixed maximum. Peasants were to besettled on this land, and its yield was to belong to the state, whichwould be able to use it to meet military expenditure. In this way thecountry's military strength was to be restored. Chia's influence lastedjust ten years, until 1275. He began putting the law into effect in theregion south of Nanking, where the principal estates of the greatergentry were then situated. He brought upon himself, of course, themortal hatred of the greater gentry, and paid for his action with hislife. The emperor, in entering upon this policy, no doubt had hoped torecover some of his power, but the greater gentry brought him down. Thegentry now openly played into the hands of the approaching Mongols, sohastening the final collapse of the Sung. The peasants and the lessergentry would have fought the Mongols if it had been possible; but thegreater gentry enthusiastically went over to the Mongols, hoping to savetheir property and so their influence by quickly joining the enemy. On along view they had not judged badly. The Mongols removed the members ofthe gentry from all political posts, but left them their estates; andbefore long the greater gentry reappeared in political life. And when, later, the Mongol empire in China was brought down by a popular rising, the greater gentry showed themselves to be the most faithful allies ofthe Mongols! (5) The empire of the Juchên in the north (1115-1234) 1 _Rapid expansion from northern Korea to the Yangtze_ The Juchên in the past had been only a small league of Tungus tribes, whose name is preserved in that of the present Tungus tribe of theJurchen, which came under the domination of the Kitan after the collapseof the state of Po-hai in northern Korea. We have already brieflymentioned the reasons for their rise. After their first successesagainst the Kitan (1114), their chieftain at once proclaimed himselfemperor (1115), giving his dynasty the name "Chin" (The Golden). TheChin quickly continued their victorious progress. In 1125 the Kitanempire was destroyed. It will be remembered that the Sung were at onceattacked, although they had recently been allied with the Chin againstthe Kitan. In 1126 the Sung capital was taken. The Chin invasions werepushed farther south, and in 1130 the Yangtze was crossed. But the Chindid not hold the whole of these conquests. Their empire was not yetconsolidated. Their partial withdrawal closed the first phase of theChin empire. 2 _United front of all Chinese_ But a few years after this maximum expansion, a withdrawal began whichwent on much more quickly than usual in such cases. The reasons were tobe found both in external and in internal politics. The Juchên hadgained great agrarian regions in a rapid march of conquest. Once moregreat cities with a huge urban population and immense wealth had fallento alien conquerors. Now the Juchên wanted to enjoy this wealth as theKitan had done before them. All the Juchên people counted as citizens ofthe highest class; they were free from taxation and only liable tomilitary service. They were entitled to take possession of as muchcultivable land as they wanted; this they did, and they took not onlythe "state domains" actually granted to them but also peasantproperties, so that Chinese free peasants had nothing left but the worstfields, unless they became tenants on Juchên estates. A united front wastherefore formed between all Chinese, both peasants and landowninggentry, against the Chin, such as it had not been possible to formagainst the Kitan. This made an important contribution later to therapid collapse of the Chin empire. The Chin who had thus come into possession of the cultivable land and atthe same time of the wealth of the towns, began a sort of competitionwith each other for the best winnings, especially after the governmenthad returned to the old Sung capital, Pien-liang (now K'aifeng, ineastern Honan). Serious crises developed in their own ranks. In 1149 theruler was assassinated by his chancellor (a member of the imperialfamily), who in turn was murdered in 1161. The Chin thus failed toattain what had been secured by all earlier conquerors, a reconciliationof the various elements of the population and the collaboration of atleast one group of the defeated Chinese. 3 _Start of the Mongol empire_ The cessation of fighting against the Sung brought no real advantage inexternal affairs, though the tribute payments appealed to the greed ofthe rulers and were therefore welcomed. There could be no question offurther campaigns against the south, for the Hsia empire in the west hadnot been destroyed, though some of its territory had been annexed; and anew peril soon made its appearance in the rear of the Chin. When in thetenth century the Sha-t'o Turks had had to withdraw from theirdominating position in China, because of their great loss of numbers andconsequently of strength, they went back into Mongolia and there unitedwith the Ta-tan (Tatars), among whom a new small league of tribes hadformed towards the end of the eleventh century, consisting mainly ofMongols and Turks. In 1139 one of the chieftains of the Juchên rebelledand entered into negotiations with the South Chinese. He was killed, buthis sons and his whole tribe then rebelled and went into Mongolia, wherethey made common cause with the Mongols. The Chin pursued them, andfought against them and against the Mongols, but without success. Accordingly negotiations were begun, and a promise was given to delivermeat and grain every year and to cede twenty-seven military strongholds. A high title was conferred on the tribal leader of the Mongols, in thehope of gaining his favour. He declined it, however, and in 1147 assumedthe title of emperor of the "greater Mongol empire". This was thebeginning of the power of the Mongols, who remained thereafter adangerous enemy of the Chin in the north, until in 1189 Genghiz Khanbecame their leader and made the Mongols the greatest power of centralAsia. In any case, the Chin had reason to fear the Mongols from 1147onward, and therefore were the more inclined to leave the Sung in peace. In 1210 the Mongols began the first great assault against the Chin, themoment they had conquered the Hsia. In the years 1215-17 the Mongolstook the military key-positions from the Chin. After that there could beno serious defence of the Chin empire. There came a respite only becausethe Mongols had turned against the West. But in 1234 the empire finallyfell to the Mongols. Many of the Chin entered the service of the Mongols, and with theirpermission returned to Manchuria; there they fell back to the culturallevel of a warlike nomad people. Not until the sixteenth century didthese Tunguses recover, reorganize, and appear again in history thistime under the name of Manchus. The North Chinese under Chin rule did not regard the Mongols as enemiesof their country, but were ready at once to collaborate with them. TheMongols were even more friendly to them than to the South Chinese, andtreated them rather better. Chapter Ten THE PERIOD OF ABSOLUTISM (A) The Mongol Epoch (1280-1368) 1 _Beginning of new foreign rules_ During more than half of the third period of "Modern Times" which nowbegan, China was under alien rule. Of the 631 years from 1280 to 1911, China was under national rulers for 276 years and under alien rule for355. The alien rulers were first the Mongols, and later the TungusManchus. It is interesting to note that the alien rulers in the earlierperiod came mainly from the north-west, and only in modern times didpeoples from the north-east rule over China. This was due in part to thefact that only peoples who had attained a certain level of civilizationwere capable of dominance. In antiquity and the Middle Ages, easternMongolia and Manchuria were at a relatively low level of civilization, from which they emerged only gradually through permanent contact withother nomad peoples, especially Turks. We are dealing here, of course, only with the Mongol epoch in China and not with the great Mongolempire, so that we need not enter further into these questions. Yet another point is characteristic: the Mongols were the first alienpeople to rule the whole of China; the Manchus, who appeared in theseventeenth century, were the second and last. All alien peoples beforethese two ruled only parts of China. Why was it that the Mongols wereable to be so much more successful than their predecessors? In the firstplace the Mongol political league was numerically stronger than those ofthe earlier alien peoples; secondly, the military organization andtechnical equipment of the Mongols were exceptionally advanced for theirday. It must be borne in mind, for instance, that during their manyyears of war against the Sung dynasty in South China the Mongols alreadymade use of small cannon in laying siege to towns. We have no exactknowledge of the number of Mongols who invaded and occupied China, butit is estimated that there were more than a million Mongols living inChina. Not all of them, of course, were really Mongols! The name coveredTurks, Tunguses, and others; among the auxiliaries of the Mongols wereUighurs, men from Central Asia and the Middle East, and even Europeans. When the Mongols attacked China they had the advantage of all the artsand crafts and all the new technical advances of western and centralAsia and of Europe. Thus they had attained a high degree of technicalprogress, and at the same time their number was very great. 2 "_Nationality legislation_" It was only after the Hsia empire in North China, and then the empire ofthe Juchên, had been destroyed by the Mongols, and only after long andremarkably modern tactical preparation, that the Mongols conquered SouthChina, the empire of the Sung dynasty. They were now faced with theproblem of ruling their great new empire. The conqueror of that empire, Kublai, himself recognized that China could not be treated in quite thesame way as the Mongols' previous conquests; he therefore separated theempire in China from the rest of the Mongol empire. Mongol China becamean independent realm within the Mongol empire, a sort of Dominion. TheMongol rulers were well aware that in spite of their numerical strengththey were still only a minority in China, and this implied certaindangers. They therefore elaborated a "nationality legislation", thefirst of its kind in the Far East. The purpose of this legislation was, of course, to be the protection of the Mongols. The population ofconquered China was divided into four groups--(1) Mongols, themselvesfalling into four sub-groups (the oldest Mongol tribes, the WhiteTatars, the Black Tatars, the Wild Tatars); (2) Central Asianauxiliaries (Naimans, Uighurs, and various other Turkish people, Tanguts, and so on); (3) North Chinese; (4) South Chinese. The Mongolsformed the privileged ruling class. They remained militarily organized, and were distributed in garrisons over all the big towns of China assoldiers, maintained by the state. All the higher government posts werereserved for them, so that they also formed the heads of the officialstaffs. The auxiliary peoples were also admitted into the governmentservice; they, too, had privileges, but were not all soldiers but inmany cases merchants, who used their privileged position to promotebusiness. Not a few of these merchants were Uighurs and Mohammedans;many Uighurs were also employed as clerks, as the Mongols were veryoften unable to read and write Chinese, and the government offices werebilingual, working in Mongolian and Chinese. The clever Uighurs quicklylearned enough of both languages for official purposes, and madethemselves indispensable assistants to the Mongols. Persian, the mainlanguage of administration in the western parts of the Mongol empirebesides Uighuric, also was a _lingua franca_ among the new rulers ofChina. In the Mongol legislation the South Chinese had the lowest status, andvirtually no rights. Intermarriage with them was prohibited. The Chinesewere not allowed to carry arms. For a time they were forbidden even tolearn the Mongol or other foreign languages. In this way they were to beprevented from gaining official positions and playing any politicalpart. Their ignorance of the languages of northern, central, and westernAsia also prevented them from engaging in commerce like the foreignmerchants, and every possible difficulty was put in the way of theirtravelling for commercial purposes. On the other hand, foreigners were, of course, able to learn Chinese, and so to gain a footing in Chineseinternal trade. Through legislation of this type the Mongols tried to build up and tosafeguard their domination over China. Yet their success did not last ahundred years. 3 _Military position_ In foreign affairs the Mongol epoch was for China something of abreathing space, for the great wars of the Mongols took place at aremote distance from China and without any Chinese participation. Only afew concluding wars were fought under Kublai in the Far East. The firstwas his war against Japan (1281): it ended in complete failure, thefleet being destroyed by a storm. In this campaign the Chinese furnishedships and also soldiers. The subjection of Japan would have been in theinterest of the Chinese, as it would have opened a market which had beenalmost closed against them in the Sung period. Mongol wars followed inthe south. In 1282 began the war against Burma; in 1284 Annam andCambodia were conquered; in 1292 a campaign was started against Java. Itproved impossible to hold Java, but almost the whole of Indo-China cameunder Mongol rule, to the satisfaction of the Chinese, for Indo-Chinahad already been one of the principal export markets in the Sung period. After that, however, there was virtually no more warfare, apart fromsmall campaigns against rebellious tribes. The Mongol soldiers now livedon their pay in their garrisons, with nothing to do. The old campaignersdied and were followed by their sons, brought up also as soldiers; butthese young Mongols were born in China, had seen nothing of war, andlearned of the soldiers' trade either nothing or very little; so thatafter about 1320 serious things happened. An army nominally 1, 000 strongwas sent against a group of barely fifty bandits and failed to defeatthem. Most of the 1, 000 soldiers no longer knew how to use theirweapons, and many did not even join the force. Such incidents occurredagain and again. 4 _Social situation_ The results, however, of conditions within the country were of much moreimportance than events abroad. The Mongols made Peking their capital aswas entirely natural, for Peking was near their homeland Mongolia. Theemperor and his entourage could return to Mongolia in the summer, whenChina became too hot or too humid for them; and from Peking they wereable to maintain contact with the rest of the Mongol empire. But as thecity had become the capital of a vast empire, an enormous staff ofofficials had to be housed there, consisting of persons of manydifferent nationalities. The emperor naturally wanted to have amagnificent capital, a city really worthy of so vast an empire. As themany wars had brought in vast booty, there was money for the building ofgreat palaces, of a size and magnificence never before seen in China. They were built by Chinese forced labour, and to this end men had to bebrought from all over the empire--poor peasants, whose fields went outof cultivation while they were held in bondage far away. If they everreturned home, they were destitute and had lost their land. The richgentry, on the other hand, were able to buy immunity from forced labour. The immense increase in the population of Peking (the huge court withits enormous expenditure, the mass of officials, the great merchantcommunity, largely foreigners, and the many servile labourers), necessitated vast supplies of food. Now, as mentioned in earlierchapters, since the time of the Later T'ang the region round Nanking hadbecome the main centre of production in China, and the Chinesepopulation had gone over more and more to the consumption of riceinstead of pulse or wheat. As rice could not be grown in the north, practically the whole of the food supplies for the capital had to bebrought from the south. The transport system taken over by the Mongolshad not been created for long-distance traffic of this sort. The capitalof the Sung had lain in the main centre of production. Consequently, agreat fleet had suddenly to be built, canals and rivers had to beregulated, and some new canals excavated. This again called for a vastquantity of forced labour, often brought from afar to the points atwhich it was needed. The Chinese peasants had suffered in the Sungperiod. They had been exploited by the large landowners. The Mongols hadnot removed these landowners, as the Chinese gentry had gone over totheir side. The Mongols had deprived them of their political power, buthad left them their estates, the basis of their power. In past changesof dynasty the gentry had either maintained their position or beenreplaced by a new gentry: the total number of their class had remainedvirtually unchanged. Now, however, in addition to the original gentrythere were about a million Mongols, for whose maintenance the peasantshad also to provide, and their standard of maintenance was high. Thiswas an enormous increase in the burdens of the peasantry. Two other elements further pressed on the peasants in the Mongolepoch--organized religion and the traders. The upper classes among theChinese had in general little interest in religion, but the Mongols, owing to their historical development, were very religious. Some of themand some of their allies were Buddhists, some were still shamanists. TheChinese Buddhists and the representatives of popular Taoism approachedthe Mongols and the foreign Buddhist monks trying to enlist the interestof the Mongols and their allies. The old shamanism was unable to competewith the higher religions, and the Mongols in China became Buddhist orinterested themselves in popular Taoism. They showed their interestespecially by the endowment of temples and monasteries. The temples weregiven great estates, and the peasants on those estates became templeservants. The land belonging to the temples was free from taxation. We have as yet no exact statistics of the Mongol epoch, onlyapproximations. These set the total area under cultivation at some sixmillion _ch'ing_ (a _ch'ing_ is the ideal size of the farm worked by apeasant family, but it was rarely held in practice); the populationamounted to fourteen or fifteen million families. Of this total tillagesome 170, 000 _ch'ing_ were allotted to the temples; that is to say, thefarms for some 400, 000 peasant families were taken from the peasants andno longer paid taxes to the state. The peasants, however, had to makepayments to the temples. Some 200, 000 _ch'ing_ with some 450, 000 peasantfamilies were turned into military settlements; that is to say, thesepeasants had to work for the needs of the army. Their taxes went not tothe state but to the army. Moreover, in the event of war they had torender service to the army. In addition to this, all higher officialsreceived official properties, the yield of which represented partpayment of their salaries. Then, Mongol nobles and dignitaries receivedconsiderable grants of land, which was taken away from the freepeasants; the peasants had then to work their farms as tenants and topay dues to their landlords, no longer to the state. Finally, especiallyin North China, many peasants were entirely dispossessed, and their landwas turned into pasturage for the Mongols' horses; the peasantsthemselves were put to forced labour. On top of this came theexploitation of the peasants by the great landowners of the past. Allthis meant an enormous diminution in the number of free peasants andthus of taxpayers. As the state was involved in more expenditure than inthe past owing to the large number of Mongols who were its virtualpensioners, the taxes had to be continually increased. Meanwhile themany peasants working as tenants of the great landlords, the temples, and the Mongol nobles were entirely at their mercy. In this period, asecond migration of farmers into the southern provinces, mainly Fukienand Kwangtung, took place; it had its main source in the lower Yangtzevalley. A few gentry families whose relatives had accompanied the Sungemperor on their flight to the south, also settled with their followersin the Canton basin. The many merchants from abroad, especially those belonging to thepeoples allied to the Mongols, also had in every respect a privilegedposition in China. They were free of taxation, free to travel all overthe country, and received privileged treatment in the use of means oftransport. They were thus able to accumulate great wealth, most of whichwent out of China to their own country. This produced a generalimpoverishment of China. Chinese merchants fell more and more intodependence on the foreign merchants; the only field of action reallyremaining to them was the local trade within China and the trade withIndo-China, where the Chinese had the advantage of knowing the language. The impoverishment of China began with the flow abroad of her metalliccurrency. To make up for this loss, the government was compelled toissue great quantities of paper money, which very quickly depreciated, because after a few years the government would no longer accept themoney at its face value, so that the population could place no faith init. The depreciation further impoverished the people. Thus we have in the Mongol epoch in China the imposing picture of acommerce made possible with every country from Europe to the Pacific;this, however, led to the impoverishment of China. We also see therising of mighty temples and monumental buildings, but this again onlycontributed to the denudation of the country. The Mongol epoch was thusone of continual and rapid impoverishment in China, simultaneously witha great display of magnificence. The enthusiastic descriptions of theMongol empire in China offered by travellers from the Near East or fromEurope, such as Marco Polo, give an entirely false picture: asforeigners they had a privileged position, living in the cities andseeing nothing of the situation of the general population. 5 _Popular risings: National rising_ It took time for the effects of all these factors to become evident. Thefirst popular rising came in 1325. Statistics of 1329 show that therewere then some 7, 600, 000 persons in the empire who were starving; asthis was only the figure of the officially admitted sufferers, thefigure may have been higher. In any case, seven-and-a-half millions werea substantial percentage of the total population, estimated at45, 000, 000. The risings that now came incessantly were led by men of thelower orders--a cloth-seller, a fisherman, a peasant, a salt smuggler, the son of a soldier serving a sentence, an office messenger, and so on. They never attacked the Mongols as aliens, but always the rich ingeneral, whether Chinese or foreign. Wherever they came, they killed allthe rich and distributed their money and possessions. As already mentioned, the Mongol garrisons were unable to cope withthese risings. But how was it that the Mongol rule did not collapseuntil some forty years later? The Mongols parried the risings by raisingloans from the rich and using the money to recruit volunteers to fightthe rebels. The state revenues would not have sufficed for thesepayments, and the item was not one that could be included in themilitary budget. What was of much more importance was that the gentrythemselves recruited volunteers and fought the rebels on their ownaccount, without the authority or the support of the government. Thus itwas the Chinese gentry, in their fear of being killed by the insurgents, who fought them and so bolstered up the Mongol rule. In 1351 the dykes along the Yellow River burst. The dykes had to bereconstructed and further measures of conservancy undertaken. To thisend the government impressed 170, 000 men. Following this action, greatnew revolts broke out. Everywhere in Honan, Kiangsu, and Shantung, theregions from which the labourers were summoned, revolutionary groupswere formed, some of them amounting to 100, 000 men. Some groups had areligious tinge; others declared their intention to restore the emperorsof the Sung dynasty. Before long great parts of central China werewrested from the hands of the government. The government recognized themenace to its existence, but resorted to contradictory measures. In 1352southern Chinese were permitted to take over certain official positions. In this way it was hoped to gain the full support of the gentry, who hada certain interest in combating the rebel movements. On the other hand, the government tightened up its nationality laws. All the oldsegregation laws were brought back into force, with the result that in afew years the aim of the rebels became no longer merely the expulsion ofthe rich but also the expulsion of the Mongols: a social movement thusbecame a national one. A second element contributed to the change in thecharacter of the popular rising. The rebels captured many towns. Some ofthese towns refused to fight and negotiated terms of submission. Inthese cases the rebels did not murder the whole of the gentry, but tooksome of them into their service. The gentry did not agree to this out ofsympathy with the rebels, but simply in order to save their own lives. Once they had taken the step, however, they could not go back; they hadno alternative but to remain on the side of the rebels. In 1352 Kuo Tzŭ-hsing rose in southern Honan. Kuo was the son of awandering soothsayer and a blind beggar-woman. He had success; his groupgained control of a considerable region round his home. There was nolonger any serious resistance from the Mongols, for at this time thewhole of eastern China was in full revolt. In 1353 Kuo was joined by aman named Chu Yüan-chang, the son of a small peasant, probably a tenantfarmer. Chu's parents and all his relatives had died from a plague, leaving him destitute. He had first entered a monastery and become amonk. This was a favourite resource--and has been almost to the presentday--for poor sons of peasants who were threatened with starvation. As amonk he had gone about begging, until in 1353 he returned to his homeand collected a group, mostly men from his own village, sons of peasantsand young fellows who had already been peasant leaders. Monks were oftenpeasant leaders. They were trusted because they promised divine aid, andbecause they were usually rather better educated than the rest of thepeasants. Chu at first also had contacts with a secret society, a branchof the White Lotos Society which several times in the course of Chinesehistory has been the nucleus of rebellious movements. Chu took his smallgroup which identified itself by a red turban and a red banner to Kuo, who received him gladly, entered into alliance with him, and in sign offriendship gave him his daughter in marriage. In 1355 Kuo died, and Chutook over his army, now many thousands strong. In his campaigns againsttowns in eastern China, Chu succeeded in winning over some capablemembers of the gentry. One was the chairman of a committee that yieldeda town to Chu; another was a scholar whose family had always beenopposed to the Mongols, and who had himself suffered injustice severaltimes in his official career, so that he was glad to join Chu out ofhatred of the Mongols. These men gained great influence over Chu, and persuaded him to give upattacking rich individuals, and instead to establish an assured controlover large parts of the country. He would then, they pointed out, bepermanently enriched, while otherwise he would only be in funds at themoment of the plundering of a town. They set before him strategic planswith that aim. Through their counsel Chu changed from the leader of apopular rising into a fighter against the dynasty. Of all the peasantleaders he was now the only one pursuing a definite aim. He marchedfirst against Nanking, the great city of central China, and captured itwith ease. He then crossed the Yangtze, and conquered the rich provincesof the south-east. He was a rebel who no longer slaughtered the rich orplundered the towns, and the whole of the gentry with all theirfollowers came over to him _en masse_. The armies of volunteers wentover to Chu, and the whole edifice of the dynasty collapsed. The years 1355-1368 were full of small battles. After his conquest ofthe whole of the south, Chu went north. In 1368 his generals capturedPeking almost without a blow. The Mongol ruler fled on horseback withhis immediate entourage into the north of China, and soon after intoMongolia. The Mongol dynasty had been brought down, almost withoutresistance. The Mongols in the isolated garrisons marched northwardwherever they could. A few surrendered to the Chinese and were used insouthern China as professional soldiers, though they were alwaysregarded with suspicion. The only serious resistance offered came fromthe regions in which other Chinese popular leaders had establishedthemselves, especially the remote provinces in the west and south-west, which had a different social structure and had been relatively littleaffected by the Mongol régime. Thus the collapse of the Mongols came for the following reasons: (1)They had not succeeded in maintaining their armed strength or that oftheir allies during the period of peace that followed Kublai's conquest. The Mongol soldiers had become effeminate through their life of idlenessin the towns. (2) The attempt to rule the empire through Mongols orother aliens, and to exclude the Chinese gentry entirely from theadministration, failed through insufficient knowledge of the sources ofrevenue and through the abuses due to the favoured treatment of aliens. The whole country, and especially the peasantry, was completelyimpoverished and so driven into revolt. (3) There was also apsychological reason. In the middle of the fourteenth century it wasobvious to the Mongols that their hold over China was growing more andmore precarious, and that there was little to be got out of theimpoverished country: they seem in consequence to have lost interest inthe troublesome task of maintaining their rule, preferring, in so far asthey had not already entirely degenerated, to return to their old homein the north. It is important to bear in mind these reasons for thecollapse of the Mongols, so that we may compare them later with thereasons for the collapse of the Manchus. No mention need be made here of the names of the Mongol rulers in Chinaafter Kublai. After his death in 1294, grandsons and great-grandsons ofhis followed each other in rapid succession on the throne; not one ofthem was of any personal significance. They had no influence on thegovernment of China. Their life was spent in intriguing against oneanother. There were seven Mongol emperors after Kublai. 6 _Cultural_ During the Mongol epoch a large number of the Chinese scholars withdrewfrom official life. They lived in retirement among their friends, anddevoted themselves mainly to the pursuit of the art of poetry, which hadbeen elaborated in the Later Sung epoch, without themselves arriving atany important innovations in form. Their poems were built upmeticulously on the rules laid down by the various schools; they wereroutine productions rather than the outcome of any true poeticinspiration. In the realm of prose the best achievements were the"miscellaneous notes" already mentioned, collections of learned essays. The foreigners who wrote in Chinese during this epoch are credited withno better achievements by the Chinese historians of literature. Chief ofthem were a statesman named Yeh-lü Ch'u-ts'ai, a Kitan in the service ofthe Mongols; and a Mongol named T'o-t'o (Tokto). The former accompaniedGenghiz Khan in his great campaign against Turkestan, and left a veryinteresting account of his journeys, together with many poems aboutSamarkand and Turkestan. His other works were mainly letters and poemsaddressed to friends. They differ in no way in style from the Chineseliterary works of the time, and are neither better nor worse than thoseworks. He shows strong traces of Taoist influence, as do othercontemporary writers. We know that Genghiz Khan was more or lessinclined to Taoism, and admitted a Taoist monk to his camp (1221-1224). This man's account of his travels has also been preserved, and with thenumerous European accounts of Central Asia written at this time it formsan important source. The Mongol Tokto was the head of an historicalcommission that issued the annals of the Sung dynasty, the Kitan, andthe Juchên dynasty. The annals of the Sung dynasty became the largest ofall the historical works, but they were fiercely attacked from the firstby Chinese critics on account of their style and their hastycomposition, and, together with the annals of the Mongol dynasty, theyare regarded as the worst of the annals preserved. Tokto himself is lessto blame for this than the circumstance that he was compelled to work ingreat haste, and had not time to put into order the overwhelming mass ofhis material. The greatest literary achievements, however, of the Mongol period belongbeyond question to the theatre (or, rather, opera). The emperors weregreat theatre-goers, and the wealthy private families were alsoenthusiasts, so that gradually people of education devoted themselves towriting librettos for the operas, where in the past this work had beenleft to others. Most of the authors of these librettos remained unknown:they used pseudonyms, partly because playwriting was not an occupationthat befitted a scholar, and partly because in these works theycriticized the conditions of their day. These works are divided inregard to style into two groups, those of the "southern" and the"northern" drama; these are distinguished from each other in musicalconstruction and in their intellectual attitude: in general the northernworks are more heroic and the southern more sentimental, though thereare exceptions. The most famous northern works of the Mongol epoch are_P'i-p'a-chi_ ("The Story of a Lute"), written about 1356, probably byKao Ming, and _Chao-shih ku-erh-chi_ ("The Story of the Orphan ofChao"), a work that enthralled Voltaire, who made a paraphrase of it;its author was the otherwise unknown Chi Chün-hsiang. One of the mostfamous of the southern dramas is _Hsi-hsiang-chi_ ("The Romance of theWestern Chamber"), by Wang Shih-fu and Kuan Han-ch'ing. Kuan lived underthe Juchên dynasty as a physician, and then among the Mongol. He is saidto have written fifty-eight dramas, many of which became famous. In the fine arts, foreign influence made itself felt during the Mongolepoch much more than in literature. This was due in part to the Mongolrulers' predilection for the Lamaism that was widespread in theirhomeland. Lamaism is a special form of Buddhism which developed inTibet, where remnants of the old national Tibetan cult (_Bon_) werefused with Buddhism into a distinctive religion. During the rise of theMongols this religion, which closely resembled the shamanism of theancient Mongols, spread in Mongolia, and through the Mongols it madegreat progress in China, where it had been insignificant until theirtime. Religious sculpture especially came entirely under Tibetaninfluence (particularly that of the sculptor Aniko, who came from Nepal, where he was born in 1244). This influence was noticeable in the Chinesesculptor Liu Yüan; after him it became stronger and stronger, lastinguntil the Manchu epoch. In architecture, too, Indian and Tibetan influence was felt in thisperiod. The Tibetan pagodas came into special prominence alongside thepreviously known form of pagoda, which has many storeys, growing smalleras they go upward; these towers originally contained relics of Buddhaand his disciples. The Tibetan pagoda has not this division intostoreys, and its lower part is much larger in circumference, and oftenround. To this day Peking is rich in pagodas in the Tibetan style. The Mongols also developed in China the art of carpet-knotting, which tothis day is found only in North China in the zone of northern influence. There were carpets before these, but they were mainly of felt. Theknotted carpets were produced in imperial workshops--only, of course, for the Mongols, who were used to carpets. A further developmentprobably also due to West Asian influence was that of cloisonnétechnique in China in this period. Painting, on the other hand, remained free from alien influence, withthe exception of the craft painting for the temples. The most famouspainters of the Mongol epoch were Chao Mêng-fu (also called ChaoChung-mu, 1254-1322), a relative of the deposed imperial family of theSung dynasty, and Ni Tsan (1301-1374). (B) The Ming Epoch (1368-1644) 1 _Start. National feeling_ It was necessary to give special attention to the reasons for thedownfall of Mongol rule in China, in order to make clear the cause andthe character of the Ming epoch that followed it. It is possible thatthe erroneous impression might be gained that the Mongol epoch in Chinawas entirely without merits, and that the Mongol rule over Chinadiffered entirely from the Mongol rule over other countries of Asia. Chinese historians have no good word to say of the Mongol epoch andavoid the subject as far as they can. It is true that the union of thenational Mongol culture with Chinese culture, as envisaged by the Mongolrulers, was not a sound conception, and consequently did not endure forlong. Nevertheless, the Mongol epoch in China left indelible traces, andwithout it China's further development would certainly have taken adifferent course. The many popular risings during the latter half of the period of Mongolrule in China were all of a purely economic and social character, and atfirst they were not directed at all against the Mongols asrepresentatives of an alien people. The rising under Chu Yüan-chang, which steadily gained impetus, was at first a purely social movement;indeed, it may fairly be called revolutionary. Chu was of the humblestorigin; he became a monk and a peasant leader at one and the same time. Only three times in Chinese history has a man of the peasantry becomeemperor and founder of a dynasty. The first of these three men foundedthe Han dynasty; the second founded the first of the so-called "FiveDynasties" in the tenth century; Chu was the third. Not until the Mongols had answered Chu's rising with a tightening of thenationality laws did the revolutionary movement become a nationalmovement, directed against the foreigners as such. And only when Chucame under the influence of the first people of the gentry who joinedhim, whether voluntarily or perforce, did what had been a revolutionarymovement become a struggle for the substitution of one dynasty foranother without interfering with the existing social system. Both thesepoints were of the utmost importance to the whole development of theMing epoch. The Mongols were driven out fairly quickly and without great difficulty. The Chinese drew from the ease of their success a sense of superiorityand a clear feeling of nationalism. This feeling should not beconfounded with the very old feeling of Chinese as a culturally superiorgroup according to which, at least in theory though rarely in practice, every person who assimilated Chinese cultural values and traits was a"Chinese". The roots of nationalism seem to lie in the Southern Sungperiod, growing up in the course of contacts with the Juchên andMongols; but the discriminatory laws of the Mongols greatly fosteredthis feeling. From now on, it was regarded a shame to serve a foreigneras official, even if he was a ruler of China. 2 _Wars against Mongols and Japanese_ It had been easy to drive the Mongols out of China, but they were neverreally beaten in their own country. On the contrary, they seem to haveregained strength after their withdrawal from China: they reorganizedthemselves and were soon capable of counter-thrusts, while Chineseoffensives had as a rule very little success, and at all events nodecisive success. In the course of time, however, the Chinese gained acertain influence over Turkestan, but it was never absolute, alwayschallenged. After the Mongol empire had fallen to pieces, small statescame into existence in Turkestan, for a long time with varying fortunes;the most important one during the Ming epoch was that of Hami, until in1473 it was occupied by the city-state of Turfan. At this time Chinaactively intervened in the policy of Turkestan in a number of combatswith the Mongols. As the situation changed from time to time, thesecity-states united more or less closely with China or fell away from heraltogether. In this period, however, Turkestan was of no military oreconomic importance to China. In the time of the Ming there also began in the east and south theplague of Japanese piracy. Japanese contacts with the coastal provincesof China (Kiangsu, Chêkiang and Fukien) had a very long history:pilgrims from Japan often went to these places in order to studyBuddhism in the famous monasteries of Central China; businessmen sold athigh prices Japanese swords and other Japanese products here and boughtChinese products; they also tried to get Chinese copper coins which hada higher value in Japan. Chinese merchants co-operated with Japanesemerchants and also with pirates in the guise of merchants. Some Chinesewho were or felt persecuted by the government, became piratesthemselves. This trade-piracy had started already at the end of the Sungdynasty, when Japanese navigation had become superior to Korean shippingwhich had in earlier times dominated the eastern seaboard. Theseconditions may even have been one of the reasons why the Mongols triedto subdue Japan. As early as 1387 the Chinese had to begin the buildingof fortifications along the eastern and southern coasts of the country. The Japanese attacks now often took the character of organized raids: asmall, fast-sailing flotilla would land in a bay, as far as possiblewithout attracting notice; the soldiers would march against the nearesttown, generally overcoming it, looting, and withdrawing. The defensivemeasures adopted from time to time during the Ming epoch were of littleavail, as it was impossible effectively to garrison the whole coast. Some of the coastal settlements were transferred inland, to prevent theChinese from co-operating with the Japanese, and to give the Japanese solong a march inland as to allow time for defensive measures. TheJapanese pirates prevented the creation of a Chinese navy in this periodby their continual threats to the coastal cities in which the shipyardslay. Not until much later, at a time of unrest in Japan in 1467, wasthere any peace from the Japanese pirates. The Japanese attacks were especially embarrassing for the Chinesegovernment for one other reason. Large armies had to be kept all alongChina's northern border, from Manchuria to Central Asia. Food suppliescould not be collected in north China which did not have enoughsurplusses. Canal transportation from Central China was not reliable, asthe canals did not always have enough water and were often clogged byhundreds of ships. And even if canals were used, grain still had to betransported by land from the end of the canals to the frontier. The Minggovernment therefore, had organized an overseas flotilla of grain shipswhich brought grain from Central China directly to the front inLiao-tung and Manchuria. And these ships, vitally important, were sooften attacked by the pirates, that this plan later had to be given upagain. These activities along the coast led the Chinese to the belief thatbasically all foreigners who came by ships were "barbarians"; whentowards the end of the Ming epoch the Japanese were replaced byEuropeans who did not behave much differently and were alsopirate-merchants, the nations of Western Europe, too, were regarded as"barbarians" and were looked upon with great suspicion. On the otherside, continental powers, even if they were enemies, had long beenregarded as "states", sometimes even as equals. Therefore, when at amuch later time the Chinese came into contact with Russians, theirattitude towards them was similar to that which they had taken towardsother Asian continental powers. 3 _Social legislation within the existing order_ At the time when Chu Yüan-chang conquered Peking, in 1368, becoming therecognized emperor of China (Ming dynasty), it seemed as though he wouldremain a revolutionary in spite of everything. His first laws weredirected against the rich. Many of the rich were compelled to migrate tothe capital, Nanking, thus losing their land and the power based on it. Land was redistributed among poor peasants; new land registers were alsocompiled, in order to prevent the rich from evading taxation. The numberof monks living in idleness was cut down and precisely determined; thepossessions of the temples were reduced, land exempted from taxationbeing thus made taxable--all this, incidentally, although Chu hadhimself been a monk! These laws might have paved the way to socialharmony and removed the worst of the poverty of the Mongol epoch. Butall this was frustrated in the very first years of Chu's reign. The lawswere only half carried into effect or not at all, especially in thehinterland of the present Shanghai. That region had been conquered byChu at the very beginning of the Ming epoch; in it lived the wealthylandowners who had already been paying the bulk of the taxes under theMongols. The emperor depended on this wealthy class for the financing ofhis great armies, and so could not be too hard on it. Chu Yüan-chang and his entourage were also unable to free themselvesfrom some of the ideas of the Mongol epoch. Neither Chu, nor anybodyelse before and long after him discussed the possibility of a form ofgovernment other than that of a monarchy. The first ever to discuss thisquestion, although very timidly, was Huang Tsung-hsi (1610-1695), at theend of the Ming dynasty. Chu's conception of an emperor was that of anabsolute monarch, master over life and death of his subjects; it wasformed by the Mongol emperors with their magnificence and the hugeexpenditure of their life in Peking; Chu was oblivious of the fact thatPeking had been the capital of a vast empire embracing almost the wholeof Asia, and expenses could well be higher than for a capital only ofChina. It did not occur to Chu and his supporters that they could havedone without imperial state and splendour; on the contrary, they feltcompelled to display it. At first Chu personally showed no excessivesigns of this tendency, though they emerged later; but he conferredgreat land grants on all his relatives, friends, and supporters; hewould give to a single person land sufficient for 20, 000 peasantfamilies; he ordered the payment of state pensions to members of theimperial family, just as the Mongols had done, and the total of thesepension payments was often higher than the revenue of the regioninvolved. For the capital alone over eight million _shih_ of grain hadto be provided in payment of pensions--that is to say, more than 160, 000tons! These pension payments were in themselves a heavy burden on thestate; not only that, but they formed a difficult transport problem! Wehave no close figure of the total population at the beginning of theMing epoch; about 1500 it is estimated to have been 53, 280, 000, and thispopulation had to provide some 266, 000, 000 _shih_ in taxes. At thebeginning of the Ming epoch the population and revenue must, however, have been smaller. The laws against the merchants and the restrictions under which thecraftsmen worked, remained essentially as they had been under the Sung, but now the remaining foreign merchants of Mongol time also fell underthese laws, and their influence quickly diminished. All craftsmen, atotal of some 300, 000 men with families, were still registered and hadto serve the government in the capital for three months once every threeyears; others had to serve ten days per month, if they lived close by. They were a hereditary caste as were the professional soldiers, and notallowed to change their occupation except by special imperialpermission. When a craftsman or soldier died, another family member hadto replace him; therefore, families of craftsmen were not allowed toseparate into small nuclear families, in which there might not always bea suitable male. Yet, in an empire as large as that of the Ming, thissystem did not work too well: craftsmen lost too much time in travellingand often succeeded in running away while travelling. Therefore, from1505 on, they had to pay a tax instead of working for the government, and from then on the craftsmen became relatively free. 4 _Colonization and agricultural developments_ As already mentioned, the Ming had to keep a large army along thenorthern frontiers. But they also had to keep armies in south China, especially in Yünnan. Here, the Mongol invasions of Burma and Thailandhad brought unrest among the tribes, especially the Shan. The Ming didnot hold Burma but kept it in a loose dependency as "tributary nation". In order to supply armies so far away from all agricultural surpluscentres, the Ming resorted to the old system of "military colonies"which seems to have been invented in the second century B. C. And isstill used even today (in Sinkiang). Soldiers were settled in campscalled _ying_, and therefore there are so many place names ending with_ying_ in the outlying areas of China. They worked as state farmers andaccumulated surplusses which were used in case of war in which thesesame farmers turned soldiers again. Many criminals were sent to thesestate farms, too. This system, especially in south China, transformedterritories formerly inhabited by native tribes or uninhabited, intosolidly Chinese areas. In addition to these military colonies, a steadystream of settlers from Central China and the coast continued to moveinto Kwangtung and Hunan provinces. They felt protected by the armyagainst attacks by natives. Yet Ming texts are full of reports on majorand minor clashes with the natives, from Kiangsi and Fukien to Kwangtungand Kwanghsi. But the production of military colonies was still not enough to feed thearmies, and the government in Chu's time resorted to a new design. Itpromised to give merchants who transported grain from Central China tothe borders, government salt certificates. Upon the receipt, themerchants could acquire a certain amount of salt and sell it with highprofits. Soon, these merchants began to invest some of their capital inlocal land which was naturally cheap. They then attracted farmers fromtheir home countries as tenants. The rent of the tenants, paid in formof grain, was then sold to the army, and the merchant's gainsincreased. Tenants could easily be found: the density of population inthe Yangtze plains had further increased since the Sung time. Thissystem of merchant colonization did not last long, because soon, inorder to curb the profits of the merchants, money was given instead ofsalt certificates, and the merchants lost interest in grain transports. Thus, grain prices along the frontiers rose and the effectiveness of thearmies was diminished. Although the history of Chinese agriculture is as yet only partiallyknown, a number of changes in this field, which began to show up fromSung time on, seem to have produced an "agricultural revolution" in Mingtime. We have already mentioned the Sung attempts to increase productionnear the big cities by deep-lying fields, cultivation on and in lakes. At the same time, there was an increase in cultivation of mountainslopes by terracing and by distributing water over the terraces inbalanced systems. New irrigation machines, especially the so-calledPersian wheel, were introduced in the Ming time. Perhaps the mostimportant innovation, however, was the introduction of rice fromIndo-China's kingdom Champa in 1012 into Fukien from where it soonspread. This rice had three advantages over ordinary Chinese rice: itwas drought-resistant and could, therefore, be planted in areas withpoor or even no irrigation. It had a great productivity, and it could besown very early in the year. At first it had the disadvantage that ithad a vegetation period of a hundred days. But soon, the Chinesedeveloped a quick-growing Champa rice, and the speediest varieties tookonly sixty days from transplantation into the fields to the harvest. This made it possible to grow two rice harvests instead of only one andmore than doubled the production. Rice varieties which grew again afterbeing cut and produced a second, but very much smaller harvest, disappeared from now on. Furthermore, fish were kept in the ricefieldsand produced not only food for the farmers but also fertilized thefields, so that continuous cultivation of ricefields without anydecrease in fertility became possible. Incidentally, fish control themalaria mosquitoes; although the Chinese did not know this fact, largeareas in South China which had formerly been avoided by Chinese becauseof malaria, gradually became inhabitable. The importance of alternating crops was also discovered and from now on, the old system of fallow cultivation was given up and continuouscultivation with, in some areas, even more than one harvest per fieldper year, was introduced even in wheat-growing areas. Considering thatunder the fallow system from one half to one third of all fieldsremained uncultivated each year, the increase in production under thenew system must have been tremendous. We believe that the populationrevolution which in China started about 1550, was the result of thisearlier agrarian revolution. From the eighteenth century on we getreports on depletion of fields due to wrong application of the newsystem. Another plant deeply affected Chinese agriculture: cotton. It is oftenforgotten that, from very early times, the Chinese in the south had usedkapok and similar fibres, and that the cocoons of different kinds ofworms had been used for silk. Real cotton probably came from Bengal overSouth-East Asia first to the coastal provinces of China and spreadquickly into Fukien and Kwangtung in Sung time. On the other side, cotton reached China through Central Asia, andalready in the thirteenth century we find it in Shensi in north-westernChina. Farmers in the north could in many places grow cotton in summerand wheat in winter, and cotton was a high-priced product. They ginnedthe cotton with iron rods; a mechanical cotton gin was introduced notuntil later. The raw cotton was sold to merchants who transported itinto the industrial centre of the time, the Yangtze valley, and whore-exported cotton cloth to the north. Raw cotton, loosened by thestring of the bow (a method which was known since Sung), could now inthe north also be used for quilts and padded winter garments. 5 _Commercial and industrial developments_ Intensivation and modernization of agriculture led to strong populationincreases especially in the Yangtze valley from Sung time on. Thus, inthis area commerce and industry also developed most quickly. Urbanization was greatest here. Nanking, the new Ming capital, grewtremendously because of the presence of the court and administration, and even when later the capital was moved, Nanking continued to remainthe cultural capital of China. The urban population needed textiles andfood. From Ming time on, fashions changed quickly as soon as governmentregulations which determined colour and material of the dress of eachsocial class were relaxed or as soon as they could be circumvented bybribery or ingenious devices. Now, only factories could produce theamounts which the consumers wanted. We hear of many men who started outwith one loom and later ended up with over forty looms, employing manyweavers. Shanghai began to emerge as a centre of cotton clothproduction. A system of middle-men developed who bought raw cotton andraw silk from the producers and sold it to factories. Consumption in the Yangtze cities raised the value of the land aroundthe cities. The small farmers who were squeezed out, migrated to thesouth. Absentee landlords in cities relied partly on migratory, seasonallabour supplied by small farmers from Chêkiang who came to the Yangtzearea after they had finished their own harvest. More and more, vegetables and mulberries or cotton were planted in the vicinity of thecities. As rice prices went up quickly a large organization of ricemerchants grew up. They ran large ships up to Hankow where they boughtrice which was brought down from Hunan in river boats by smallermerchants. The small merchants again made contracts with the localgentry who bought as much rice from the producers as they could and soldit to these grain merchants. Thus, local grain prices went up and wehear of cases where the local population attacked the grain boats inorder to prevent the depletion of local markets. Next to these grain merchants, the above-mentioned salt merchants haveto be mentioned again. Their centre soon became the city of Hsin-an, acity on the border of Chêkiang and Anhuei, or in more general terms, thecities in the district of Hui-chou. When the grain transportation to thefrontiers came to an end in early Ming time, the Hsin-an merchantsspecialized first in silver trade. Later in Ming time, they spread theiractivities all over China and often monopolized the salt, silver, rice, cotton, silk or tea businesses. In the sixteenth century they hadwell-established contacts with smugglers on the Fukien coast and broughtforeign goods into the interior. Their home was also close to the maincentres of porcelain production in Kiangsi which was exported tooverseas and to the urban centres. The demand for porcelain hadincreased so much that state factories could not fulfil it. The statefactories seem often to have suffered from a lack of labour: indentedartisans were imported from other provinces and later sent back on stateexpenses or were taken away from other state industries. Thus, privateporcelain factories began to develop, and in connection with quicklychanging fashions a great diversification of porcelain occurred. One other industry should also be mentioned. With the development ofprinting, which will be discussed below, the paper industry was greatlystimulated. The state also needed special types of paper for the papercurrency. Printing and book selling became a profitable business, andwith the application of block print to textiles (probably first used inSung time) another new field of commercial activity was opened. As already mentioned, silver in form of bars had been increasingly usedas currency in Sung time. The yearly government production of silver wasc. 10, 000 kg. Mongol currency was actually based upon silver. The Ming, however, reverted to copper as basic unit, in addition to the use ofpaper money. This encouraged the use of silver for speculative purposes. The development of business changed the face of cities. From Sung timeon, the division of cities into wards with gates which were closedduring the night, began to break down. Ming cities had no more wards. Business was no more restricted to official markets but grew up in allparts of the cities. The individual trades were no more necessarily allin one street. Shops did not have to close at sunset. The guildsdeveloped and in some cases were able to exercise locally some influenceupon the officials. 6 _Growth of the small gentry_ With the spread of book printing, all kinds of books became easilyaccessible, including reprints of examination papers. Even businessmenand farmers increasingly learned to read and to write, and many peoplenow could prepare themselves for the examinations. Attendance, however, at the examinations cost a good deal. The candidate had to travel to thelocal or provincial capital, and for the higher examinations to thecapital of the country; he had to live there for several months and, asa rule, had to bribe the examiners or at least to gain the favour ofinfluential people. There were many cases of candidates becomingdestitute. Most of them were heavily in debt when at last they gained aposition. They naturally set to work at once to pay their debts out oftheir salary, and to accumulate fresh capital to meet futureemergencies. The salaries of officials were, however, so small that itwas impossible to make ends meet; and at the same time every officialwas liable with his own capital for the receipt in full of the taxes forthe collection of which he was responsible. Consequently every officialbegan at once to collect more taxes than were really due, so as to beable to cover any deficits, and also to cover his own cost ofliving--including not only the repayment of his debts but theacquisition of capital or land so as to rise in the social scale. Theold gentry had been rich landowners, and had had no need to exploit thepeasants on such a scale. The Chinese empire was greater than it had been before the Mongol epoch, and the population was also greater, so that more officials were needed. Thus in the Ming epoch there began a certain democratization, largersections of the population having the opportunity of gaining governmentpositions; but this democratization brought no benefit to the generalpopulation but resulted in further exploitation of the peasants. The new "small gentry" did not consist of great families like theoriginal gentry. When, therefore, people of that class wanted to play apolitical part in the central government, or to gain a position there, they had either to get into close touch with one of the families of thegentry, or to try to approach the emperor directly. In the immediateentourage of the emperor, however, were the eunuchs. A good many membersof the new class had themselves castrated after they had passed theirstate examination. Originally eunuchs were forbidden to acquireeducation. But soon the Ming emperors used the eunuchs as a tool tocounteract the power of gentry cliques and thus to strengthen theirpersonal power. When, later, eunuchs controlled appointments togovernment posts, long established practices of bureaucraticadministration were eliminated and the court, i. E. The emperor and histools, the eunuchs, could create a rule by way of arbitrary decisions, adespotic rule. For such purposes, eunuchs had to have education, andthese new educated eunuchs, when they had once secured a position, wereable to gain great influence in the immediate entourage of the emperor;later such educated eunuchs were preferred, especially as many officeswere created which were only filled by eunuchs and for which educatedeunuchs were needed. Whole departments of eunuchs came into existence atcourt, and these were soon made use of for confidential business of theemperor's outside the palace. These eunuchs worked, of course, in the interest of their families. Onthe other hand, they were very ready to accept large bribes from thegentry for placing the desires of people of the gentry before theemperor and gaining his consent. Thus the eunuchs generally accumulatedgreat wealth, which they shared with their small gentry relatives. Therise of the small gentry class was therefore connected with theincreased influence of the eunuchs at court. 7 _Literature, art, crafts_ The growth of the small gentry which had its stronghold in theprovincial towns and cities, as well as the rise of the merchant classand the liberation of the artisans, are reflected in the new literatureof Ming time. While the Mongols had developed the theatre, the novel maybe regarded as the typical Ming creation. Its precursors were thestories of story-tellers centuries ago. They had developed many styles, one of which, for instance, consisted of prose with intercalated poeticparts (_pien-wen_). Buddhists monks had used these forms of popularliterature and spread their teachings in similar forms; due to them, many Indian stories and tales found their way into the Chinesefolklore. Soon, these stories of story-tellers or monks were writtendown, and out of them developed the Chinese classical novel. Itpreserved many traits of the stories: it was cut into chapterscorresponding with the interruptions which the story-teller made inorder to collect money; it was interspersed with poems. But most of all, it was written in everyday language, not in the language of the gentry. To this day every Chinese knows and reads with enthusiasm_Shui-hu-chuan_ ("The Story of the River Bank"), probably written about1550 by Wang Tao-k'un, in which the ruling class was first described inits decay. Against it are held up as ideals representatives of themiddle class in the guise of the gentleman brigand. Every Chinese alsoknows the great satirical novel _Hsi-yu-chi_ ("The Westward Journey"), by Feng Mêng-lung (1574-1645), in which ironical treatment is meted outto all religions and sects against a mythological background, with afreedom that would not have been possible earlier. The characters arenot presented as individuals but as representatives of human types: theintellectual, the hedonist, the pious man, and the simpleton, are drawnwith incomparable skill, with their merits and defects. A third famousnovel is _San-kuo yen-i_ ("The Tale of the Three Kingdoms"), by LoKuan-chung. Just as the European middle class read with avidity theromances of chivalry, so the comfortable class in China was enthusiasticover romanticized pictures of the struggle of the gentry in the thirdcentury. "The Tale of the Three Kingdoms" became the model for countlesshistorical novels of its own and subsequent periods. Later, mainly inthe sixteenth century, the sensational and erotic novel developed, mostof all in Nanking. It has deeply influenced Japanese writers, but wasmercilessly suppressed by the Chinese gentry which resented thefrivolity of this wealthy and luxurious urban class of middle or smallgentry families who associated with rich merchants, actors, artists andmusicians. Censorship of printed books had started almost with thebeginning of book printing as a private enterprise: to the famoushistorian, anti-Buddhist and conservative Ou-yang Hsiu (1007-1072), theenemy of Wang An-shih, belongs the sad glory of having developed thefirst censorship rules. Since Ming time, it became a permanent featureof Chinese governments. The best known of the erotic novels is the _Chin-p'ing-mei_ which, forreasons of our own censors can be published only in expurgatedtranslations. It was written probably towards the end of the sixteenthcentury. This novel, as all others, has been written and re-written bymany authors, so that many different versions exist. It might be pointedout that many novels were printed in Hui-chou, the commercial centre ofthe time. The short story which formerly served the entertainment of the educatedonly and which was, therefore, written in classical Chinese, now alsobecame a literary form appreciated by the middle classes. The collection_Chin-ku ch'i-kuan_ ("Strange Stories of New Times and Old"), compiledby Feng Meng-lung, is the best-known of these collections in vernacularChinese. Little original work was done in the Ming epoch in the fields generallyregarded as "literature" by educated Chinese, those of poetry and theessay. There are some admirable essays, but these are only isolatedexamples out of thousands. So also with poetry: the poets of the gentry, united in "clubs", chose the poets of the Sung epoch as their models toemulate. The Chinese drama made further progress in the Ming epoch. Many of thefinest Chinese dramas were written under the Ming; they are stillproduced again and again to this day. The most famous dramatists of theMing epoch are Wang Shih-chen (1526-1590) and T'ang Hsien-tsu(1556-1617). T'ang wrote the well-known drama _Mu-tan-t'ing_ ("The PeonyPavillion"), one of the finest love-stories of Chinese literature, fullof romance and remote from all reality. This is true also of the otherdramas by T'ang, especially his "Four Dreams", a series of four plays. In them a man lives in dream through many years of his future life, withthe result that he realizes the worthlessness of life and decides tobecome a monk. Together with the development of the drama (or, rather, the opera) inthe Ming epoch went an important endeavour in the modernization ofmusic, the attempt to create a "well-tempered scale" made in 1584 by ChuTsai-yü. This solved in China a problem which was not tackled till laterin Europe. The first Chinese theorists of music who occupied themselveswith this problem were Ching Fang (77-37 B. C. ) and Ho Ch'êng-t'ien (A. D. 370-447). In the Mongol epoch, most of the Chinese painters had lived in centralChina; this remained so in the Ming epoch. Of the many painters of theMing epoch, all held in high esteem in China, mention must be madeespecially of Ch'iu Ying (_c. _ 1525), T'ang Yin (1470-1523), and TungCh'i-ch'ang (1555-1636). Ch'iu Ying painted in the Academic Style, indicating every detail, however small, and showing preference for aturquoise-green ground. T'ang Yin was the painter of elegant women; Tungbecame famous especially as a calligraphist and a theoretician of theart of painting; a textbook of the art was written by him. Just as puppet plays and shadow theatre are the "opera of the commonman" and took a new development in Ming time, the wood-cut andblock-printing developed largely as a cheap substitute of realpaintings. The new urbanites wanted to have paintings of the masters andfound in the wood-cut which soon became a multi-colour print a cheapmass medium. Block printing in colours, developed in the Yangtze valley, was adopted by Japan and found its highest refinement there. But theMing are also famous for their monumental architecture which largelyfollowed Mongol patterns. Among the most famous examples is the famousGreat Wall which had been in dilapidation and was rebuilt; the greatcity walls of Peking; and large parts of the palaces of Peking, begun inthe Mongol epoch. It was at this time that the official style which wemay observe to this day in North China was developed, the style employedeverywhere, until in the age of concrete it lost its justification. In the Ming epoch the porcelain with blue decoration on a white groundbecame general; the first examples, from the famous kilns inChing-te-chen, in the province of Kiangsi, were relatively coarse, butin the fifteenth century the production was much finer. In the sixteenthcentury the quality deteriorated, owing to the disuse of the cobalt fromthe Middle East (perhaps from Persia) in favour of Sumatra cobalt, whichdid not yield the same brilliant colour. In the Ming epoch there alsoappeared the first brilliant red colour, a product of iron, and a startwas then made with three-colour porcelain (with lead glaze) orfive-colour (enamel). The many porcelains exported to western Asia andEurope first influenced European ceramics (Delft), and then wereimitated in Europe (Böttger); the early European porcelains long showedChinese influence (the so-called onion pattern, blue on a white ground). In addition to the porcelain of the Ming epoch, of which the finestspecimens are in the palace at Istanbul, especially famous are thelacquers (carved lacquer, lacquer painting, gold lacquer) of the Mingepoch and the cloisonné work of the same period. These are closelyassociated with the contemporary work in Japan. 8 _Politics at court_ After the founding of the dynasty by Chu Yüan-chang, important questionshad to be dealt with apart from the social legislation. What was to bedone, for instance, with Chu's helpers? Chu, like many revolutionariesbefore and after him, recognized that these people had been serviceablein the years of struggle but could no longer remain useful. He got ridof them by the simple device of setting one against another so that theymurdered one another. In the first decades of his rule the dangerouscliques of gentry had formed again, and were engaged in mutualstruggles. The most formidable clique was led by Hu Wei-yung. Hu was aman of the gentry of Chu's old homeland, and one of his oldestsupporters. Hu and his relations controlled the country after 1370, until in 1380 Chu succeeded in beheading Hu and exterminating hisclique. New cliques formed before long and were exterminated in turn. Chu had founded Nanking in the years of revolution, and he made it hiscapital. In so doing he met the wishes of the rich grain producers ofthe Yangtze delta. But the north was the most threatened part of hisempire, so that troops had to be permanently stationed there inconsiderable strength. Thus Peking, where Chu placed one of his sons as"king", was a post of exceptional importance. In Chu Yüan-chang's last years (he was named T'ai Tsu as emperor)difficulties arose in regard to the dynasty. The heir to the throne diedin 1391; and when the emperor himself died in 1398, the son of the lateheir-apparent was installed as emperor (Hui Ti, 1399-1402). This choicehad the support of some of the influential Confucian gentry families ofthe south. But a protest against his enthronement came from the otherson of Chu Yüan-chang, who as king in Peking had hoped to becomeemperor. With his strong army this prince, Ch'eng Tsu, marched south andcaptured Nanking, where the palaces were burnt down. There was a greatmassacre of supporters of the young emperor, and the victor made himselfemperor (better known under his reign name, Yung-lo). As he hadestablished himself in Peking, he transferred the capital to Peking, where it remained throughout the Ming epoch. Nanking became a sort ofsubsidiary capital. This transfer of the capital to the north, as the result of the victoryof the military party and Buddhists allied to them, produced a newelement of instability: the north was of military importance, but theYangtze region remained the economic centre of the country. Theinterests of the gentry of the Yangtze region were injured by thetransfer. The first Ming emperor had taken care to make his courtresemble the court of the Mongol rulers, but on the whole had exercisedrelative economy. Yung-lo (1403-1424), however, lived in the actualpalaces of the Mongol rulers, and all the luxury of the Mongol epoch wasrevived. This made the reign of Yung-lo the most magnificent period ofthe Ming epoch, but beneath the surface decay had begun. Typical of theunmitigated absolutism which developed now, was the word of one of theemperor's political and military advisors, significantly a Buddhistmonk: "I know the way of heaven. Why discuss the hearts of the people?" 9 _Navy. Southward expansion_ After the collapse of Mongol rule in Indo-China, partly through thesimple withdrawal of the Mongols, and partly through attacks fromvarious Chinese generals, there were independence movements insouth-west China and Indo-China. In 1393 wars broke out in Annam. Yung-lo considered that the time had come to annex these regions toChina and so to open a new field for Chinese trade, which was sufferingcontinual disturbance from the Japanese. He sent armies to Yünnan andIndo-China; at the same time he had a fleet built by one of his eunuchs, Cheng Ho. The fleet was successfully protected from attack by theJapanese. Cheng Ho, who had promoted the plan and also carried it out, began in 1405 his famous mission to Indo-China, which had been envisagedas giving at least moral support to the land operations, but was alsointended to renew trade connections with Indo-China, where they had beeninterrupted by the collapse of Mongol rule. Cheng Ho sailed pastIndo-China and ultimately reached the coast of Arabia. His account ofhis voyage is an important source of information about conditions insouthern Asia early in the fifteenth century. Cheng Ho and his fleetmade some further cruises, but they were discontinued. There may havebeen several reasons. (1) As state enterprises, the expeditions werevery costly. Foreign goods could be obtained more cheaply and with lesstrouble if foreign merchants came themselves to China or Chinesemerchants travelled at their own risk. (2) The moral success of thenaval enterprises was assured. China was recognized as a powerthroughout southern Asia, and Annam had been reconquered. (3) After thecollapse of the Mongol emperor Timur, who died in 1406, there no longerexisted any great power in Central Asia, so that trade missions from thekingdom of the Shahruk in North Persia were able to make their way toChina, including the famous mission of 1409-1411. (4) Finally, the fleetwould have had to be permanently guarded against the Japanese, as it hadbeen stationed not in South China but in the Yangtze region. As early as1411 the canals had been repaired, and from 1415 onward all the trafficof the country went by the canals, so evading the Japanese peril. Thisended the short chapter of Chinese naval history. These travels of Cheng Ho seem to have had one more cultural result: alarge number of fairy-tales from the Middle East were brought to China, or at all events reached China at that time. The Chinese, being arealistically-minded people, have produced few fairy-tales of their own. The bulk of their finest fairy-tales were brought by Buddhist monks, inthe course of the first millennium A. D. , from India by way of CentralAsia. The Buddhists made use of them to render their sermons moreinteresting and impressive. As time went on, these stories spread allover China, modified in harmony with the spirit of the people andadapted to the Chinese environment. Only the fables failed to strikeroot in China: the matter-of-fact Chinese was not interested in animalsthat talked and behaved to each other like human beings. In addition, however, to these early fairy-tales, there was another group of storiesthat did not spread throughout China, but were found only in thesouth-eastern coastal provinces. These came from the Middle East, especially from Persia. The fairy-tales of Indian origin spread not onlyto Central Asia but at the same time to Persia, where they found a verycongenial soil. The Persians made radical changes in the stories andgave them the form in which they came to Europe by variousroutes--through North Africa to Spain and France; throughConstantinople, Venice, or Genoa to France; through Russian Turkestan toRussia, Finland, and Sweden; through Turkey and the Balkans to Hungaryand Germany. Thus the stories found a European home. And this samePersian form was carried by sea in Cheng Ho's time to South China. Thuswe have the strange experience of finding some of our own finestfairy-tales in almost the same form in South China. 10 _Struggles between cliques_ Yung-lo's successor died early. Under the latter's son, the emperorHsüan Tsung (1426-1435; reign name Hsüan-tê), fixed numbers ofcandidates were assigned for the state examinations. It had been foundthat almost the whole of the gentry in the Yangtze region sat at theexaminations; and that at these examinations their representatives madesure, through their mutual relations, that only their members shouldpass, so that the candidates from the north were virtually excluded. Theimportant military clique in the north protested against this, and acompromise was arrived at: at every examination one-third of thecandidates must come from the north and two-thirds from the south. Thissystem lasted for a long time, and led to many disputes. At his death Hsüan Tsung left the empire to his eight-year-old son YingTsung (1436-49 and 1459-64), who was entirely in the hands of the Yangclique, which was associated with his grandmother. Soon, however, another clique, led by the eunuch Wang Chen, gained the upper hand atcourt. The Mongols were very active at this time, and made several raidson the province of Shansi; Wang Chen proposed a great campaign againstthem, and in this campaign he took with him the young emperor, who hadreached his twenty-first birthday in 1449. The emperor had grown up inthe palace and knew nothing of the world outside; he was therefore gladto go with Wang Chen; but that eunuch had also lived in the palace andalso knew nothing of the world, and in particular of war. Consequentlyhe failed in the organization of reinforcements for his army, some100, 000 strong; after a few brief engagements the Oirat-Mongol princeEsen had the imperial army surrounded and the emperor a prisoner. Theeunuch Wang Chen came to his end, and his clique, of course, no longercounted. The Mongols had no intention of killing the emperor; theyproposed to hold him to ransom, at a high price. The various cliques atcourt cared little, however, about their ruler. After the fall of theWang clique there were two others, of which one, that of General Yü, became particularly powerful, as he had been able to repel a Mongolattack on Peking. Yü proclaimed a new emperor--not the captive emperor'sson, a baby, but his brother, who became the emperor Ching Tsung. TheYang clique insisted on the rights of the imperial baby. From all thisthe Mongols saw that the Chinese were not inclined to spend a lot ofmoney on their imperial captive. Accordingly they made an enormousreduction in the ransom demanded, and more or less forced the Chinese totake back their former emperor. The Mongols hoped that this would atleast produce political disturbances by which they might profit, oncethe old emperor was back in Peking. And this did soon happen. At firstthe ransomed emperor was pushed out of sight into a palace, and ChingTsung continued to reign. But in 1456 Ching Tsung fell ill, and asuccessor to him had to be chosen. The Yü clique wanted to have the sonof Ching Tsung; the Yang clique wanted the son of the deposed emperorYing Tsung. No agreement was reached, so that in the end a third clique, led by the soldier Shih Heng, who had helped to defend Peking againstthe Mongols, found its opportunity, and by a _coup d' état_ reinstatedthe deposed emperor Ying Tsung. This was not done out of love for the emperor, but because Shih Henghoped that under the rule of the completely incompetent Ying Tsung hecould best carry out a plan of his own, to set up his own dynasty. It isnot so easy, however, to carry a conspiracy to success when there areseveral rival parties, each of which is ready to betray any of theothers. Shih Heng's plan became known before long, and he himself wasbeheaded (1460). The next forty years were filled with struggles between cliques, whichsteadily grew in ferocity, particularly since a special office, a sortof secret police headquarters, was set up in the palace, with functionswhich it extended beyond the palace, with the result that many peoplewere arrested and disappeared. This office was set up by the eunuchs andthe clique at their back, and was the first dictatorial organ created inthe course of a development towards despotism that made steady progressin these years. In 1505 Wu Tsung came to the throne, an inexperienced youth of fifteenwho was entirely controlled by the eunuchs who had brought him up. Theleader of the eunuchs was Liu Chin, who had the support of a group ofpeople of the gentry and the middle class. Liu Chin succeeded within ayear in getting rid of the eunuchs at court who belonged to othercliques and were working against him. After that he proceeded toestablish his power. He secured in entirely official form the emperor'spermission for him to issue all commands himself; the emperor devotedhimself only to his pleasures, and care was taken that they should keephim sufficiently occupied to have no chance to notice what was going onin the country. The first important decree issued by Liu Chin resultedin the removal from office or the punishment or murder of over threehundred prominent persons, the leaders of the cliques opposed to him. Hefilled their posts with his own supporters, until all the higher postsin every department were in the hands of members of his group. Hecollected large sums of money which he quite openly extracted from theprovinces as a special tax for his own benefit. When later his house wassearched there were found 240, 000 bars and 57, 800 pieces of gold (a barwas equivalent of ten pieces), 791, 800 ounces and 5, 000, 000 bars ofsilver (a bar was five ounces), three bushels of precious stones, twogold cuirasses, 3, 000 gold rings, and much else--of a total valueexceeding the annual budget of the state! The treasure was to have beenused to finance a revolt planned by Liu Chin and his supporters. Among the people whom Liu Chin had punished were several members of theformer clique of the Yang, and also the philosopher Wang Yang-ming, wholater became so famous, a member of the Wang family which was allied tothe Yang. In 1510 the Yang won over one of the eunuchs in the palace andso became acquainted with Liu Chin's plans. When a revolt broke out inwestern China, this eunuch (whose political allegiance was, of course, unknown to Liu Chin) secured appointment as army commander. With thearmy intended for the crushing of the revolt, Liu Chin's palace wasattacked when he was asleep, and he and all his supporters werearrested. Thus the other group came into power in the palace, includingthe philosopher Wang Yang-ming (1473-1529). Liu Chin's rule had donegreat harm to the country, as enormous taxation had been expended forthe private benefit of his clique. On top of this had been the youngemperor's extravagance: his latest pleasures had been the building ofpalaces and the carrying out of military games; he constantly assumednew military titles and was burning to go to war. 11 _Risings_ The emperor might have had a good opportunity for fighting, for hismisrule had resulted in a great popular rising which began in the west, in Szechwan, and then spread to the east. As always, the rising wasjoined by some ruined scholars, and the movement, which had at firstbeen directed against the gentry as such, was turned into a movementagainst the government of the moment. No longer were all the wealthy andall officials murdered, but only those who did not join the movement. In1512 the rebels were finally overcome, not so much by any militarycapacity of the government armies as through the loss of the rebels'fleet of boats in a typhoon. In 1517 a new favourite of the emperor's induced him to make a greattour in the north, to which the favourite belonged. The tour and thehunting greatly pleased the emperor, so that he continued hisjourneying. This was the year in which the Portuguese Fernão Pires deAndrade landed in Canton--the first modern European to enter China. In 1518 Wang Yang-ming, the philosopher general, crushed a rising inKiangsi. The rising had been the outcome of years of unrest, which hadhad two causes: native risings of the sort we described above, and lossfor the gentry due to the transfer of the capital. The province ofKiangsi was a part of the Yangtze region, and the great landowners therehad lived on the profit from their supplies to Nanking. When the capitalwas moved to Peking, their takings fell. They placed themselves under aprince who lived in Nanking. This prince regarded Wang Yang-ming's moveinto Kiangsi as a threat to him, and so rose openly against thegovernment and supported the Kiangsi gentry. Wang Yang-ming defeatedhim, and so came into the highest favour with the incompetent emperor. When peace had been restored in Nanking, the emperor dressed himself upas an army commander, marched south, and made a triumphal entry intoNanking. One other aspect of Wang Yang-ming's expeditions has not yet beenstudied: he crushed also the so-called salt-merchant rebels in thesouthernmost part of Kiangsi and adjoining Kwangtung. Thesemerchants-turned-rebels had dominated a small area, off and on sincethe eleventh century. At this moment, they seem to have had connectionswith the rich inland merchants of Hsin-an and perhaps also withforeigners. Information is still too scanty to give more details, but alocal movement as persistent as this one deserves attention. Wang Yang-ming became acquainted as early as 1519 with the firstEuropean rifles, imported by the Portuguese who had landed in 1517. (TheChinese then called them Fu-lang-chi, meaning Franks. Wang was the firstChinese who spoke of the "Franks". ) The Chinese had already had mortarswhich hurled stones, as early as the second century A. D. In the seventhor eighth century their mortars had sent stones of a couple ofhundredweights some four hundred yards. There is mention in the eleventhcentury of cannon which apparently shot with a charge of a sort ofgunpowder. The Mongols were already using true cannon in their sieges. In 1519, the first Portuguese were presented to the Chinese emperor inNanking, where they were entertained for about a year in a hostel, acertain Lin Hsün learned about their rifles and copied them for WangYang-ming. In general, however, the Chinese had no respect for theEuropeans, whom they described as "bandits" who had expelled the lawfulking of Malacca and had now come to China as its representatives. Laterthey were regarded as a sort of Japanese, because they, too, practisedpiracy. 12 _Machiavellism_ All main schools of Chinese philosophy were still based on Confucius. Wang Yang-ming's philosophy also followed Confucius, but he liberatedhimself from the Neo-Confucian tendency as represented by Chu Hsi, whichstarted in the Sung epoch and continued to rule in China in his time andafter him; he introduced into Confucian philosophy the conception of"intuition". He regarded intuition as the decisive philosophicexperience; only through intuition could man come to true knowledge. This idea shows an element of meditative Buddhism along lines which thephilosopher Lu Hsiang-shan (1139-1192) had first developed, whileclassical Neo-Confucianism was more an integration of monastic Buddhisminto Confucianism. Lu had felt himself close to Wang An-shih(1021-1086), and this whole school, representing the small gentry of theYangtze area, was called the Southern or the Lin-ch'uan school, Lin-ch'uan in Kiangsi being Wang An-shih's home. During the Mongolperiod, a Taoist group, the _Cheng-i-chiao_ (Correct Unity Sect) haddeveloped in Lin-ch'uan and had accepted some of the Lin-ch'uanschool's ideas. Originally, this group was a continuation of ChangLing's church Taosim. Through the _Cheng-i_ adherents, the Southernschool had gained political influence on the despotic Mongol rulers. Thedespotic Yung-lo emperor had favoured the monk Tao-yen (_c_. 1338-1418)who had also Taoist training and proposed a philosophy which alsostressed intuition. He was, incidentally, in charge of the compilationof the largest encyclopaedia ever written, the _Yung-lo ta-tien_, commissioned by the Yung-lo emperor. Wang Yang-ming followed the Lin-ch'uan tradition. The introduction ofthe conception of intuition, a highly subjective conception, into thesystem of a practical state philosophy like Confucianism could not butlead in the practice of the statesman to machiavellism. The statesmanwho followed the teaching of Wang Yang-ming had the opportunity ofjustifying whatever he did by his intuition. Wang Yang-ming failed to gain acceptance for his philosophy. Hisdisciples also failed to establish his doctrine in China, because itserved the interests of an individual despot against those of the gentryas a class, and the middle class, which might have formed acounterweight against them, was not yet politically ripe for the seizureof the opportunity here offered to it. In Japan, however, Wang'sdoctrine gained many followers, because it admirably served thedictatorial state system which had developed in that country. Incidentally, Chiang Kai-shek in those years in which he showed Fascisttendencies, also got interested in Wang Yang-ming. 13 _Foreign relations in the sixteenth century_ The feeble emperor Wu Tsung died in 1521, after an ineffective reign, without leaving an heir. The clique then in power at court looked amongthe possible pretenders for the one who seemed least likely to doanything, and their choice fell on the fifteen-year-old Shih Tsung, whowas made emperor. The forty-five years of his reign were filled in homeaffairs with intrigues between the cliques at court, with growingdistress in the country, and with revolts on a larger and larger scale. Abroad there were wars with Annam, increasing raids by the Japanese, and, above all, long-continued fighting against the famous Mongol rulerYen-ta, from 1549 onward. At one time Yen-ta reached Peking and laidsiege to it. The emperor, who had no knowledge of affairs, and to whomYen-ta had been represented as a petty bandit, was utterly dismayed andready to do whatever Yen-ta asked; in the end he was dissuaded fromthis, and an agreement was arrived at with Yen-ta for state-controlledmarkets to be set up along the frontier, where the Mongols coulddispose of their goods against Chinese goods on very favourable terms. After further difficulties lasting many years, a compromise was arrivedat: the Mongols were earning good profits from the markets, and in 1571Yen-ta accepted a Chinese title. On the Chinese side, this Mongol trade, which continued in rather different form in the Manchu epoch, led to theformation of a local merchant class in the frontier province of Shansi, with great experience in credit business; later the first Chinesebankers came almost entirely from this quarter. After a brief interregnum there came once more to the throne aten-year-old boy, the emperor Shen Tsung (reign name Wan-li; 1573-1619). He, too, was entirely under the influence of various cliques, at firstthat of his tutor, the scholar Chang Chü-chan. About the time of thedeath, in 1582, of Yen-ta we hear for the first time of a new people. In1581 there had been unrest in southern Manchuria. The Mongolian tribalfederation of the Tümet attacked China, and there resulted collisionsnot only with the Chinese but between the different tribes living there. In southern and central Manchuria were remnants of the Tungus Juchên. The Mongols had subjugated the Juchên, but the latter had virtuallybecome independent after the collapse of Mongol rule over China. Theyhad formed several tribal alliances, but in 1581-83 these fought eachother, so that one of the alliances to all intents was destroyed. TheChinese intervened as mediators in these struggles, and drew ademarcation line between the territories of the various Tungus tribes. All this is only worth mention because it was from these tribes thatthere developed the tribal league of the Manchus, who were then to ruleChina for some three hundred years. In 1592 the Japanese invaded Korea. This was their first real effort toset foot on the continent, a purely imperialistic move. Korea, as aChinese vassal, appealed for Chinese aid. At first the Chinese army hadno success, but in 1598 the Japanese were forced to abandon Korea. Theyrevenged themselves by intensifying their raids on the coast of centralChina; they often massacred whole towns, and burned down the lootedhouses. The fighting in Korea had its influence on the Tungus tribes: asthey were not directly involved, it contributed to their furtherstrengthening. The East India Company was founded in 1600. At this time, while theEnglish were trying to establish themselves in India, the Chinese triedto gain increased influence in the south by wars in Annam, Burma, andThailand (1594-1604). These wars were for China colonial wars, similarto the colonial fighting by the British in India. But there began to bedefined already at that time in the south of Asia the outlines of thestates as they exist at the present time. In 1601 the first European, the Jesuit Matteo Ricci, succeeded ingaining access to the Chinese court, through the agency of a eunuch. Hemade some presents, and the Chinese regarded his visit as a mission fromEurope bringing tribute. Ricci was therefore permitted to remain inPeking. He was an astronomer and was able to demonstrate to his Chinesecolleagues the latest achievements of European astronomy. In 1613, afterRicci's death, the Jesuits and some Chinese whom they had converted werecommissioned to reform the Chinese calendar. In the time of the Mongols, Arabs had been at work in Peking as astronomers, and their influence hadcontinued under the Ming until the Europeans came. By his astronomicallabours Ricci won a place of honour in Chinese literature; he is theEuropean most often mentioned. The missionary work was less effective. The missionaries penetrated bythe old trade routes from Canton and Macao into the province of Kiangsiand then into Nanking. Kiangsi and Nanking were their chief centres. They soon realized that missionary activity that began in the lowerstrata would have no success; it was necessary to work from above, beginning with the emperor, and then, they hoped, the whole countrycould be converted to Christianity. When later the emperors of the Mingdynasty were expelled and fugitives in South China, one of thepretenders to the throne was actually converted--but it was politicallytoo late. The missionaries had, moreover, mistaken ideas as to thenature of Chinese religion; we know today that a universal adoption ofChristianity in China would have been impossible even if an emperor hadpersonally adopted that foreign faith: there were emperors who had beeninterested in Buddhism or in Taoism, but that had been their privateaffair and had never prevented them, as heads of the state, frompromoting the religious system which politically was the mostexpedient--that is to say, usually Confucianism. What we have said herein regard to the Christian mission at the Ming court is applicable alsoto the missionaries at the court of the first Manchu emperors, in theseventeenth century. Early in the eighteenth century missionary activitywas prohibited--not for religious but for political reasons, and onlyunder the pressure of the Capitulations in the nineteenth century werethe missionaries enabled to resume their labours. 14 _External and internal perils_ Towards the end of the reign of Wan-li, about 1620, the danger thatthreatened the empire became more and more evident. The Manchuscomplained, no doubt with justice, of excesses on the part of Chineseofficials; the friction constantly increased, and the Manchus began toattack the Chinese cities in Manchuria. In 1616, after his firstconsiderable successes, their leader Nurhachu assumed the imperialtitle; the name of the dynasty was Tai Ch'ing (interpreted as "The greatclarity", but probably a transliteration of a Manchurian word meaning"hero"). In 1618, the year in which the Thirty Years War started inEurope, the Manchus conquered the greater part of Manchuria, and in 1621their capital was Liaoyang, then the largest town in Manchuria. But the Manchu menace was far from being the only one. On the south-eastcoast a pirate made himself independent; later, with his family, hedominated Formosa and fought many battles with the Europeans there(European sources call him Coxinga). In western China there came a greatpopular rising, in which some of the natives joined, and which spreadthrough a large part of the southern provinces. This rising wasparticularly sanguinary, and when it was ultimately crushed by theManchus the province of Szechwan, formerly so populous, was almostdepopulated, so that it had later to be resettled. And in the provinceof Shantung in the east there came another great rising, also verysanguinary, that of the secret society of the "White Lotus". We havealready pointed out that these risings of secret societies were always asign of intolerable conditions among the peasantry. This was now thecase once more. All the elements of danger which we mentioned at theoutset of this chapter began during this period, between 1610 and 1640, to develop to the full. Then there were the conditions in the capital itself. The strugglesbetween cliques came to a climax. On the death of Shen Tsung (or Wan-li;1573-1619), he was succeeded by his son, who died scarcely a monthlater, and then by his sixteen-year-old grandson. The grandson had beenfrom his earliest youth under the influence of a eunuch, WeiChung-hsien, who had castrated himself. With the emperor's wet-nurse andother people, mostly of the middle class, this man formed a powerfulgroup. The moment the new emperor ascended the throne, Wei wasall-powerful. He began by murdering every eunuch who did not belong tohis clique, and then murdered the rest of his opponents. Meanwhile thegentry had concluded among themselves a defensive alliance that was asort of party; this party was called the Tung-lin Academy. It wasconfined to literati among the gentry, and included in particular theliterati who had failed to make their way at court, and who lived ontheir estates in Central China and were trying to gain power themselves. This group was opposed to Wei Chung-hsien, who ruthlessly had everydiscoverable member murdered. The remainder went into hiding andorganized themselves secretly under another name. As the new emperor hadno son, the attempt was made to foist a son upon him; at his death in1627, eight women of the harem were suddenly found to be pregnant! Hewas succeeded by his brother, who was one of the opponents of WeiChung-hsien and, with the aid of the opposing clique, was able to bringhim to his end. The new emperor tried to restore order at court and inthe capital by means of political and economic decrees, but in spite ofhis good intentions and his unquestionable capacity he was unable tocope with the universal confusion. There was insurrection in every partof the country. The gentry, organized in their "Academies", and secretlyat work in the provinces, no longer supported the government; thecentral power no longer had adequate revenues, so that it was unable topay the armies that should have marched against all the rebels and alsoagainst external enemies. It was clear that the dynasty was approachingits end, and the only uncertainty was as to its successor. The variousinsurgents negotiated or fought with each other; generals loyal to thegovernment won occasional successes against the rebels; other generalswent over to the rebels or to the Manchus. The two most successfulleaders of bands were Li Tzŭ-ch'eng and Chang Hsien-chung. Li came fromthe province of Shensi; he had come to the fore during a disastrousfamine in his country. The years around 1640 brought several widespreaddroughts in North China, a natural phenomenon that was repeated in thenineteenth century, when unrest again ensued. Chang Hsien-chung returnedfor a time to the support of the government, but later establishedhimself in western China. It was typical, however, of all theseinsurgents that none of them had any great objective in view. Theywanted to get enough to eat for themselves and their followers; theywanted to enrich themselves by conquest; but they were incapable ofbuilding up an ordered and new administration. Li ultimately madehimself "king" in the province of Shensi and called his dynasty "Shun", but this made no difference: there was no distribution of land among thepeasants serving in Li's army; no plan was set into operation for thecollection of taxes; not one of the pressing problems was faced. Meanwhile the Manchus were gaining support. Almost all the Mongolprinces voluntarily joined them and took part in the raids into NorthChina. In 1637 the united Manchus and Mongols conquered Korea. Theirpower steadily grew. What the insurgents in China failed to achieve, theManchus achieved with the aid of their Chinese advisers: they created anew military organization, the "Banner Organization". The men fit forservice were distributed among eight "banners", and these banners becamethe basis of the Manchu state administration. By this device theManchus emerged from the stage of tribal union, just as before themTurks and other northern peoples had several times abandoned thetraditional authority of a hierarchy of tribal leaders, a system ofruling families, in favour of the authority, based on efficiency, ofmilitary leaders. At the same time the Manchus set up a centralgovernment with special ministries on the Chinese model. In 1638 theManchus appeared before Peking, but they retired once more. Manchuarmies even reached the province of Shantung. They were hampered by thedeath at the critical moment of the Manchu ruler Abahai (1626-1643). Hisson Fu Lin was not entirely normal and was barely six years old; therewas a regency of princes, the most prominent among them being PrinceDorgon. Meanwhile Li Tzŭ-ch'êng broke through to Peking. The city had a stronggarrison, but owing to the disorganization of the government thedifferent commanders were working against each other; and the soldiershad no fighting spirit because they had had no pay for a long time. Thusthe city fell, on April 24th, 1644, and the last Ming emperor killedhimself. A prince was proclaimed emperor; he fled through western andsouthern China, continually trying to make a stand, but it was too late;without the support of the gentry he had no resource, and ultimately, in1659, he was compelled to flee into Burma. Thus Li Tzŭ-ch'êng was now emperor. It should have been his task rapidlyto build up a government, and to take up arms against the other rebelsand against the Manchus. Instead of this he behaved in such a way thathe was unable to gain any support from the existing officials in thecapital; and as there was no one among his former supporters who had anypositive, constructive ideas, just nothing was done. This, however, improved the chances of all the other aspirants to theimperial throne. The first to realize this clearly, and also to possessenough political sagacity to avoid alienating the gentry, was General WuSan-kui, who was commanding on the Manchu front. He saw that in theexisting conditions in the capital he could easily secure the imperialthrone for himself if only he had enough soldiers. Accordingly henegotiated with the Manchu Prince Dorgon, formed an alliance with theManchus, and with them entered Peking on June 6th, 1644. Li Tzŭ-ch'êngquickly looted the city, burned down whatever he could, and fled intothe west, continually pursued by Wu San-kui. In the end he was abandonedby all his supporters and killed by peasants. The Manchus, however, hadno intention of leaving Wu San-kui in power: they established themselvesin Peking, and Wu became their general. (C) The Manchu Dynasty (1644-1911) 1 _Installation of Manchus_ The Manchus had gained the mastery over China owing rather to China'sinternal situation than to their military superiority. How was it thatthe dynasty could endure for so long, although the Manchus were notnumerous, although the first Manchu ruler (Fu Lin, known under the rulename Shun-chih; 1644-1662) was a psychopathic youth, although there wereprinces of the Ming dynasty ruling in South China, and although therewere strong groups of rebels all over the country? The Manchus werealiens; at that time the national feeling of the Chinese had alreadybeen awakened; aliens were despised. In addition to this, the Manchusdemanded that as a sign of their subjection the Chinese should wearpigtails and assume Manchurian clothing (law of 1645). Such laws couldnot but offend national pride. Moreover, marriages between Manchus andChinese were prohibited, and a dual government was set up, with Manchusalways alongside Chinese in every office, the Manchus being of course inthe superior position. The Manchu soldiers were distributed in militarygarrisons among the great cities, and were paid state pensions, whichhad to be provided by taxation. They were the master race, and had noneed to work. Manchus did not have to attend the difficult stateexaminations which the Chinese had to pass in order to gain anappointment. How was it that in spite of all this the Manchus were ableto establish themselves? The conquering Manchu generals first went south from eastern China, andin 1645 captured Nanking, where a Ming prince had ruled. The regionround Nanking was the economic centre of China. Soon the Manchus were inthe adjoining southern provinces, and thus they conquered the whole ofthe territory of the landowning gentry, who after the events of thebeginning of the seventeenth century had no longer trusted the Mingrulers. The Ming prince in Nanking was just as incapable, and surroundedby just as evil a clique, as the Ming emperors of the past. The gentrywere not inclined to defend him. A considerable section of the gentrywere reduced to utter despair; they had no desire to support the Mingany longer; in their own interest they could not support the rebelleaders; and they regarded the Manchus as just a particular sort of"rebels". Interpreting the refusal of some Sung ministers to serve theforeign Mongols as an act of loyalty, it was now regarded as shameful todesert a dynasty when it came to an end and to serve the new ruler, evenif the new régime promised to be better. Many thousands of officials, scholars, and great landowners committed suicide. Many books, oftenreally moving and tragic, are filled with the story of their lives. Someof them tried to form insurgent bands with their peasants and went intothe mountains, but they were unable to maintain themselves there. Thegreat bulk of the élite soon brought themselves to collaborate with theconquerors when they were offered tolerable conditions. In the end theManchus did not interfere in the ownership of land in central China. At the time when in Europe Louis XIV was reigning, the Thirty Years Warwas coming to an end, and Cromwell was carrying out his reforms inEngland, the Manchus conquered the whole of China. Chang Hsien-chung andLi Tzŭ-ch'êng were the first to fall; the pirate Coxinga lasted a littlelonger and was even able to plunder Nanking in 1659, but in 1661 he hadto retire to Formosa. Wu San-kui, who meanwhile had conquered westernChina, saw that the situation was becoming difficult for him. His taskwas to drive out the last Ming pretenders for the Manchus. As he hadalready been opposed to the Ming in 1644, and as the Ming no longer hadany following among the gentry, he could not suddenly work with themagainst the Manchus. He therefore handed over to the Manchus the lastMing prince, whom the Burmese had delivered up to him in 1661. WuSan-kui's only possible allies against the Manchus were the gentry. Butin the west, where he was in power, the gentry counted for nothing; theyhad in any case been weaker in the west, and they had been decimated bythe insurrection of Chang Hsien-chung. Thus Wu San-kui was compelled totry to push eastwards, in order to unite with the gentry of the Yangtzeregion against the Manchus. The Manchus guessed Wu San-kui's plan, andin 1673, after every effort at accommodation had failed, open war came. Wu San-kui made himself emperor, and the Manchus marched against him. Meanwhile, the Chinese gentry of the Yangtze region had come to termswith the Manchus, and they gave Wu San-kui no help. He vegetated in thesouth-west, a region too poor to maintain an army that could conquer allChina, and too small to enable him to last indefinitely as anindependent power. He was able to hold his own until his death, although, with the loss of the support of the gentry, he had had noprospect of final success. Not until 1681 was his successor, hisgrandson Wu Shih-fan, defeated. The end of the rule of Wu San-kui andhis successor marked the end of the national governments of China; thewhole country was now under alien domination, for the simple reason thatall the opponents of the Manchus had failed. Only the Manchus wereaccredited with the ability to bring order out of the universalconfusion, so that there was clearly no alternative but to put up withthe many insults and humiliations they inflicted--with the result thatthe national feeling that had just been aroused died away, except whereit was kept alive in a few secret societies. There will be more to sayabout this, once the works which were suppressed by the Manchus arepublished. In the first phase of the Manchu conquest the gentry had refused tosupport either the Ming princes or Wu San-kui, or any of the rebels, orthe Manchus themselves. A second phase began about twenty years afterthe capture of Peking, when the Manchus won over the gentry by desistingfrom any interference with the ownership of land, and by the use ofManchu troops to clear away the "rebels" who were hostile to the gentry. A reputable government was then set up in Peking, free from eunuchs andfrom all the old cliques; in their place the government looked forChinese scholars for its administrative posts. Literati and scholarsstreamed into Peking, especially members of the "Academies" that stillexisted in secret, men who had been the chief sufferers from theconditions at the end of the Ming epoch. The young emperor Sheng Tsu(1663-1722; K'ang-hsi is the name by which his rule was known, not hisname) was keenly interested in Chinese culture and gave privilegedtreatment to the scholars of the gentry who came forward. A rapidrecovery quite clearly took place. The disturbances of the years thathad passed had got rid of the worst enemies of the people, theformidable rival cliques and the individuals lusting for power; thegentry had become more cautious in their behaviour to the peasants; andbribery had been largely stamped out. Finally, the empire had beengreatly expanded. All these things helped to stabilize the regime of theManchus. 2 _Decline in the eighteenth century_ The improvement continued until the middle of the eighteenth century. About the time of the French Revolution there began a continuousdecline, slow at first and then gathering speed. The European works onChina offer various reasons for this: the many foreign wars (to which weshall refer later) of the emperor, known by the name of his rulingperiod, Ch'ien-lung, his craze for building, and the irruption of theEuropeans into Chinese trade. In the eighteenth century the courtsurrounded itself with great splendour, and countless palaces and otherluxurious buildings were erected, but it must be borne in mind that sogreat an empire as the China of that day possessed very considerablefinancial strength, and could support this luxury. The wars werecertainly not inexpensive, as they took place along the Russianfrontier and entailed expenditure on the transport of reinforcements andsupplies; the wars against Turkestan and Tibet were carried on withrelatively small forces. This expenditure should not have been beyondthe resources of an ordered budget. Interestingly enough, the periodbetween 1640 and 1840 belongs to those periods for which almost nosignificant work in the field of internal social and economicdevelopments has been made; Western scholars have been too muchinterested in the impact of Western economy and culture or in themilitary events. Chinese scholars thus far have shown a prejudiceagainst the Manchu dynasty and were mainly interested in the study ofanti-Manchu movements and the downfall of the dynasty. On the otherhand, the documentary material for this period is extremely extensive, and many years of work are necessary to reach any general conclusionseven in one single field. The following remarks should, therefore, betaken as very tentative and preliminary, and they are, naturally, fragmentary. [Illustration: (Chart) POPULATION GROWTH OF CHINA] [Illustration: 14 Aborigines of South China, of the 'Black Miao' tribe, at a festival. China-ink drawing of the eighteenth century. _Collectionof the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. No. ID_ 8756, 68. ] [Illustration: 15 Pavilion on the 'Coal Hill' at Peking, in which thelast Ming emperor committed suicide. _Photo Eberhard_. ] The decline of the Manchu dynasty began at a time when the Europeantrade was still insignificant, and not as late as after 1842, when Chinahad had to submit to the foreign Capitulations. These cannot have beenthe true cause of the decline. Above all, the decline was not sonoticeable in the state of the Exchequer as in a general impoverishmentof China. The number of really wealthy persons among the gentrydiminished, but the middle class, that is to say the people who hadeducation but little or no money and property, grew steadily in number. One of the deeper reasons for the decline of the Manchu dynasty seems tolie in the enormous increase in the population. Here are a few Chinesestatistics: _Year_ _Population_ 1578 (before the Manchus) 10, 621, 463 families or 60, 692, 856 individuals 1662 19, 203, 233 families 100, 000, 000 individuals * 1710 23, 311, 236 families 116, 000, 000 individuals * 1729 25, 480, 498 families 127, 000, 000 individuals * 1741 143, 411, 559 individuals 1754 184, 504, 493 individuals 1778 242, 965, 618 individuals 1796 275, 662, 414 individuals 1814 374, 601, 132 individuals 1850 414, 493, 899 individuals (1953) (601, 938, 035 individuals) * Approximately It may be objected that these figures are incorrect and exaggerated. Undoubtedly they contain errors. But the first figure (for 1578) of somesixty millions is in close agreement with all other figures of earlytimes; the figure for 1850 seems high, but cannot be far wrong, for evenafter the great T'ai P'ing Rebellion of 1851, which, together with itsafter-effects, costs the lives of countless millions, all statisticiansof today estimate the population of China at more than four hundredmillions. If we enter these data together with the census of 1953 into achart (see p. 273), a fairly smooth curve emerges; the special featuresare that already under the Ming the population was increasing and, secondly, that the high rate of increase in the population began withthe long period of internal peace since about 1700. From that timeonwards, all China's wars were fought at so great a distance from Chinaproper that the population was not directly affected. Moreover, in theseventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Manchus saw to the maintenanceof the river dykes, so that the worst inundations were prevented. Thusthere were not so many of the floods which had often cost the lives ofmany million people in China; and there were no internal wars, withtheir heavy cost in lives. But while the population increased, the tillage failed to increase inthe needed proportion. I have, unfortunately, no statistics for allperiods; but the general tendency is shown by the following table: _Date_ _Cultivated area_ mou _per person_ _in_ mou 1578 701, 397, 600 11. 6 1662 531, 135, 800 1719 663, 113, 200 1729 878, 176, 000 6. 1 (1953) (1, 627, 930, 000) (2. 7) Six _mou_ are about one acre. In 1578, there were 66 _mou_ land perfamily of the total population. This was close to the figures regardedas ideal by Chinese early economists for the producing family (100_mou_) considering the fact that about 80 per cent of all families atthat time were producers. By 1729 it was only 35 _mou_ per family, i. E. The land had to produce almost twice as much as before. We have shownthat the agricultural developments in the Ming time greatly increasedthe productivity of the land. This then, obviously resulted in anincrease of population. But by the middle of the eighteenth century, assuming that production doubled since the sixteenth century, populationpressure was again as heavy as it had been then. And after _c_. 1750, population pressure continued to build up to the present time. Internal colonization continued during the Manchu time; there was acontinuous, but slow flow of people into Kwangsi, Kweichou, Yünnan. Inspite of laws which prohibited emigration, Chinese also moved intoSouth-East Asia. Chinese settlement in Manchuria was allowed only in thelast years of the Manchus. But such internal colonization or emigrationcould allevitate the pressure only in some areas, while it continued tobuild up in others. In Europe as well as in Japan, we find a strong population increase; inEurope at almost the same time as in China. But before populationpressure became too serious in Europe or Japan, industry developed andabsorbed the excess population. Thus, farms did not decrease too much insize. Too small farms are always and in many ways uneconomical. With thedevelopment of industries, the percentage of farm population decreased. In China, however, the farm population was still as high as 73. 3 percent of the total population in 1932 and the percentage rose to 81 percent in 1950. From the middle of the seventeenth century on, commercial activities, especially along the coast, continued to increase and we find gentryfamilies who equip sons who were unwilling or not capable to study andto enter the ranks of the officials, but who were too unruly to sit invillages and collect the rent from the tenants of the family, with moneyto enter business. The newly settled areas of Kwangtung and Kwangsi wereideal places for them: here they could sell Chinese products to thenative tribes or to the new settlers at high prices. Some of these menintroduced new techniques from the old provinces of China into the"colonial" areas and set up dye factories, textile factories, etc. , inthe new towns of the south. But the greatest stimulus for thesecommercial activities was foreign, European trade. American silver whichhad flooded Europe in the sixteenth century, began to flow into Chinafrom the beginning of the seventeenth century on. The influx was stoppednot until between 1661 and 1684 when the government again prohibitedcoastal shipping and removed coastal settlements into the interior inorder to stop piracy along the coasts of Fukien and independencemovements on Formosa. But even during these twenty-three years, theprice of silver was so low that home production was given up because itdid not pay off. In the eighteenth century, silver again continued toenter China, while silk and tea were exported. This demand led to astrong rise in the prices of silk and tea, and benefited the merchants. When, from the late eighteenth century on, opium began to be imported, the silver left China again. The merchants profited this time from theopium trade, but farmers had to suffer: the price of silver went up, andtaxes had to be paid in silver, while farm products were sold forcopper. By 1835, the ounce of silver had a value of 2, 000 copper coinsinstead of one thousand before 1800. High gains in commerce preventedinvestment in industries, because they would give lower and laterprofits than commerce. From the nineteenth century on, more and moreindustrial goods were offered by importers which also preventedindustrialization. Finally, the gentry basically remainedanti-industrial and anti-business. They tried to operate necessaryenterprises such as mining, melting, porcelain production as far aspossible as government establishments; but as the operators wereofficials, they were not too business-minded and these enterprises didnot develop well. The businessmen certainly had enough capital, but theyinvested it in land instead of investing it in industries which could atany moment be taken away by the government, controlled by the officialsor forced to sell at set prices, and which were always subject toexploitation by dishonest officials. A businessman felt secure only whenhe had invested in land, when he had received an official title upon thepayment of large sums of money, or when he succeeded to push at leastone of his sons into the government bureaucracy. No doubt, in spite ofall this, Chinese business and industry kept on developing in the Manchutime, but they did not develop at such a speed as to transform thecountry from an agrarian into a modern industrial nation. 3 _Expansion in Central Asia; the first State treaty_ The rise of the Manchu dynasty actually began under the K'ang-hsi rule(1663-1722). The emperor had three tasks. The first was the removal ofthe last supporters of the Ming dynasty and of the generals, such as WuSan-kui, who had tried to make themselves independent. This necessitateda long series of campaigns, most of them in the south-west or south ofChina; these scarcely affected the population of China proper. In 1683Formosa was occupied and the last of the insurgent army commanders wasdefeated. It was shown above that the situation of all these leadersbecame hopeless as soon as the Manchus had occupied the rich Yangtzeregion and the intelligentsia and the gentry of that region had goneover to them. A quite different type of insurgent commander was the Mongol princeGaldan. He, too, planned to make himself independent of Manchuoverlordship. At first the Mongols had readily supported the Manchus, when the latter were making raids into China and there was plenty ofbooty. Now, however, the Manchus, under the influence of the Chinesegentry whom they brought, and could not but bring, to their court, wererapidly becoming Chinese in respect to culture. Even in the time ofK'ang-hsi the Manchus began to forget Manchurian; they brought tutors tocourt to teach the young Manchus Chinese. Later even the emperors didnot understand Manchurian! As a result of this process, the Mongolsbecame alienated from the Manchurians, and the situation began once moreto be the same as at the time of the Ming rulers. Thus Galdan tried tofound an independent Mongol realm, free from Chinese influence. The Manchus could not permit this, as such a realm would have threatenedthe flank of their homeland, Manchuria, and would have attracted thoseManchus who objected to sinification. Between 1690 and 1696 there werebattles, in which the emperor actually took part in person. Galdan wasdefeated. In 1715, however, there were new disturbances, this time inwestern Mongolia. Tsewang Rabdan, whom the Chinese had made khan of theÖlöt, rose against the Chinese. The wars that followed, extending farinto Turkestan and also involving its Turkish population together withthe Dzungars, ended with the Chinese conquest of the whole of Mongoliaand of parts of eastern Turkestan. As Tsewang Rabdan had tried to extendhis power as far as Tibet, a campaign was undertaken also into Tibet, Lhasa was occupied, a new Dalai Lama was installed there as supremeruler, and Tibet was made into a protectorate. Since then Tibet hasremained to this day under some form of Chinese colonial rule. This penetration of the Chinese into Turkestan took place just at thetime when the Russians were enormously expanding their empire in Asia, and this formed the third problem for the Manchus. In 1650 the Russianshad established a fort by the river Amur. The Manchus regarded the Amur(which they called the "River of the Black Dragon") as part of their ownterritory, and in 1685 they destroyed the Russian settlement. After thisthere were negotiations, which culminated in 1689 in the Treaty ofNerchinsk. This treaty was the first concluded by the Chinese state witha European power. Jesuit missionaries played a part in the negotiationsas interpreters. Owing to the difficulties of translation the text ofthe treaty, in Chinese, Russian, and Manchurian, contained someobscurities, particulary in regard to the frontier line. Accordingly, in1727 the Russians asked for a revision of the old treaty. The Chineseemperor, whose rule name was Yung-cheng, arranged for the negotiationsto be carried on at the frontier, in the town of Kyakhta, in Mongolia, where after long discussions a new treaty was concluded. Under thistreaty the Russians received permission to set up a legation and acommercial agency in Peking, and also to maintain a church. This was thebeginning of the foreign Capitulations. From the Chinese point of viewthere was nothing special in a facility of this sort. For some fifteencenturies all the "barbarians" who had to bring tribute had been givenhouses in the capital, where their envoys could wait until the emperorwould receive them--usually on New Year's Day. The custom had sprung upat the reception of the Huns. Moreover, permission had always been givenfor envoys to be accompanied by a few merchants, who during the envoy'sstay did a certain amount of business. Furthermore the time had beenwhen the Uighurs were permitted to set up a temple of their own. At thetime of the permission given to the Russians to set up a "legation", asimilar office was set up (in 1729) for "Uighur" peoples (meaningMohammedans), again under the control of an office, called the Officefor Regulation of Barbarians. The Mohammedan office was placed under twoMohammedan leaders who lived in Peking. The Europeans, however, hadquite different ideas about a "legation", and about the significance ofpermission to trade. They regarded this as the opening of diplomaticrelations between states on terms of equality, and the carrying on oftrade as a special privilege, a sort of Capitulation. This reciprocalmisunderstanding produced in the nineteenth century a number of seriouspolitical conflicts. The Europeans charged the Chinese with breach oftreaties, failure to meet their obligations, and other such things, while the Chinese considered that they had acted with perfectcorrectness. 4 _Culture_ In this K'ang-hsi period culture began to flourish again. The emperorhad attracted the gentry, and so the intelligentsia, to his courtbecause his uneducated Manchus could not alone have administered theenormous empire; and he showed great interest in Chinese culture, himself delved deeply into it, and had many works compiled, especiallyworks of an encyclopaedic character. The encyclopaedias enabledinformation to be rapidly gained on all sorts of subjects, and thus werejust what an interested ruler needed, especially when, as a foreigner, he was not in a position to gain really thorough instruction in thingsChinese. The Chinese encyclopaedias of the seventeenth and especially ofthe eighteenth century were thus the outcome of the initiative of theManchurian emperor, and were compiled for his information; they were notdue, like the French encyclopaedias of the eighteenth century, to amovement for the spread of knowledge among the people. For this latterpurpose the gigantic encyclopaedias of the Manchus, each of which fillsseveral bookcases, were much too expensive and were printed in much toolimited editions. The compilations began with the great geographicalencyclopaedia of Ku Yen-wu (1613-1682), and attained their climax in thegigantic eighteenth-century encyclopaedia _T'u-shu chi-ch'eng, _scientifically impeccable in the accuracy of its references to sources. Here were already the beginnings of the "Archaeological School", builtup in the course of the eighteenth century. This school was usuallycalled "Han school" because the adherents went back to the commentariesof the classical texts written in Han time and discarded the orthodoxexplanations of Chu Hsi's school of Sung time. Later, its most prominentleader was Tai Chen (1723-1777). Tai was greatly interested intechnology and science; he can be regarded as the first philosopher whoexhibited an empirical, scientific way of thinking. Late nineteenth andearly twentieth century Chinese scholarship is greatly obliged to him. The most famous literary works of the Manchu epoch belong once more tothe field which Chinese do not regard as that of true literature--thenovel, the short story, and the drama. Poetry did exist, but it kept tothe old paths and had few fresh ideas. All the various forms of the Sungperiod were made use of. The essayists, too, offered nothing new, thoughtheir number was legion. One of the best known is Yüan Mei (1716-1797), who was also the author of the collection of short stories _Tse-pu-yü_("The Master did not tell"), which is regarded very highly by theChinese. The volume of short stories entitled _Liao-chai chich-i_, byP'u Sung-lin (1640-1715?), is world-famous and has been translated intoevery civilized language. Both collections are distinguished by theirsimple but elegant style. The short story was popular among the greatergentry; it abandoned the popular style it had had in the Ming epoch, andadopted the polished language of scholars. The Manchu epoch has left to us what is by general consent the finestnovel in Chinese literature, _Hung-lou-meng_ ("The Dream of the RedChamber"), by Ts'ao Hsüeh-ch'in, who died in 1763. It describes thedownfall of a rich and powerful family from the highest rank of thegentry, and the decadent son's love of a young and emotional lady of thehighest circles. The story is clothed in a mystical garb that doessomething to soften its tragic ending. The interesting novel _Ju-linwai-shih_ ("Private Reports from the Life of Scholars"), by Wu Ching-tzŭ(1701-1754), is a mordant criticism of Confucianism with its rigidformalism, of the social system, and of the examination system. Socialcriticism is the theme of many novels. The most modern in spirit of theworks of this period is perhaps the treatment of feminism in the novel_Ching-hua-yüan_, by Li Yu-chên (d. 1830), which demanded equal rightsfor men and women. The drama developed quickly in the Manchu epoch, particularly inquantity, especially since the emperors greatly appreciated the theatre. A catalogue of plays compiled in 1781 contains 1, 013 titles! Some ofthese dramas were of unprecedented length. One of them was played in 26parts containing 240 acts; a performance took two years to complete!Probably the finest dramas of the Manchu epoch are those of Li Yü (born1611), who also became the first of the Chinese dramatic critics. Whathe had to say about the art of the theatre, and about aesthetics ingeneral, is still worth reading. About the middle of the nineteenth century the influence of Europebecame more and more marked. Translation began with Yen Fu (1853-1921), who translated the first philosophical and scientific books and books onsocial questions and made his compatriots acquainted with Westernthought. At the same time Lin Shu (1852-1924) translated the firstWestern short stories and novels. With these two began the new style, which was soon elaborated by Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, a collaborator of SunYat-sen's, and by others, and which ultimately produced the "literaryrevolution" of 1917. Translation has continued to this day; almost everybook of outstanding importance in world literature is translated withina few months of its appearance, and on the average these translationsare of a fairly high level. Particularly fine work was produced in the field of porcelain in theManchu epoch. In 1680 the famous kilns in the province of Kiangsi werereopened, and porcelain that is among the most artistically perfect inthe world was fired in them. Among the new colours were especially greenshades (one group is known as _famille verte_), and also black andyellow compositions. Monochrome porcelain also developed further, including very fine dark blue, brilliant red (called "ox-blood"), andwhite. In the eighteenth century, however, there began an unmistakabledecline, which has continued to this day, although there are still a fewcraftsmen and a few kilns that produce outstanding work (usuallyattempts to imitate old models), often in small factories. In painting, European influence soon shows itself. The best-knownexample of this is Lang Shih-ning, an Italian missionary whose originalname was Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766); he began to work in China in1715. He learned the Chinese method of painting, but introduced a numberof technical tricks of European painters, which were adopted in generalpractice in China, especially by the official court painters: thepainting of the scholars who lived in seclusion remained uninfluenced. Dutch flower-painting also had some influence in China as early as theeighteenth century. The missionaries played an important part at court. The first Manchuemperors were as generous in this matter as the Mongols had been, andallowed the foreigners to work in peace. They showed special interest inthe European science introduced by the missionaries; they had lesssympathy for their religious message. The missionaries, for their part, sent to Europe enthusiastic accounts of the wonderful conditions inChina, and so helped to popularize the idea that was being formed inEurope of an "enlightened", a constitutional, monarchy. The leaders ofthe Enlightenment read these reports with enthusiasm, with the resultthat they had an influence on the French Revolution. Confucius was foundparticularly attractive, and was regarded as a forerunner of theEnlightenment. The "Monadism" of the philosopher Leibniz was influencedby these reports. The missionaries gained a reputation at court as "scientists", and inthis they were of service both to China and to Europe. The behaviour ofthe European merchants who followed the missions, spreading gradually ingrowing numbers along the coasts of China, was not by any means soirreproachable. The Chinese were certainly justified when they declaredthat European ships often made landings on the coast and simply looted, just as the Japanese had done before them. Reports of this came to thecourt, and as captured foreigners described themselves as "Christians"and also seemed to have some connection with the missionaries living atcourt, and as disputes had broken out among the missionaries themselvesin connection with papal ecclesiastical policy, in the Yung-cheng period(1723-1736; the name of the emperor was Shih Tsung) Christianity wasplaced under a general ban, being regarded as a secret politicalorganization. 5 _Relations with the outer world_ During the Yung-cheng period there was long-continued guerrilla fightingwith natives in south-west China. The pressure of population in Chinasought an outlet in emigration. More and more Chinese moved into thesouth-west, and took the land from the natives, and the fighting was theconsequence of this. At the beginning of the Ch'ien-lung period (1736-1796), fighting startedagain in Turkestan. Mongols, now called Kalmuks, defeated by theChinese, had migrated to the Ili region, where after heavy fighting theygained supremacy over some of the Kazaks and other Turkish peoplesliving there and in western Turkestan. Some Kazak tribes went over tothe Russians, and in 1735 the Russian colonialists founded the town ofOrenburg in the western Kazak region. The Kalmuks fought the Chinesewithout cessation until, in 1739, they entered into an agreement underwhich they ceded half their territory to Manchu China, retaining onlythe Ili region. The Kalmuks subsequently reunited with other sections ofthe Kazaks against the Chinese. In 1754 peace was again concluded withChina, but it was followed by raids on both sides, so that the Manchusdetermined to enter on a great campaign against the Ili region. Thisended with a decisive victory for the Chinese (1755). In the years thatfollowed, however, the Chinese began to be afraid that the various Kazaktribes might unite in order to occupy the territory of the Kalmuks, which was almost unpopulated owing to the mass slaughter of Kalmuks bythe Chinese. Unrest began among the Mohammedans throughout theneighbouring western Turkestan, and the same Chinese generals who hadfought the Kalmuks marched into Turkestan and captured the Mohammedancity states of Uch, Kashgar, and Yarkand. The reinforcements for these campaigns, and for the garrisons which inthe following decades were stationed in the Ili region and in the westof eastern Turkestan, marched along the road from Peking that leadsnorthward through Mongolia to the far distant Uliassutai and Kobdo. Thecost of transport for one _shih_ (about 66 lb. ) amounted to 120 piecesof silver. In 1781 certain economies were introduced, but between 1781and 1791 over 30, 000 tons, making some 8 tons a day, was transported tothat region. The cost of transport for supplies alone amounted in thecourse of time to the not inconsiderable sum of 120, 000, 000 pieces ofsilver. In addition to this there was the cost of the transported goodsand of the pay of soldiers and of the administration. These figuresapply to the period of occupation, of relative peace: during the actualwars of conquest the expenditure was naturally far higher. Thus thesecampaigns, though I do not think they brought actual economic ruin toChina, were nevertheless a costly enterprise, and one which producedlittle positive advantage. In addition to this, these wars brought China into conflict with theEuropean colonial powers. In the years during which the Chinese armieswere fighting in the Ili region, the Russians were putting out theirfeelers in that direction, and the Chinese annals show plainly how theRussians intervened in the fighting with the Kalmuks and Kazaks. The Iliregion remained thereafter a bone of contention between China andRussia, until it finally went to Russia, bit by bit, between 1847 and1881. The Kalmuks and Kazaks played a special part in Russo-Chineserelations. The Chinese had sent a mission to the Kalmuks farthest west, by the lower Volga, and had entered into relations with them, as earlyas 1714. As Russian pressure on the Volga region continually grew, theseKalmuks (mainly the Turgut tribe), who had lived there since 1630, decided to return into Chinese territory (1771). During this enormouslydifficult migration, almost entirely through hostile territory, a largenumber of the Turgut perished; 85, 000, however, reached the Ili region, where they were settled by the Chinese on the lands of the easternKalmuks, who had been largely exterminated. In the south, too, the Chinese came into direct touch with the Europeanpowers. In 1757 the English occupied Calcutta, and in 1766 the provinceof Bengal. In 1767 a Manchu general, Ming Jui, who had been victoriousin the fighting for eastern Turkestan, marched against Burma, which wasmade a dependency once more in 1769. And in 1790-1791 the Chineseconquered Nepal, south of Tibet, because Nepalese had made two attackson Tibet. Thus English and Chinese political interests came here intocontact. For the Ch'ien-lung period's many wars of conquest there seem to havebeen two main reasons. The first was the need for security. The Mongolshad to be overthrown because otherwise the homeland of the Manchus wasmenaced; in order to make sure of the suppression of the easternMongols, the western Mongols (Kalmuks) had to be overthrown; to makethem harmless, Turkestan and the Ili region had to be conquered; Tibetwas needed for the security of Turkestan and Mongolia--and so on. Vastterritories, however, were conquered in this process which were of noeconomic value, and most of which actually cost a great deal of moneyand brought nothing in. They were conquered simply for security. Thatadvantage had been gained: an aggressor would have to cross great areasof unproductive territory, with difficult conditions for reinforcements, before he could actually reach China. In the second place, the Chinesemay actually have noticed the efforts that were being made by theEuropean powers, especially Russia and England, to divide Asia amongthemselves, and accordingly they made sure of their own good share. 6 _Decline; revolts_ The period of Ch'ien-lung is not only that of the greatest expansion ofthe Chinese empire, but also that of the greatest prosperity under theManchu regime. But there began at the same time to be signs of internaldecline. If we are to fix a particular year for this, perhaps it shouldbe the year 1774, in which came the first great popular rising, in theprovince of Shantung. In 1775 there came another popular rising, inHonan--that of the "Society of the White Lotus". This society, which hadlong existed as a secret organization and had played a part in the Mingepoch, had been reorganized by a man named Liu Sung. Liu Sung wascaptured and was condemned to penal servitude. His followers, however, regrouped themselves, particularly in the province of Anhui. Theserisings had been produced, as always, by excessive oppression of thepeople by the government or the governing class. As, however, the angerof the population was naturally directed also against the idle Manchusof the cities, who lived on their state pensions, did no work, andbehaved as a ruling class, the government saw in these movements anationalist spirit, and took drastic steps against them. The popularleaders now altered their programme, and acclaimed a supposed descendantfrom the Ming dynasty as the future emperor. Government troops caughtthe leader of the "White Lotus" agitation, but he succeeded in escaping. In the regions through which the society had spread, there then began asort of Inquisition, of exceptional ferocity. Six provinces wereaffected, and in and around the single city of Wuch'ang in four monthsmore than 20, 000 people were beheaded. The cost of the rising to thegovernment ran into millions. In answer to this oppression, the popularleaders tightened their organization and marched north-west from thewestern provinces of which they had gained control. The rising wassuppressed only by a very big military operation, and not until 1802. There had been very heavy fighting between 1793 and 1802--just when inEurope, in the French Revolution, another oppressed population won itsfreedom. The Ch'ien-lung emperor abdicated on New Year's Day, 1795, after rulingfor sixty years. He died in 1799. His successor was Jen Tsung(1796-1821; reign name: Chia-ch'ing). In the course of his reign therising of the "White Lotus" was suppressed, but in 1813 there began anew rising, this time in North China--again that of a secretorganization, the "Society of Heaven's Law". One of its leaders bribedsome eunuchs, and penetrated with a group of followers into the palace;he threw himself upon the emperor, who was only saved through theintervention of his son. At the same time the rising spread in theprovinces. Once more the government succeeded in suppressing it andcapturing the leaders. But the memory of these risings was kept aliveamong the Chinese people. For the government failed to realize that theactual cause of the risings was the general impoverishment, and saw inthem a nationalist movement, thus actually arousing a nationalconsciousness, stronger than in the Ming epoch, among the middle andlower classes of the people, together with hatred of the Manchus. Theywere held responsible for every evil suffered, regardless of the factthat similar evils had existed earlier. 7 _European Imperialism in the Far East_ With the Tao-kuang period (1821-1850) began a new period in Chinesehistory, which came to an end only in 1911. In foreign affairs these ninety years were marked by the steadilygrowing influence of the Western powers, aimed at turning China into acolony. Culturally this period was that of the gradual infiltration ofWestern civilization into the Far East; it was recognized in China thatit was necessary to learn from the West. In home affairs we see thecollapse of the dynasty and the destruction of the unity of the empire;of four great civil wars, one almost brought the dynasty to its end. North and South China, the coastal area and the interior, developed indifferent ways. Great Britain had made several attempts to improve her trade relationswith China, but the mission of 1793 had no success, and that of 1816also failed. English merchants, like all foreign merchants, were onlypermitted to settle in a small area adjoining Canton and at Macao, andwere only permitted to trade with a particular group of monopolists, known as the "Hong". The Hong had to pay taxes to the state, but theyhad a wonderful opportunity of enriching themselves. The Europeans wereentirely at their mercy, for they were not allowed to travel inland, andthey were not allowed to try to negotiate with other merchants, tosecure lower prices by competition. The Europeans concentrated especially on the purchase of silk and tea;but what could they import into China? The higher the price of the goodsand the smaller the cargo space involved, the better were the chances ofprofit for the merchants. It proved, however, that European woollens orluxury goods could not be sold; the Chinese would probably have beenglad to buy food, but transport was too expensive to permit profitablebusiness. Thus a new article was soon discovered--opium, carried fromIndia to China: the price was high and the cargo space involved was verysmall. The Chinese were familiar with opium, and bought it readily. Accordingly, from 1800 onwards opium became more and more the chiefarticle of trade, especially for the English, who were able to bring itconveniently from India. Opium is harmful to the people; the opium traderesulted in certain groups of merchants being inordinately enriched; agreat deal of Chinese money went abroad. The government becameapprehensive and sent Lin Tsê-hsü as its commissioner to Canton. In 1839he prohibited the opium trade and burned the chests of opium found inBritish possession. The British view was that to tolerate the Chineseaction might mean the destruction of British trade in the Far East andthat, on the other hand, it might be possible by active intervention tocompel the Chinese to open other ports to European trade and to shakeoff the monopoly of the Canton merchants. In 1840 British ships-of-warappeared off the south-eastern coast of China and bombarded it. In 1841the Chinese opened negotiations and dismissed Lin Tsê-hsü. As theChinese concessions were regarded as inadequate, hostilities continued;the British entered the Yangtze estuary and threatened Nanking. In thisfirst armed conflict with the West, China found herself defencelessowing to her lack of a navy, and it was also found that the Europeanweapons were far superior to those of the Chinese. In 1842 China wascompelled to capitulate: under the Treaty of Nanking Hong Kong was cededto Great Britain, a war indemnity was paid, certain ports were thrownopen to European trade, and the monopoly was brought to an end. A greatdeal of opium came, however, into China through smuggling--regrettably, for the state lost the customs revenue! This treaty introduced the period of the Capitulations. It contained thedangerous clause which added most to China's misfortunes--the MostFavoured Nation clause, providing that if China granted any privilege toany other state, that privilege should also automatically be granted toGreat Britain. In connection with this treaty it was agreed that theChinese customs should be supervised by European consuls; and a tradetreaty was granted. Similar treaties followed in 1844 with France andthe United States. The missionaries returned; until 1860, however, theywere only permitted to work in the treaty ports. Shanghai was thrownopen in 1843, and developed with extraordinary rapidity from a town to acity of a million and a centre of world-wide importance. The terms of the Nanking Treaty were not observed by either side; bothevaded them. In order to facilitate the smuggling, the British hadpermitted certain Chinese junks to fly the British flag. This alsoenabled these vessels to be protected by British ships-of-war frompirates, which at that time were very numerous off the southern coastowing to the economic depression. The Chinese, for their part, placedevery possible obstacle in the way of the British. In 1856 the Chineseheld up a ship sailing under the British flag, pulled down its flag, andarrested the crew on suspicion of smuggling. In connection with this andother events, Britain decided to go to war. Thus began the "Lorcha War"of 1857, in which France joined for the sake of the booty to beexpected. Britain had just ended the Crimean War, and was engaged inheavy fighting against the Moguls in India. Consequently only a smallforce of a few thousand men could be landed in China; Canton, however, was bombarded, and also the forts of Tientsin. There still seemed noprospect of gaining the desired objectives by negotiation, and in 1860 anew expedition was fitted out, this time some 20, 000 strong. The troopslanded at Tientsin and marched on Peking; the emperor fled to Jehol anddid not return; he died in 1861. The new Treaty of Tientsin (1860)provided for (a) the opening of further ports to European traders; (b)the session of Kowloon, the strip of land lying opposite Hong Kong; (c)the establishment of a British legation in Peking; (d) freedom ofnavigation along the Yangtze; (e) permission for British subjects topurchase land in China; (f) the British to be subject to their ownconsular courts and not to the Chinese courts; (g) missionary activityto be permitted throughout the country. In addition to this, thecommercial treaty was revised, the opium trade was permitted once more, and a war indemnity was to be paid by China. In the eyes of Europe, Britain had now succeeded in turning China not actually into a colony, but at all events into a semi-colony; China must be expected soon toshare the fate of India. China, however, with her very differentconceptions of intercourse between states, did not realize the fullimport of these terms; some of them were regarded as concessions onunimportant points, which there was no harm in granting to the trading"barbarians", as had been done in the past; some were regarded as simpleinjustices, which at a given moment could be swept away byadministrative action. But the result of this European penetration was that China's balance oftrade was adverse, and became more and more so, as under the commercialtreaties she could neither stop the importation of European goods norset a duty on them; and on the other hand she could not compelforeigners to buy Chinese goods. The efflux of silver brought generalimpoverishment to China, widespread financial stringency to the state, and continuous financial crises and inflation. China had never had muchliquid capital, and she was soon compelled to take up foreign loans inorder to pay her debts. At that time internal loans were out of thequestion (the first internal loan was floated in 1894): the populationdid not even know what a state loan meant; consequently the loans had tobe issued abroad. This, however, entailed the giving of securities, generally in the form of economic privileges. Under the Most FavouredNation clause, however, these privileges had then to be granted to otherstates which had made no loans to China. Clearly a vicious spiral, whichin the end could only bring disaster. The only exception to the general impoverishment, in which not only thepeasants but the old upper classes were involved, was a certain sectionof the trading community and the middle class, which had grown richthrough its dealings with the Europeans. These people now accumulatedcapital, became Europeanized with their staffs, acquired land from theimpoverished gentry, and sent their sons abroad to foreign universities. They founded the first industrial undertakings, and learned Europeancapitalist methods. This class was, of course, to be found mainly in thetreaty ports in the south and in their environs. The south, as far northas Shanghai, became more modern and more advanced; the north made noadvance. In the south, European ways of thought were learnt, and Chineseand European theories were compared. Criticism began. The firstrevolutionary societies were formed in this atmosphere in the south. 8 _Risings in Turkestan and within China: the T'ai P'ing Rebellion_ But the emperor Hsüan Tsung (reign name Tao-kuang), a man in poor healththough not without ability, had much graver anxieties than thosecaused by the Europeans. He did not yet fully realize the seriousness ofthe European peril. [Illustration: 16 The imperial summer palace of the Manchu rulers, atJehol. _Photo H.  Hammer-Morrisson. _] [Illustration: 17 Tower on the city wall of Peking. _Photo H. Hammer-Morris son_. ] In Turkestan, where Turkish Mohammedans lived under Chinese rule, conditions were far from being as the Chinese desired. The Chinese, afundamentally rationalistic people, regarded religion as a purelypolitical matter, and accordingly required every citizen to take part inthe official form of worship. Subject to that, he might privately belongto any other religion. To a Mohammedan, this was impossible andintolerable. The Mohammedans were only ready to practise their ownreligion, and absolutely refused to take part in any other. The Chinesealso tried to apply to Turkestan in other matters the same legislationthat applied to all China, but this proved irreconcilable with thedemands made by Islam on its followers. All this produced continualunrest. Turkestan had had a feudal system of government with a number of feudallords (_beg_), who tried to maintain their influence and who had thesupport of the Mohammedan population. The Chinese had come to Turkestanas soldiers and officials, to administer the country. They regardedthemselves as the lords of the land and occupied themselves with theextraction of taxes. Most of the officials were also associated with theChinese merchants who travelled throughout Turkestan and as far asSiberia. The conflicts implicit in this situation produced greatMohammedan risings in the nineteenth century. The first came in1825-1827; in 1845 a second rising flamed up, and thirty years laterthese revolts led to the temporary loss of the whole of Turkestan. In 1848, native unrest began in the province of Hunan, as a result ofthe constantly growing pressure of the Chinese settlers on the nativepopulation; in the same year there was unrest farther south, in theprovince of Kwangsi, this time in connection with the influence of theEuropeans. The leader was a quite simple man of Hakka blood, HungHsiu-ch'üan (born 1814), who gathered impoverished Hakka peasants roundhim as every peasant leader had done in the past. Very often the nucleusof these peasant movements had been a secret society with a particularreligious tinge; this time the peasant revolutionaries came forward asat the same time the preachers of a new religion of their own. Hung hadheard of Christianity from missionaries (1837), and he mixed upChristian ideas with those of ancient China and proclaimed to hisfollowers a doctrine that promised the Kingdom of God on earth. Hecalled himself "Christ's younger brother", and his kingdom was to becalled _T'ai P'ing_ ("Supreme Peace"). He made his first comrades, charcoal makers, local doctors, peddlers and farmers, into kings, andmade himself emperor. At bottom the movement, like all similar onesbefore it, was not religious but social; and it produced a greatresponse from the peasants. The programme of the T'ai P'ing, in somepoints influenced by Christian ideas but more so by traditional Chinesethought, was in many points revolutionary: (a) all property was communalproperty; (b) land was classified into categories according to itsfertility and equally distributed among men and women. Every producerkept of the produce as much as he and his family needed and deliveredthe rest into the communal granary; (c) administration and tax systemswere revised; (d) women were given equal rights: they fought togetherwith men in the army and had access to official position. They had tomarry, but monogamy was requested; (e) the use of opium, tobacco andalcohol was prohibited, prostitution was illegal; (f) foreigners wereregarded as equals, capitulations as the Manchus had accepted were notrecognized. A large part of the officials, and particularly of thesoldiers sent against the revolutionaries, were Manchus, andconsequently the movement very soon became a nationalist movement, muchas the popular movement at the end of the Mongol epoch had done. Hungmade rapid progress; in 1852 he captured Hankow, and in 1853 Nanking, the important centre in the east. With clear political insight he madeNanking his capital. In this he returned to the old traditions of thebeginning of the Ming epoch, no doubt expecting in this way to attractsupport from the eastern Chinese gentry, who had no liking for a capitalfar away in the north. He made a parade of adhesion to the ancientChinese tradition: his followers cut off their pigtails and allowedtheir hair to grow as in the past. He did not succeed, however, in carrying his reforms from the stage ofsporadic action to a systematic reorganization of the country, and healso failed to enlist the elements needed for this as for all otheradministrative work, so that the good start soon degenerated into aterrorist regime. Hung's followers pressed on from Nanking, and in 1853-1855 they advancednearly to Tientsin; but they failed to capture Peking itself. The new T'ai P'ing state faced the Europeans with big problems. Shouldthey work with it or against it? The T'ai P'ing always insisted thatthey were Christians; the missionaries hoped now to have the opportunityof converting all China to Christianity. The T'ai P'ing treated themissionaries well but did not let them operate. After long hesitationand much vacillation, however, the Europeans placed themselves on theside of the Manchus. Not out of any belief that the T'ai P'ing movementwas without justification, but because they had concluded treaties withthe Manchu government and given loans to it, of which nothing wouldhave remained if the Manchus had fallen; because they preferred the weakManchu government to a strong T'ai P'ing government; and because theydisliked the socialistic element in many of the measured adopted by theTai P'ing. At first it seemed as if the Manchus would be able to cope unaided withthe T'ai P'ing, but the same thing happened as at the end of the Mongolrule: the imperial armies, consisting of the "banners" of the Manchus, the Mongols, and some Chinese, had lost their military skill in the longyears of peace; they had lost their old fighting spirit and were glad tobe able to live in peace on their state pensions. Now three men came tothe fore--a Mongol named Seng-ko-lin-ch'in, a man of great personalbravery, who defended the interests of the Manchu rulers; and twoChinese, Tsêng Kuo-fan (1811-1892) and Li Hung-chang (1823-1901), whowere in the service of the Manchus but used their position simply tofurther the interests of the gentry. The Mongol saved Peking fromcapture by the T'ai P'ing. The two Chinese were living in central China, and there they recruited, Li at his own expense and Tsêng out of theresources at his disposal as a provincial governor, a sort of militia, consisting of peasants out to protect their homes from destruction bythe peasants of the T'ai P'ing. Thus the peasants of central China, allsuffering from impoverishment, were divided into two groups, onefollowing the T'ai P'ing, the other following Tsêng Kuo-fan. Tsêng'sarmy, too, might be described as a "national" army, because Tsêng wasnot fighting for the interests of the Manchus. Thus the peasants, allanti-Manchu, could choose between two sides, between the T'ai P'ing andTsêng Kuo-fan. Although Tsêng represented the gentry and was thusagainst the simple common people, peasants fought in masses on his side, for he paid better, and especially more regularly. Tsêng, being a goodstrategist, won successes and gained adherents. Thus by 1856 the T'aiP'ing were pressed back on Nanking and some of the towns round it; in1864 Nanking was captured. While in the central provinces the T'ai P'ing rebellion was raging, China was suffering grave setbacks owing to the Lorcha War of 1856; andthere were also great and serious risings in other parts of the country. In 1855 the Yellow River had changed its course, entering the sea oncemore at Tientsin, to the great loss of the regions of Honan and Anhui. In these two central provinces the peasant rising of the so-called "NienFei" had begun, but it only became formidable after 1855, owing to theincreasing misery of the peasants. This purely peasant revolt was notsuppressed by the Manchu government until 1868, after many collisions. Then, however, there began the so-called "Mohammedan risings". Herethere are, in all, five movements to distinguish: (1) the Mohammedanrising in Kansu (1864-5); (2) the Salar movement in Shensi; (3) theMohammedan revolt in Yünnan (1855-1873); (4) the rising in Kansu (1895);(5) the rebellion of Yakub Beg in Turkestan (from 1866 onward). While we are fairly well informed about the other popular risings ofthis period, the Mohammedan revolts have not yet been well studied. Weknow from unofficial accounts that these risings were suppressed withgreat brutality. To this day there are many Mohammedans in, forinstance, Yünnan, but the revolt there is said to have cost a millionlives. The figures all rest on very rough estimates: in Kansu thepopulation is said to have fallen from fifteen millions to one million;the Turkestan revolt is said to have cost ten million lives. There areno reliable statistics; but it is understandable that at that time thepopulation of China must have fallen considerably, especially if we bearin mind the equally ferocious suppression of the risings of the T'aiP'ing and the Nien Fei within China, and smaller risings of which wehave made no mention. The Mohammedan risings were not elements of a general Mohammedan revolt, but separate events only incidentally connected with each other. Therisings had different causes. An important factor was the generaldistress in China. This was partly due to the fact that the officialswere exploiting the peasant population more ruthlessly than ever. Inaddition to this, owing to the national feeling which had been arousedin so unfortunate a way, the Chinese felt a revulsion againstnon-Chinese, such as the Salars, who were of Turkish race. Here therewere always possibilities of friction, which might have been removedwith a little consideration but which swelled to importance through thetactless behaviour of Chinese officials. Finally there came divisionsamong the Mohammedans of China which led to fighting between themselves. All these risings were marked by two characteristics. They had nogeneral political aim such as the founding of a great and universalIslamic state. Separate states were founded, but they were too small toendure; they would have needed the protection of great states. But theywere not moved by any pan-Islamic idea. Secondly, they all took place onChinese soil, and all the Mohammedans involved, except in the rising ofthe Salars, were Chinese. These Chinese who became Mohammedans arecalled Dungans. The Dungans are, of course, no longer pure Chinese, because Chinese who have gone over to Islam readily form mixedmarriages with Islamic non-Chinese, that is to say with Turks andMongols. The revolt, however, of Yakub Beg in Turkestan had a quite differentcharacter. Yakub Beg (his Chinese name was An Chi-yeh) had risen to theChinese governorship when he made himself ruler of Kashgar. In 1866 hebegan to try to make himself independent of Chinese control. Heconquered Ili, and then in a rapid campaign made himself master of allTurkestan. His state had a much better prospect of endurance than the otherMohammedan states. He had full control of it from 1874. Turkestan wasconnected with China only by the few routes that led between the desertand the Tibetan mountains. The state was supported against China byRussia, which was continually pressing eastward, and in the south byGreat Britain, which was pressing towards Tibet. Farther west was thegreat Ottoman empire; the attempt to gain direct contact with it was nothopeless in itself, and this was recognized at Istanbul. Missions wentto and fro, and Turkish officers came to Yakub Beg and organized hisarmy; Yakub Beg recognized the Turkish sultan as Khalif. He alsoconcluded treaties with Russia and Great Britain. But in spite of allthis he was unable to maintain his hold of Turkestan. In 1877 the famousChinese general Tso Tsung-t'ang (1812-1885), who had fought against theT'ai P'ing and also against the Mohammedans in Kansu, marched intoTurkestan and ended Yakub Beg's rule. Yakub was defeated, however, not so much by Chinese superiority as by acombination of circumstances. In order to build up his kingdom he wascompelled to impose heavy taxation, and this made him unpopular with hisown followers: they had had to pay taxes under the Chinese, but theChinese collection had been much less rigorous than that of Yakub Beg. It was technically impossible for the Ottoman empire to give him anyaid, even had its internal situation permitted it. Britain and Russiawould probably have been glad to see a weakening of the Chinese holdover Turkestan, but they did not want a strong new state there, oncethey had found that neither of them could control the country while itwas in Yakub Beg's hands. In 1881 Russia occupied the Ili region, Yakub's first conquest. In the end the two great powers considered itbetter for Turkestan to return officially into the hands of the weakenedChina, hoping that in practice they would be able to bring Turkestanmore and more under their control. Consequently, when in 1880, threeyears after the removal of Yakub Beg, China sent a mission to Russiawith the request for the return of the Ili region to her, Russia gaveway, and the Treaty of Ili was concluded, ending for the time theRussian penetration of Turkestan. In 1882 the Manchu government raisedTurkestan to a "new frontier" (Sinkiang) with a special administration. This process of colonial penetration of Turkestan continued. Until theend of the first world war there was no fundamental change in thesituation in the country, owing to the rivalry between Great Britain andRussia. But after 1920 a period began in which Turkestan became almostindependent, under a number of rulers of parts of the country. Then, from 1928 onward, a more and more thorough penetration by Russia began, so that by 1940 Turkestan could almost be called a Soviet Republic. Thesecond world war diverted Russian attention to the West, and at the sametime compelled the Chinese to retreat into the interior from theJapanese, so that by 1943 the country was more firmly held by theChinese government than it had been for seventy years. After thecreation of the People's Democracy mass immigration into Sinkiang began, in connection with the development of oil fields and of many newindustries in the border area between Sinkiang and China proper. Roadsand air communications opened Sinkiang. Yet, the differences betweenimmigrant Chinese and local, Muslim Turks, continue to play a role. 9 _Collision with Japan; further Capitulations_ The reign of Wen Tsung (reign name Hsien-feng 1851-1861) was markedthroughout by the T'ai P'ing and other rebellions and by wars with theEuropeans, and that of Mu Tsung (reign name T'ung-chih: 1862-1874) bythe great Mohammedan disturbances. There began also a conflict withJapan which lasted until 1945. Mu Tsung came to the throne as a child offive, and never played a part of his own. It had been the general rulefor princes to serve as regents for minors on the imperial throne, butthis time the princes concerned won such notoriety through theirintrigues that the Peking court circles decided to entrust the regencyto two concubines of the late emperor. One of these, called Tzŭ Hsi(born 1835), of the Manchu tribe of the Yehe-Nara, quickly gained theupper hand. The empress Tzŭ Hsi was one of the strongest personalitiesof the later nineteenth century who played an active part in Chinesepolitical life. She played a more active part than any emperor hadplayed for many decades. Meanwhile great changes had taken place in Japan. The restoration of theMeiji had ended the age of feudalism, at least on the surface. Japanrapidly became Westernized, and at the same time entered on animperialist policy. Her aims from 1868 onward were clear, and remainedunaltered until the end of the second World War: she was to besurrounded by a wide girdle of territories under Japanese domination, inorder to prevent the approach of any enemy to the Japanese homeland. This girdle was divided into several zones--(1) the inner zone with theKurile Islands, Sakhalin, Korea, the Ryukyu archipelago, and Formosa;(2) the outer zone with the Marianne, Philippine, and Caroline Islands, eastern China, Manchuria, and eastern Siberia; (3) the third zone, notclearly defined, including especially the Netherlands Indies, Indo-China, and the whole of China, a zone of undefined extent. Theoutward form of this subjugated region was to be that of the GreaterJapanese Empire, described as the Imperium of the Yellow Race (the mainideas were contained in the Tanaka Memorandum 1927 and in the TadaInterview of 1936). Round Japan, moreover, a girdle was to be created ofproducers of raw materials and purchasers of manufactures, to provideJapanese industry with a market. Japan had sent a delegation of amity toChina as early as 1869, and a first Sino-Japanese treaty was signed in1871; from then on, Japan began to carry out her imperialistic plans. In1874 she attacked the Ryukyu islands and Formosa on the pretext thatsome Japanese had been murdered there. Under the treaty of 1874 Japanwithdrew once more, only demanding a substantial indemnity; but in 1876, in violation of the treaty and without a declaration of war, she annexedthe Ryukyu Islands. In 1876 began the Japanese penetration into Korea;by 1885 she had reached the stage of a declaration that Korea was ajoint sphere of interest of China and Japan; until then China'sprotectorate over Korea had been unchallenged. At the same time (1876)Great Britain had secured further Capitulations in the ChefooConvention; in 1862 France had acquired Cochin China, in 1864 Cambodia, in 1874 Tongking, and in 1883 Annam. This led in 1884 to war betweenFrance and China, in which the French did not by any means gain anindubitable victory; but the Treaty of Tientsin left them with theiracquisitions. Meanwhile, at the beginning of 1875, the young Chinese emperor died ofsmallpox, without issue. Under the influence of the two empresses, whostill remained regents, a cousin of the dead emperor, the three-year-oldprince Tsai T'ien was chosen as emperor Tê Tsung (reign name Kuang-hsü:1875-1909). He came of age in 1889 and took over the government of thecountry. The empress Tzŭ Hsi retired, but did not really relinquish thereins. In 1894 the Sino-Japanese War broke out over Korea, as an outcome of theundefined position that had existed since 1885 owing to theimperialistic policy of the Japanese. China had created a North Chinasquadron, but this was all that can be regarded as Chinese preparationfor the long-expected war. The Governor General of Chihli (nowHopei--the province in which Peking is situated), Li Hung-chang, was ageneral who had done good service, but he lost the war, and atShimonoseki (1895) he had to sign a treaty on very harsh terms, in whichChina relinquished her protectorate over Korea and lost Formosa. Theintervention of France, Germany, and Russia compelled Japan to contentherself with these acquisitions, abandoning her demand for SouthManchuria. 10 _Russia in Manchuria_ After the Crimean War, Russia had turned her attention once more to theEast. There had been hostilities with China over eastern Siberia, whichwere brought to an end in 1858 by the Treaty of Aigun, under which Chinaceded certain territories in northern Manchuria. This made possible thefounding of Vladivostok in 1860. Russia received Sakhalin from Japan in1875 in exchange for the Kurile Islands. She received from China theimportant Port Arthur as a leased territory, and then tried to securethe whole of South Manchuria. This brought Japan's policy of expansioninto conflict with Russia's plans in the Far East. Russia wantedManchuria in order to be able to pursue a policy in the Pacific; butJapan herself planned to march into Manchuria from Korea, of which shealready had possession. This imperialist rivalry made war inevitable:Russia lost the war; under the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905 Russia gaveJapan the main railway through Manchuria, with adjoining territory. ThusManchuria became Japan's sphere of influence and was lost to the Manchuswithout their being consulted in any way. The Japanese penetration ofManchuria then proceeded stage by stage, not without occasionalsetbacks, until she had occupied the whole of Manchuria from 1932 to1945. After the end of the second world war, Manchuria was returned toChina, with certain reservations in favour of the Soviet Union, whichwere later revoked. 11 _Reform and reaction: the Boxer Rising_ China had lost the war with Japan because she was entirely withoutmodern armament. While Japan went to work at once with all her energy toemulate Western industrialization, the ruling class in China had shown amarked repugnance to any modernization; and the centre of thisconservatism was the dowager empress Tzŭ Hsi. She was a woman of strongpersonality, but too uneducated--in the modern sense--to be able torealize that modernization was an absolute necessity for China if it wasto remain an independent state. The empress failed to realize that theEuropeans were fundamentally different from the neighbouring tribes orthe pirates of the past; she had not the capacity to acquire a generalgrasp of the realities of world politics. She felt instinctively thatEuropeanization would wreck the foundations of the power of the Manchusand the gentry, and would bring another class, the middle class and themerchants, into power. There were reasonable men, however, who had seen the necessity ofreform--especially Li Hung-chang, who has already been mentioned. In1896 he went on a mission to Moscow, and then toured Europe. Thereformers were, however, divided into two groups. One group advocatedthe acquisition of a certain amount of technical knowledge from abroadand its introduction by slow reforms, without altering the socialstructure of the state or the composition of the government. The othersheld that the state needed fundamental changes, and that superficialloans from Europe were not enough. The failure in the war with Japanmade the general desire for reform more and more insistent not only inthe country but in Peking. Until now Japan had been despised as abarbarian state; now Japan had won! The Europeans had been despised; nowthey were all cutting bits out of China for themselves, extracting fromthe government one privilege after another, and quite openly dividingChina into "spheres of interest", obviously as the prelude to annexationof the whole country. In Europe at that time the question was being discussed over and overagain, why Japan had so quickly succeeded in making herself a modernpower, and why China was not succeeding in doing so; the Japanese werepraised for their capacity and the Chinese blamed for their lassitude. Both in Europe and in Chinese circles it was overlooked that there werefundamental differences in the social structures of the two countries. The basis of the modern capitalist states of the West is the middleclass. Japan had for centuries had a middle class (the merchants) thathad entered into a symbiosis with the feudal lords. For the middle classthe transition to modern capitalism, and for the feudal lords the way toWestern imperialism, was easy. In China there was only a weak middleclass, vegetating under the dominance of the gentry; the middle classhad still to gain the strength to liberate itself before it could becomethe support for a capitalistic state. And the gentry were still strongenough to maintain their dominance and so to prevent a radicalreconstruction; all they would agree to were a few reforms from whichthey might hope to secure an increase of power for their own ends. In 1895 and in 1898 a scholar, K'ang Yo-wei, who was admitted into thepresence of the emperor, submitted to him memoranda in which he calledfor radical reform. K'ang was a scholar who belonged to the empiricistschool of philosophy of the early Manchu period, the so-called Hanschool. He was a man of strong and persuasive personality, and had suchan influence on the emperor that in 1898 the emperor issued severaledicts ordering the fundamental reorganization of education, law, trade, communications, and the army. These laws were not at all bad inthemselves; they would have paved the way for a liberalization ofChinese society. But they aroused the utmost hatred in the conservativegentry and also in the moderate reformers among the gentry. K'ang Yo-weiand his followers, to whom a number of well-known modern scholarsbelonged, had strong support in South China. We have already mentionedthat owing to the increased penetration of European goods and ideas, South China had become more progressive than the north; this had addedto the tension already existing for other reasons between north andsouth. In foreign policy the north was more favourable to Russia andradically opposed to Japan and Great Britain; the south was in favour ofco-operation with Britain and Japan, in order to learn from those twostates how reform could be carried through. In the north the men of thesouth were suspected of being anti-Manchu and revolutionary in feeling. This was to some extent true, though K'ang Yo-wei and his friends wereas yet largely unconscious of it. When the empress Tzŭ Hsi saw that the emperor was actually thinkingabout reforms, she went to work with lightning speed. Very soon thereformers had to flee; those who failed to make good their escape werearrested and executed. The emperor was made a prisoner in a palace nearPeking, and remained a captive until his death; the empress resumed herregency on his behalf. The period of reforms lasted only for a fewmonths of 1898. A leading part in the extermination of the reformers wasplayed by troops from Kansu under the command of a Mohammedan, TungFu-hsiang. General Yüan Shih-k'ai, who was then stationed at Tientsin incommand of 7, 000 troops with modern equipment, the only ones in China, could have removed the empress and protected the reformers; but he wasalready pursuing a personal policy, and thought it safer to give thereformers no help. There now began, from 1898, a thoroughly reactionary rule of the dowagerempress. But China's general situation permitted no breathing-space. In1900 came the so-called Boxer Rising, a new popular movement against thegentry and the Manchus similar to the many that had preceded it. ThePeking government succeeded, however, in negotiations that brought themovement into the service of the government and directed it against theforeigners. This removed the danger to the government and at the sametime helped it against the hated foreigners. But incidents resultedwhich the Peking government had not anticipated. An international armywas sent to China, and marched from Tientsin against Peking, to liberatethe besieged European legations and to punish the government. TheEuropeans captured Peking (1900); the dowager empress and her prisoner, the emperor, had to flee; some of the palaces were looted. The peacetreaty that followed exacted further concessions from China to theEuropeans and enormous war indemnities, the payment of which continuedinto the 1940's, though most of the states placed the money at China'sdisposal for educational purposes. When in 1902 the dowager empressreturned to Peking and put the emperor back into his palace-prison, shewas forced by what had happened to realize that at all events a certainmeasure of reform was necessary. The reforms, however, which shedecreed, mainly in 1904, were very modest and were never fully carriedout. They were only intended to make an impression on the outer worldand to appease the continually growing body of supporters of the reformparty, especially numerous in South China. The south remained, nevertheless, a focus of hostility to the Manchus. After his failure in1898, K'ang Yo-wei went to Europe, and no longer played any importantpolitical part. His place was soon taken by a young Chinese physicianwho had been living abroad, Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), who turned thereform party into a middle-class revolutionary party. 12 _End of the dynasty_ Meanwhile the dowager empress held her own. General Yüan Shih-k'ai, whohad played so dubious a part in 1898, was not impeccably loyal to her, and remained unreliable. He was beyond challenge the strongest man inthe country, for he possessed the only modern army; but he was stillbiding his time. In 1908 the dowager empress fell ill; she was seventy-four years old. When she felt that her end was near, she seems to have had the captiveemperor Tê Tsung assassinated (at 5 p. M. On November 14th); she herselfdied next day (November 15th, 2 p. M. ): she was evidently determined thatthis man, whom she had ill-treated and oppressed all his life, shouldnot regain independence. As Tê Tsung had no children, she nominated onthe day of her death the two-year-old prince P'u Yi as emperor (reignname Hsüan-t'ung, 1909-1911). The fact that another child was to reign and a new regency to act forhim, together with all the failures in home and foreign policy, broughtfurther strength to the revolutionary party. The government believedthat it could only maintain itself if it allowed Yüan Shih-k'ai, thecommander of the modern troops, to come to power. The chief regent, however, worked against Yüan Shih-k'ai and dismissed him at thebeginning of 1909; Yüan's supporters remained at their posts. Yüanhimself now entered into relations with the revolutionaries, whosecentre was Canton, and whose undisputed leader was now Sun Yat-sen. Atthis time Sun and his supporters had already made attempts atrevolution, but without success, as his following was as yet too small. It consisted mainly of young intellectuals who had been educated inEurope and America; the great mass of the Chinese people remainedunconvinced: the common people could not understand the new ideals, andthe middle class did not entirely trust the young intellectuals. The state of China in 1911 was as lamentable as could be: the Europeanstates, Russia, America, and Japan regarded China as a field for theirown plans, and in their calculations paid scarcely any attention to theChinese government. Foreign capital was penetrating everywhere in theform of loans or railway and other enterprises. If it had not been forthe mutual rivalries of the powers, China would long ago have beenannexed by one of them. The government needed a great deal of money forthe payment of the war indemnities, and for carrying out the few reformsat last decided on. In order to get money from the provinces, it had topermit the viceroys even more freedom than they already possessed. Theresult was a spectacle altogether resembling that of the end of theT'ang dynasty, about A. D. 900: the various governors were trying to makethemselves independent. In addition to this there was the revolutionarymovement in the south. The government made some concession to the progressives, by providingthe first beginnings of parliamentary rule. In 1910 a national assemblywas convoked. It had a Lower House with representatives of the provinces(provincial diets were also set up), and an Upper House, in which satrepresentatives of the imperial house, the nobility, the gentry, andalso the protectorates. The members of the Upper House were allnominated by the regent. It very soon proved that the members of theLower House, mainly representatives of the provincial gentry, had a muchmore practical outlook than the routineers of Peking. Thus the LowerHouse grew in importance, a fact which, of course, brought grist to themills of the revolutionary movement. In 1910 the first risings directed actually against the regency tookplace, in the province of Hunan. In 1911 the "railway disturbances"broke out in western China as a reply of the railway shareholders in theprovince of Szechwan to the government decree of nationalization of allthe railways. The modernist students, most of whom were sons ofmerchants who owned railway shares, supported the movement, and thegovernment was unable to control them. At the same time a greatanti-Manchu revolution began in Wuch'ang, one of the cities of whichWuhan, on the Yangtze, now consists. The revolution was the result ofgovernment action against a group of terrorists. Its leader was anofficer named Li Yüan-hung. The Manchus soon had some success in thisquarter, but the other provincial governors now rose in rapidsuccession, repudiated the Manchus, and declared themselves independent. Most of the Manchu garrisons in the provinces were murdered. Thegovernors remained at the head of their troops in their provinces, andfor the moment made common cause with the revolutionaries, from whomthey meant to break free at the first opportunity. The Manchusthemselves failed at first to realize the gravity of the revolutionarymovement; they then fell into panic-stricken desperation. As a lastresource, Yüan Shih-k'ai was recalled (November 10th, 1911) and madeprime minister. Yüan's excellent troops were loyal to his person, and he could have madeuse of them in fighting on behalf of the dynasty. But a victory wouldhave brought no personal gain to him; for his personal plans heconsidered that the anti-Manchu side provided the springboard he needed. The revolutionaries, for their part, had no choice but to win over YüanShih-k'ai for the sake of his troops, since they were not themselvesstrong enough to get rid of the Manchus, or even to wrest concessionsfrom them, so long as the Manchus were defended by Yüan's army. ThusYüan and the revolutionaries were forced into each other's arms. He thenbegan negotiations with them, explaining to the imperial house that thedynasty could only be saved by concessions. The revolutionaries--apartfrom their desire to neutralize the prime minister and general, if notto bring him over to their side--were also readier than ever tonegotiate, because they were short of money and unable to obtain loansfrom abroad, and because they could not themselves gain control of theindividual governors. The negotiations, which had been carried on atShanghai, were broken off on December 18th, 1911, because therevolutionaries demanded a republic, but the imperial house was onlyready to grant a constitutional monarchy. Meanwhile the revolutionaries set up a provisional government at Nanking(December 29th, 1911), with Sun Yat-sen as president and Li Yüan-hung asvice-president. Yüan Shih-k'ai now declared to the imperial house thatthe monarchy could no longer be defended, as his troops were toounreliable, and he induced the Manchu government to issue an edict onFebruary 12th, 1912, in which they renounced the throne of China anddeclared the Republic to be the constitutional form of state. The youngemperor of the Hsüan-t'ung period, after the Japanese conquest ofManchuria in 1931, was installed there. He was, however, entirelywithout power during the melancholy years of his nominal rule, whichlasted until 1945. In 1912 the Manchu dynasty came in reality to its end. On the news ofthe abdication of the imperial house, Sun Yat-sen resigned in Nanking, and recommended Yüan Shih-k'ai as president. Chapter Eleven THE REPUBLIC (1912-1948) 1 _Social and intellectual position_ In order to understand the period that now followed, let us firstconsider the social and intellectual position in China in the periodbetween 1911 and 1927. The Manchu dynasty was no longer there, nor werethere any remaining real supporters of the old dynasty. The gentry, however, still existed. Alongside it was a still numerically smallmiddle class, with little political education or enlightenment. The political interests of these two groups were obviously in conflict. But after 1912 there had been big changes. The gentry were largely in aprocess of decomposition. They still possessed the basis of theirexistence, their land, but the land was falling in value, as there werenow other opportunities of capital investment, such as export-import, shareholding in foreign enterprises, or industrial undertakings. It isimportant to note, however, that there was not much fluid capital attheir disposal. In addition to this, cheaper rice and other foodstuffswere streaming from abroad into China, bringing the prices for Chinesefoodstuffs down to the world market prices, another painful businessblow to the gentry. Silk had to meet the competition of Japanese silkand especially of rayon; the Chinese silk was of very unequal qualityand sold with difficulty. On the other hand, through the influence ofthe Western capitalistic system, which was penetrating more and moreinto China, land itself became "capital", an object of speculation forpeople with capital; its value no longer depended entirely on the rentsit could yield but, under certain circumstances, on quite otherthings--the construction of railways or public buildings, and so on. These changes impoverished and demoralized the gentry, who in the courseof the past century had grown fewer in number. The gentry were not in aposition to take part fully in the capitalist manipulations, becausethey had never possessed much capital; their wealth had lain entirelyin their land, and the income from their rents was consumed quiteunproductively in luxurious living. Moreover, the class solidarity of the gentry was dissolving. In thepast, politics had been carried on by cliques of gentry families, withthe emperor at their head as an unchangeable institution. This edificehad now lost its summit; the struggles between cliques still went on, but entirely without the control which the emperor's power had after allexercised, as a sort of regulative element in the play of forces amongthe gentry. The arena for this competition had been the court. After thedestruction of the arena, the field of play lost its boundaries: thestruggles between cliques no longer had a definite objective; the onlyobjective left was the maintenance or securing of any and every hold onpower. Under the new conditions cliques or individuals among the gentrycould only ally themselves with the possessors of military power, thegenerals or governors. In this last stage the struggle between rivalgroups turned into a rivalry between individuals. Family ties began toweaken and other ties, such as between school mates, or origin from thesame village or town, became more important than they had been before. For the securing of the aim in view any means were consideredjustifiable. Never was there such bribery and corruption among theofficials as in the years after 1912. This period, until 1927, maytherefore be described as a period of dissolution and destruction of thesocial system of the gentry. Over against this dying class of the gentry stood, broadly speaking, atripartite opposition. To begin with, there was the new middle class, divided and without clear political ideas; anti-dynastic of course, butundecided especially as to the attitude it should adopt towards thepeasants who, to this day, form over 80 per cent of the Chinesepopulation. The middle class consisted mainly of traders and bankers, whose aim was the introduction of Western capitalism in association withforeign powers. There were also young students who were often the sonsof old gentry families and had been sent abroad for study with grantsgiven them by their friends and relatives in the government; or sons ofbusinessmen sent away by their fathers. These students not alwaysaccepted the ideas of their fathers; they were influenced by theideologies of the West, Marxist or non-Marxist, and often created clubsor groups in the University cities of Europe or the United States. Suchgroups of people who had studied together or passed the exams together, had already begun to play a role in politics in the nineteenth century. Now, the influence of such organizations of usually informal characterincreased. Against the returned students who often had difficulties inadjustment, stood the students at Chinese Universities, especially theNational University in Peking (Peita). They represented people of thesame origin, but of the lower strata of the gentry or of business; theywere more nationalistic and politically active and often less influencedby Western ideologies. In the second place, there was a relatively very small genuineproletariat, the product of the first activities of big capitalists inChina, found mainly in Shanghai. Thirdly and finally, there was agigantic peasantry, uninterested in politics and uneducated, but readyto give unthinking allegiance to anyone who promised to make an end ofthe intolerable conditions in the matter of rents and taxes, conditionsthat were growing steadily worse with the decay of the gentry. Thesepeasants were thinking of popular risings on the pattern of all therisings in the history of China--attacks on the towns and the killing ofthe hated landowners, officials, and money-lenders, that is to say ofthe gentry. Such was the picture of the middle class and those who were ready tosupport it, a group with widely divergent interests, held together onlyby its opposition to the gentry system and the monarchy. It could notbut be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve politicalsuccess with such a group. Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), the "Father of theRepublic", accordingly laid down three stages of progress in his manyworks, of which the best-known are _San-min chu-i_, ("The ThreePrinciples of the People"), and _Chien-kuo fang-lüeh_ ("Plans for theBuilding up of the Realm"). The three phases of development throughwhich republican China was to pass were: the phase of struggle againstthe old system, the phase of educative rule, and the phase of trulydemocratic government. The phase of educative rule was to be a sort ofauthoritarian system with a democratic content, under which the peopleshould be familiarized with democracy and enabled to grow politicallyripe for true democracy. Difficult as was the internal situation from the social point of view, it was no less difficult in economic respects. China had recognized thatshe must at least adopt Western technical and industrial progress inorder to continue to exist as an independent state. But the building upof industry demanded large sums of money. The existing Chinese bankswere quite incapable of providing the capital needed; but the acceptanceof capital from abroad led at once, every time, to further politicalcapitulations. The gentry, who had no cash worth mention, were violentlyopposed to the capitalization of their properties, and were in favour ofcontinuing as far as possible to work the soil in the old style. Quiteapart from all this, all over the country there were generals who hadcome from the ranks of the gentry, and who collected the whole of thefinancial resources of their region for the support of their privatearmies. Investors had little confidence in the republican government solong as they could not tell whether the government would decide infavour of its right or of its left wing. No less complicated was the intellectual situation at this time. Confucianism, and the whole of the old culture and morality bound upwith it, was unacceptable to the middle-class element. In the firstplace, Confucianism rejected the principle, required at least in theoryby the middle class, of the equality of all people; secondly, theConfucian great-family system was irreconcilable with middle-classindividualism, quite apart from the fact that the Confucian form ofstate could only be a monarchy. Every attempt to bolster up Confucianismin practice or theory was bound to fail and did fail. Even the gentrycould scarcely offer any real defence of the Confucian system anylonger. With Confucianism went the moral standards especially of theupper classes of society. Taoism was out of the question as asubstitute, because of its anarchistic and egocentric character. Consequently, in these years, part of the gentry turned to Buddhism andpart to Christianity. Some of the middle class who had come underEuropean influence also turned to Christianity, regarding it as a partof the European civilization they had to adopt. Others adhered to modernphilosophic systems such as pragmatism and positivism. Marxist doctrinesspread rapidly. Education was secularized. Great efforts were made to develop modernschools, though the work of development was continually hindered by theincessant political unrest. Only at the universities, which became fociof republican and progressive opinion, was any positive achievementpossible. Many students and professors were active in politics, organizing demonstrations and strikes. They pursued a strong nationalpolicy, often also socialistic. At the same time real scientific workwas done; many young scholars of outstanding ability were trained at theChinese universities, often better than the students who went abroad. There is a permanent disagreement between these two groups of young menwith a modern education: the students who return from abroad claim to bebetter educated, but in reality they often have only a very superficialknowledge of things modern and none at all of China, her history, andher special circumstances. The students of the Chinese universities havebeen much better instructed in all the things that concern China, andmost of them are in no way behind the returned students in the modernsciences. They are therefore a much more serviceable element. The intellectual modernization of China goes under the name of the"Movement of May Fourth", because on May 4th, 1919, students of theNational University in Peking demonstrated against the government andtheir pro-Japanese adherents. When the police attacked the students andjailed some, more demonstrations and student strikes and finally ageneral boycott of Japanese imports were the consequence. In theseprotest actions, professors such as Ts'ai Yüan-p'ei, later president ofthe Academia Sinica (died 1940), took an active part. The forces whichhad now been mobilized, rallied around the journal "New Youth" (_HsinCh'ing-nien_), created in 1915 by Ch'en Tu-hsiu. The journal wasprogressive, against the monarchy, Confucius, and the old traditions. Ch'en Tu-hsiu who put himself strongly behind the students, was moreradical than other contributors but at first favoured Western democracyand Western science; he was influenced mainly by John Dewey who wasguest professor in Peking in 1919-20. Similarly tending towardsliberalism in politics and Dewey's ideas in the field of philosophy wereothers, mainly Hu Shih. Finally, some reformers criticizedconservativism purely on the basis of Chinese thought. Hu Shih (born1892) gained greatest acclaim by his proposal for a "literaryrevolution", published in the "New Youth" in 1917. This revolution wasthe logically necessary application of the political revolution to thefield of education. The new "vernacular" took place of the old"classical" literary language. The language of the classical works is soremote from the language of daily life that no uneducated person canunderstand it. A command of it requires a full knowledge of all theancient literature, entailing decades of study. The gentry hadelaborated this style of speech for themselves and their dependants; itwas their monopoly; nobody who did not belong to the gentry and had notattended its schools could take part in literary or in administrativelife. The literary revolution introduced the language of daily life, thelanguage of the people, into literature: newspapers, novels, scientifictreatises, translations, appeared in the vernacular, and could thus beunderstood by anyone who could read and write, even if he had noConfucianist education. It may be said that the literary revolution has achieved its mainobjects. As a consequence of it, a great quantity of new literature hasbeen published. Not only is every important new book that appears in theWest published in translation within a few months, but modern novels andshort stories and poems have been written, some of them of high literaryvalue. At the same time as this revolution there took place another fundamentalchange in the language. It was necessary to take over a vast number ofnew scientific and technical terms. As Chinese, owing to the characterof its script, is unable to write foreign words accurately and can do nomore than provide a rather rough paraphrase, the practice was started ofexpressing new ideas by newly formed native words. Thus modern Chinesehas very few foreign words, and yet it has all the new ideas. Forexample, a telegram is a "lightning-letter"; a wireless telegram is a"not-have-wire-lightning-communication"; a fountain-pen is a"self-flow-ink-water-brush"; a typewriter is a "strike-letter-machine". Most of these neologisms are similar in the modern languages of Chinaand Japan. There had been several proposals in recent decades to do away with theChinese characters and to introduce an alphabet in their place. Theyhave all proved to be unsatisfactory so far, because the character ofthe Chinese language, as it is at this moment, is unsuited to analphabetical script. They would also destroy China's cultural unity:there are many dialects in China that differ so greatly from each otherthat, for instance, a man from Canton cannot understand a man fromShanghai. If Chinese were written with letters, the result would be aCanton literature and another literature confined to Shanghai, and Chinawould break up into a number of areas with different languages. The oldChinese writing is independent of pronunciation. A Cantonese and aPekinger can read each other's newspapers without difficulty. Theypronounce the words quite differently, but the meaning is unaltered. Even a Japanese can understand a Chinese newspaper without special studyof Chinese, and a Chinese with a little preparation can read a Japanesenewspaper without understanding a single word of Japanese. The aim of modern education in China is to work towards theestablishment of "High Chinese", the former official (Mandarin)language, throughout the country, and to set limits to the use of thevarious dialects. Once this has been done, it will be possible toproceed to a radical reform of the script without running the risk ofpolitical separatist movements, which are always liable to spring up, and also without leading, through the adoption of various dialects asthe basis of separate literatures, to the break-up of China's culturalunity. In the last years, the unification of the spoken language hasmade great progress. Yet, alphabetic script is used only in cases inwhich illiterate adults have to be enabled in a short time to read verysimple informations. More attention is given to a simplification of thescript as it is; Japanese had started this some forty years earlier. Unfortunately, the new Chinese abbreviated forms of characters are notalways identical with long-established Japanese forms, and are notdeveloped in such a systematic form as would make learning of Chinesecharacters easier. 2 _First period of the Republic: The warlords_ The situation of the Republic after its foundation was far from hopeful. Republican feeling existed only among the very small groups of studentswho had modern education, and a few traders, in other words, among the"middle class". And even in the revolutionary party to which thesegroups belonged there were the most various conceptions of the form ofrepublican state to be aimed at. The left wing of the party, mainlyintellectuals and manual workers, had in view more or less vaguesocialistic institutions; the liberals, for instance the traders, thought of a liberal democracy, more or less on the American pattern;and the nationalists merely wanted the removal of the alien Manchu rule. The three groups had come together for the practical reason that only socould they get rid of the dynasty. They gave unreserved allegiance toSun Yat-sen as their leader. He succeeded in mobilizing the enthusiasmof continually widening circles for action, not only by the integrity ofhis aims but also because he was able to present the new socialisticideology in an alluring form. The anti-republican gentry, however, whosepower was not yet entirely broken, took a stand against the party. Thegenerals who had gone over to the republicans had not the slightestintention of founding a republic, but only wanted to get rid of the ruleof the Manchus and to step into their place. This was true also of YüanShih-k'ai, who in his heart was entirely on the side of the gentry, although the European press especially had always energetically defendedhim. In character and capacity he stood far above the other generals, but he was no republican. Thus the first period of the Republic, until 1927, was marked byincessant attempts by individual generals to make themselvesindependent. The Government could not depend on its soldiers, and so wasimpotent. The first risings of military units began at the outset of1912. The governors and generals who wanted to make themselvesindependent sabotaged every decree of the central government; especiallythey sent it no money from the provinces and also refused to give theirassent to foreign loans. The province of Canton, the actual birthplaceof the republican movement and the focus of radicalism, declared itselfin 1912 an independent republic. Within the Peking government matters soon came to a climax. YüanShih-k'ai and his supporters represented the conservative view, with theunexpressed but obvious aim of setting up a new imperial house andcontinuing the old gentry system. Most of the members of the parliamentcame, however, from the middle class and were opposed to any reaction ofthis sort. One of their leaders was murdered, and the blame was thrownupon Yüan Shih-k'ai; there then came, in the middle of 1912, a newrevolution, in which the radicals made themselves independent and triedto gain control of South China. But Yüan Shih-k'ai commanded bettertroops and won the day. At the end of October 1912 he was elected, against the opposition, as president of China, and the new state wasrecognized by foreign countries. China's internal difficulties reacted on the border states, in which theEuropean powers were keenly interested. The powers considered that thetime had come to begin the definitive partition of China. Thus therewere long negotiations and also hostilities between China and Tibet, which was supported by Great Britain. The British demanded the completeseparation of Tibet from China, but the Chinese rejected this (1912);the rejection was supported by a boycott of British goods. In the endthe Tibet question was left undecided. Tibet remained until recent yearsa Chinese dependency with a good deal of internal freedom. The SecondWorld War and the Chinese retreat into the interior brought many Chinesesettlers into Eastern Tibet which was then separated from Tibet properand made a Chinese province (Hsi-k'ang) in which the native Khamba willsoon be a minority. The communist régime soon after its establishmentconquered Tibet (1950) and has tried to change the character of itssociety and its system of government which lead to the unsuccessfulattempt of the Tibetans to throw off Chinese rule (1959) and the flightof the Dalai Lama to India. The construction of highways, air andmissile bases and military occupation have thus tied Tibet closer toChina than ever since early Manchu times. In Outer Mongolia Russian interests predominated. In 1911 there werediplomatic incidents in connection with the Mongolian question. At theend of 1911 the Hutuktu of Urga declared himself independent, and theChinese were expelled from the country. A secret treaty was concluded in1912 with Russia, under which Russia recognized the independence ofOuter Mongolia, but was accorded an important part as adviser and helperin the development of the country. In 1913 a Russo-Chinese treaty wasconcluded, under which the autonomy of Outer Mongolia was recognized, but Mongolia became a part of the Chinese realm. After the Russianrevolution had begun, revolution was carried also into Mongolia. Thecountry suffered all the horrors of the struggles between White Russians(General Ungern-Sternberg) and the Reds; there were also Chineseattempts at intervention, though without success, until in the endMongolia became a Soviet Republic. As such she is closely associatedwith Soviet Russia. China, however, did not quickly recognize Mongolia'sindependence, and in his work _China's Destiny_ (1944) Chiang Kai-shekinsisted that China's aim remained the recovery of the frontiers of1840, which means among other things the recovery of Outer Mongolia. Inspite of this, after the Second World War Chiang Kai-shek had torenounce _de jure_ all rights in Outer Mongolia. Inner Mongolia wasalways united to China much more closely; only for a time during the warwith Japan did the Japanese maintain there a puppet government. Thedisappearance of this government went almost unnoticed. At the time when Russian penetration into Mongolia began, Japan hadentered upon a similar course in Manchuria, which she regarded as her"sphere of influence". On the outbreak of the first world war Japanoccupied the former German-leased territory of Tsingtao, at theextremity of the province of Shantung, and from that point she occupiedthe railways of the province. Her plan was to make the whole province aprotectorate; Shantung is rich in coal and especially in metals. Japan'splans were revealed in the notorious "Twenty-one Demands" (1915). Against the furious opposition especially of the students of Peking, Yüan Shih-k'ai's government accepted the greater part of these demands. In negotiations with Great Britain, in which Japan took advantage of theBritish commitments in Europe, Japan had to be conceded the predominantposition in the Far East. Meanwhile Yüan Shih-k'ai had made all preparations for turning theRepublic once more into an empire, in which he would be emperor; theempire was to be based once more on the gentry group. In 1914 he securedan amendment of the Constitution under which the governing power was tobe entirely in the hands of the president; at the end of 1914 he securedhis appointment as president for life, and at the end of 1915 he inducedthe parliament to resolve that he should become emperor. This naturally aroused the resentment of the republicans, but it alsoannoyed the generals belonging to the gentry, who had had the sameambition. Thus there were disturbances, especially in the south, whereSun Yat-sen with his followers agitated for a democratic republic. Theforeign powers recognized that a divided China would be much easier topenetrate and annex than a united China, and accordingly opposed YüanShih-k'ai. Before he could ascend the throne, he died suddenly--andthis terminated the first attempt to re-establish monarchy. Yüan was succeeded as president by Li Yüan-hung. Meanwhile fiveprovinces had declared themselves independent. Foreign pressure on Chinasteadily grew. She was forced to declare war on Germany, and though thismade no practical difference to the war, it enabled the European powersto penetrate further into China. Difficulties grew to such an extent in1917 that a dictatorship was set up and soon after came an interlude, the recall of the Manchus and the reinstatement of the deposed emperor(July 1st-8th, 1917). This led to various risings of generals, each aiming simply at thesatisfaction of his thirst for personal power. Ultimately the victoriousgroup of generals, headed by Tuan Ch'i-jui, secured the election of FêngKuo-chang in place of the retiring president. Fêng was succeeded at theend of 1918 by Hsü Shih-ch'ang, who held office until 1922. Hsü, as aformer ward of the emperor, was a typical representative of the gentry, and was opposed to all republican reforms. The south held aloof from these northern governments. In Canton anopposition government was set up, formed mainly of followers of SunYat-sen; the Peking government was unable to remove the Cantongovernment. But the Peking government and its president scarcely countedany longer even in the north. All that counted were the generals, themost prominent of whom were: (1) Chang Tso-lin, who had control ofManchuria and had made certain terms with Japan, but who was ultimatelymurdered by the Japanese (1928); (2) Wu P'ei-fu, who held North China;(3) the so-called "Christian general", Fêng Yü-hsiang, and (4) Ts'aoK'un, who became president in 1923. At the end of the first world war Japan had a hold over China amountingalmost to military control of the country. China did not sign the Treatyof Versailles, because she considered that she had been duped by Japan, since Japan had driven the Germans out of China but had not returned theliberated territory to the Chinese. In 1921 peace was concluded withGermany, the German privileges being abolished. The same applied toAustria. Russia, immediately after the setting up of the Sovietgovernment, had renounced all her rights under the Capitulations. Thiswas the first step in the gradual rescinding of the Capitulations; thelast of them went only in 1943, as a consequence of the difficultsituation of the Europeans and Americans in the Pacific produced by theSecond World War. At the end of the first world war the foreign powers revised theirattitude towards China. The idea of territorial partitioning of thecountry was replaced by an attempt at financial exploitation; militaryfriction between the Western powers and Japan was in this way to beminimized. Financial control was to be exercised by an internationalbanking consortium (1920). It was necessary for political reasons thatthis committee should be joined by Japan. After her Twenty-one Demands, however, Japan was hated throughout China. During the world war she hadgiven loans to the various governments and rebels, and in this way hadsecured one privilege after another. Consequently China declined thebanking consortium. She tried to secure capital from her own resources;but in the existing political situation and the acute economicdepression internal loans had no success. In an agreement between the United States and Japan in 1917, the UnitedStates, in consequence of the war, had had to give their assent tospecial rights for Japan in China. After the war the internationalconference at Washington (November 1921-February 1922) tried to setnarrower limits to Japan's influence over China, and also tore-determine the relative strength in the Pacific of the four greatpowers (America, Britain, France, Japan). After the failure of thebanking plan this was the last means of preventing military conflictsbetween the powers in the Far East. This brought some relief to China, as Japan had to yield for the time to the pressure of the westernpowers. The years that followed until 1927 were those of the complete collapseof the political power of the Peking government--years of entiredissolution. In the south Sun Yat-sen had been elected generalissimo in1921. In 1924 he was re-elected with a mandate for a campaign againstthe north. In 1924 there also met in Canton the first general congressof the Kuomintang ("People's Party"). The Kuomintang (in 1929 it had653, 000 members, or roughly 0. 15 per cent of the population) is thecontinuation of the Komingtang ("Revolutionary Party") founded by SunYat-sen, which as a middle-class party had worked for the removal of thedynasty. The new Kuomintang was more socialistic, as is shown by itsadmission of Communists and the stress laid upon land reform. At the end of 1924 Sun Yat-sen with some of his followers went toPeking, to discuss the possibility of a reunion between north and southon the basis of the programme of the People's Party. There, however, hedied at the beginning of 1925, before any definite results had beenattained; there was no prospect of achieving anything by thenegotiations, and the south broke them off. But the death of Sun Yat-senhad been followed after a time by tension within the party between itsright and left wings. The southern government had invited a number ofRussian advisers in 1923 to assist in building up the administration, civil and military, and on their advice the system of government hadbeen reorganized on lines similar to those of the soviet and commissarsystem. This change had been advocated by an old friend of Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, who later married Sun's sister-in-law. Chiang Kai-shek, who was born in 1886, was the head of the military academy at Whampoa, near Canton, where Russian instructors were at work. The new system wasapproved by Sun Yat-sen's successor, Hu Han-min (who died in 1936), inhis capacity of party leader. It was opposed by the elements of theright, who at first had little influence. Chiang Kai-shek soon becameone of the principal leaders of the south, as he had command of theefficient troops of Canton, who had been organized by the Russians. The People's Party of the south and its governments, at that time fairlyradical in politics, were disliked by the foreign powers; only Japansupported them for a time, owing to the anti-British feeling of theSouth Chinese and in order to further her purpose of maintainingdisunion in China. The first serious collision with the outer world cameon May 30th, 1925, when British soldiers shot at a crowd demonstratingin Shanghai. This produced a widespread boycott of British goods inCanton and in British Hong Kong, inflicting a great loss on Britishtrade with China and bringing considerable advantages in consequence toJapanese trade and shipping: from the time of this boycott began theJapanese grip on Chinese coastwise shipping. The second party congress was held in Canton in 1926. Chiang Kai-shekalready played a prominent part. The People's Party, under ChiangKai-shek and with the support of the communists, began the greatcampaign against the north. At first it had good success: the variousprovincial governors and generals and the Peking government were playedoff against each other, and in a short time one leader after another wasdefeated. The Yangtze was reached, and in 1926 the southern governmentmoved to Hankow. All over the southern provinces there now came agenuine rising of the masses of the people, mainly the result ofcommunist propaganda and of the government's promise to give land to thepeasants, to set limits to the big estates, and to bring order into thetaxation. In spite of its communist element, at the beginning of 1927the southern government was essentially one of the middle class and thepeasantry, with a socialistic tendency. 3 _Second period of the Republic: Nationalist China_ With the continued success of the northern campaign, and with ChiangKai-shek's southern army at the gates of Shanghai (March 21st, 1927), adecision had to be taken. Should the left wing be allowed to gain theupper hand, and the great capitalists of Shanghai be expropriated as itwas proposed to expropriate the gentry? Or should the right wingprevail, an alliance be concluded with the capitalists, and limits beset to the expropriation of landed estates? Chiang Kai-shek, through hismarriage with Sun Yat-sen's wife's sister, had become allied with one ofthe greatest banking families. In the days of the siege of ShanghaiChiang, together with his closest colleagues (with the exception of HuHan-min and Wang Chying-wei, a leader who will be mentioned later), decided on the second alternative. Shanghai came into his hands withouta struggle, and the capital of the Shanghai financiers, and soon foreigncapital as well, was placed at his disposal, so that he was able to payhis troops and finance his administration. At the same time the Russianadvisers were dismissed or executed. The decision arrived at by Chiang Kai-shek and his friends did notremain unopposed, and he parted from the "left group" (1927) whichformed a rival government in Hankow, while Chiang Kai-shek made Nankingthe seat of his government (April 1927). In that year Chiang not onlyconcluded peace with the financiers and industrialists, but also a sortof "armistice" with the landowning gentry. "Land reform" still stood onthe party programme, but nothing was done, and in this way theconfidence and cooperation of large sections of the gentry was secured. The choice of Nanking as the new capital pleased both the industrialistsand the agrarians: the great bulk of China's young industries lay in theYangtze region, and that region was still the principal one foragricultural produce; the landowners of the region were also in a betterposition with the great market of the capital in their neighbourhood. Meanwhile the Nanking government had succeeded in carrying its dealingswith the northern generals to a point at which they were largelyout-manœuvred and became ready for some sort of collaboration (1928). There were now four supreme commanders--Chiang Kai-shek, Fêng Yü-hsiang(the "Christian general"), Yen Hsi-shan, the governor of Shansi, and theMuslim Li Chung-yen. Naturally this was not a permanent solution; notonly did Chiang Kai-shek's three rivals try to free themselves from hisever-growing influence and to gain full power themselves, but variousgroups under military leadership rose again and again, even in the homeof the Republic, Canton itself. These struggles, which were carried onmore by means of diplomacy and bribery than at arms, lasted until 1936. Chiang Kai-shek, as by far the most skilful player in this game, and atthe same time the man who had the support of the foreign governmentsand of the financiers of Shanghai, gained the victory. China becameunified under his dictatorship. As early as 1928, when there seemed a possibility of uniting China, withthe exception of Manchuria, which was dominated by Japan, and when theEuropean powers began more and more to support Chiang Kai-shek, Japanfelt that her interests in North China were threatened, and landedtroops in Shantung. There was hard fighting on May 3rd, 1928. GeneralChang Tso-lin, in Manchuria, who was allied to Japan, endeavoured tosecure a cessation of hostilities, but he fell victim to a Japaneseassassin; his place was taken by his son, Chang Hsüeh-liang, who pursuedan anti-Japanese policy. The Japanese recognized, however, that in viewof the international situation the time had not yet come forintervention in North China. In 1929 they withdrew their troops andconcentrated instead on their plans for Manchuria. Until the time of the "Manchurian incident" (1931), the Nankinggovernment steadily grew in strength. It gained the confidence of thewestern powers, who proposed to make use of it in opposition to Japan'spolicy of expansion in the Pacific sphere. On the strength of thisfavourable situation in its foreign relations, the Nanking governmentsucceeded in getting rid of one after another of the Capitulations. Above all, the administration of the "Maritime Customs", that is to sayof the collection of duties on imports and exports, was brought underthe control of the Chinese government: until then it had been underforeign control. Now that China could act with more freedom in thematter of tariffs, the government had greater financial resources, andthrough this and other measures it became financially more independentof the provinces. It succeeded in building up a small but modern army, loyal to the government and superior to the still existing provincialarmies. This army gained its military experience in skirmishes with theCommunists and the remaining generals. It is true that when in 1931 the Japanese occupied Manchuria, Nankingwas helpless, since Manchuria was only loosely associated with Nanking, and its governor, Chang Hsüeh-liang, had tried to remain independent ofit. Thus Manchuria was lost almost without a blow. On the other hand, the fighting with Japan that broke out soon afterwards in Shanghaibrought credit to the young Nanking army, though owing to its numericalinferiority it was unsuccessful. China protested to the League ofNations against its loss of Manchuria. The League sent a commission (theLytton Commission), which condemned Japan's action, but nothing furtherhappened, and China indignantly broke away from her association withthe Western powers (1932-1933). In view of the tense European situation(the beginning of the Hitler era in Germany, and the Italian plans ofexpansion), the Western powers did not want to fight Japan on China'sbehalf, and without that nothing more could be done. They pursued, indeed, a policy of playing off Japan against China, in order to keepthose two powers occupied with each other, and so to divert Japan fromIndo-China and the Pacific. China had thus to be prepared for being involved one day in a great warwith Japan. Chiang Kai-shek wanted to postpone war as long as possible. He wanted time to establish his power more thoroughly within thecountry, and to strengthen his army. In regard to external relations, the great powers would have to decide their attitude sooner or later. America could not be expected to take up a clear attitude: she was forpeace and commerce, and she made greater profits out of her relationswith Japan than with China; she sent supplies to both (until 1941). Onthe other hand, Britain and France were more and more turning away fromJapan, and Russo-Japanese relations were at all times tense. Japan triedto emerge from her isolation by joining the "axis powers", Germany andItaly (1936); but it was still doubtful whether the Western powers wouldproceed with Russia, and therefore against Japan, or with the Axis, andtherefore in alliance with Japan. Japan for her part considered that if she was to raise the standard ofliving of her large population and to remain a world power, she mustbring into being her "Greater East Asia", so as to have the needed rawmaterial sources and export markets in the event of a collision with theWestern powers; in addition to this, she needed a security girdle asextensive as possible in case of a conflict with Russia. In any case, "Greater East Asia" must be secured before the European conflict shouldbreak out. 4 _The Sino-Japanese war_ (1937-1945) Accordingly, from 1933 onward Japan followed up her conquest ofManchuria by bringing her influence to bear in Inner Mongolia and inNorth China. She succeeded first, by means of an immense system ofsmuggling, currency manipulation, and propaganda, in bringing a numberof Mongol princes over to her side, and then (at the end of 1935) inestablishing a semi-dependent government in North China. Chiang Kai-shektook no action. The signal for the outbreak of war was an "incident" by the Marco PoloBridge, south of Peking (July 7th, 1937). The Japanese governmentprofited by a quite unimportant incident, undoubtedly provoked by theJapanese, in order to extend its dominion a little further. China stillhesitated; there were negotiations. Japan brought up reinforcements andput forward demands which China could not be expected to be ready tofulfil. Japan then occupied Peking and Tientsin and wide regions betweenthem and south of them. The Chinese soldiers stationed there withdrewalmost without striking a blow, but formed up again and began to offerresistance. In order to facilitate the planned occupation of NorthChina, including the province of Shantung, Japan decided on adiversionary campaign against Shanghai. The Nanking government sent itsbest troops to the new front, and held it for nearly three monthsagainst superior forces; but meanwhile the Japanese steadily advanced inNorth China. On November 9th Nanking fell into their hands. By thebeginning of January 1938, the province of Shantung had also beenconquered. Chiang Kai-shek and his government fled to Ch'ung-k'ing (Chungking), themost important commercial and financial centre of the interior afterHankow, which was soon threatened by the Japanese fleet. By means of anumber of landings the Japanese soon conquered the whole coast of China, so cutting off all supplies to the country; against hard fighting insome places they pushed inland along the railways and conquered thewhole eastern half of China, the richest and most highly developed partof the country. Chiang Kai-shek had the support only of theagriculturally rich province of Szechwan, and of the scarcely developedprovinces surrounding it. Here there was as yet no industry. Everythingin the way of machinery and supplies that could be transported from thehastily dismantled factories was carried westwards. Students andprofessors went west with all the contents of their universities, andworked on in small villages under very difficult conditions--one of themost memorable achievements of this war for China. But all this was byno means enough for waging a defensive war against Japan. Even thefamous Burma Road could not save China. By 1940-1941 Japan had attained her war aim: China was no longer adangerous adversary. She was still able to engage in small-scalefighting, but could no longer secure any decisive result. Puppetgovernments were set up in Peking, Canton, and Nanking, and the Japanesewaited for these governments gradually to induce supporters of ChiangKai-shek to come over to their side. Most was expected of WangChing-wei, who headed the new Nanking government. He was one of theoldest followers of Sun Yat-sen, and was regarded as a democrat. In1925, after Sun Yat-sen's death, he had been for a time the head of theNanking government, and for a short time in 1930 he had led a governmentin Peking that was opposed to Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorship. Beyond anyquestion Wang still had many followers, including some in the highestcircles at Chungking, men of eastern China who considered thatcollaboration with Japan, especially in the economic field, offered goodprospects. Japan paid lip service to this policy: there was talk ofsister peoples, which could help each other and supply each other'sneeds. There was propaganda for a new "Greater East Asian" philosophy, _Wang-tao_, in accordance with which all the peoples of the East couldlive together in peace under a thinly disguised dictatorship. Whatactually happened was that everywhere Japanese capitalists establishedthemselves in the former Chinese industrial plants, bought up land andsecurities, and exploited the country for the conduct of their war. After the great initial successes of Hitlerite Germany in 1939-1941, Japan became convinced that the time had come for a decisive blowagainst the positions of the Western European powers and the UnitedStates in the Far East. Lightning blows were struck at Hong Kong andSingapore, at French Indo-China, and at the Netherlands East Indies. TheAmerican navy seemed to have been eliminated by the attack on PearlHarbour, and one group of islands after another fell into the hands ofthe Japanese. Japan was at the gates of India and Australia. Russia wascarrying on a desperate defensive struggle against the Axis, and therewas no reason to expect any intervention from her in the Far East. Greater East Asia seemed assured against every danger. The situation of Chiang Kai-shek's Chungking government seemed hopeless. Even the Burma Road was cut, and supplies could only be sent by air;there was shortage of everything. With immense energy small industrieswere begun all over western China, often organized as co-operatives;roads and railways were built--but with such resources would it ever bepossible to throw the Japanese into the sea? Everything depended onholding out until a new page was turned in Europe. Infinitely slowseemed the progress of the first gleams of hope--the steady front inBurma, the reconquest of the first groups of inlands; the first bombattacks on Japan itself. Even in May, 1945, with the war ended inEurope, there seemed no sign of its ending in the Far East. Then camethe atom bomb, bringing the collapse of Japan; the Japanese armiesreceded from China, and suddenly China was free, mistress once more inher own country as she had not been for decades. Chapter Twelve PRESENT-DAY CHINA 1 _The growth of communism_ In order to understand today's China, we have to go back in time toreport events which were cut short or left out of our earlier discussionin order to present them in the context of this chapter. Although socialism and communism had been known in China long ago, thisline of development of Western philosophy had interested Chineseintellectuals much less than liberalistic, democratic Western ideas. Itwas widely believed that communism had no real prospects for China, as adictatorship of the proletariat seemed to be relevant only in a highlyindustrialized and not in an agrarian society. Thus, in its beginningthe "Movement of May Fourth" of 1919 had Western ideological traits butwas not communistic. This changed with the success of communism inRussia and with the theoretical writings of Lenin. Here it was shownthat communist theories could be applied to a country similar to Chinain its level of development. Already from 1919 on, some of the leadersof the Movement turned towards communism: the National University ofPeking became the first centre of this movement, and Ch'en Tu-hsiu, thendean of the College of Letters, from 1920 on became one of its leaders. Hu Shih did not move to the left with this group; he remained a liberal. But another well-known writer, Lu Hsün (1881-1936), while following HuShih in the "Literary Revolution, " identified politically with Ch'en. There was still another man, the Director of the University Library, LiTa-chao, who turned towards communism. With him we find one of hisemployees in the Library, Mao Tse-tung. In fact, the nucleus of theCommunist Party, which was officially created as late as 1921, was astudent organization including some professors in Peking. On the otherhand, a student group in Paris had also learned about communism and hadorganized; the leaders of this group were Chou En-lai and Li Li-san. Alittle later, a third group organized in Germany; Chu Tê belonged tothis group. The leadership of Communist China since 1949 has been in thehands of men of these three former student groups. After 1920, Sun Yat-sen, too, became interested in the developments inSoviet Russia. Yet, he never actually became a communist; his beliefthat the soil should belong to the tiller cannot really be combined withcommunism, which advocates the abolition of individual landholdings. Yet, Soviet Russia found it useful to help Sun Yat-sen and advised theChinese Communist Party to collaborate with the KMT (Kuo-min-tang). Thiscollaboration, not always easy, continued until the fall of Shanghai in1927. In the meantime, Mao Tse-tung had given up his studies in Peking and hadreturned to his home in Hunan. Here, he organized his countrymen, thefarmers of Hunan. It is said that at the verge of the northernexpedition of Chiang Kai-shek, Mao's adherents in Hunan already numberedin the millions; this made the quick and smooth advance of thecommunist-advised armies of Chiang Kai-shek possible. Mao developed hisideas in written form in 1927; he showed that communism in China couldbe successful only if it was based upon farmers. Because of thisunorthodox attitude, he was for years severely attacked as adeviationist. When Chiang Kai-shek separated from the KMT in 1927, the main body ofthe KMT remained in Hankow as the legal government. But now, whileChiang Kai-shek executed all leftists, union leaders, and communists whofell into his hands, tensions in Hankow increased between the ChineseCommunist Party and the rest of the KMT. Finally, the KMT turned againstthe communists and reunited with Chiang Kai-shek. The remainingcommunists retreated to the Hunan-Kiangsi border area, the centre ofMao's activities; even the orthodox communist wing, which had condemnedMao, now had to come to him for protection from the KMT. A smallcommunist state began to develop in Kiangsi, in spite of pressure and, later, attacks of the KMT against them. By 1934, this pressure became sostrong that Kiangsi had to be abandoned, and in the epic "Long March"the rest of the communists and their army fought their way through allof western and northwestern China into the sparsely inhabited, underdeveloped northern part of Shensi, where a new socialistic statewas created with Yen-an as its capital. After the fall of the communist enclave in Kiangsi, the prospects forthe Nationalist regime were bright; indeed, the unification of China wasalmost achieved. At this moment a new Japanese invasion threatened anddemanded the full attention of the regime. Thus, in spite of talk aboutland reform and other reforms which might have led to a liberalizationof the government, no attention was given to internal and socialproblems except to the suppression of communist thought. Although allleftist publications were prohibited, most historians and sociologistssucceeded in writing Marxist books without using Marxist terminology, sothat they escaped Chiang's censors. These publications contributedgreatly to preparing China's intellectuals and youth for communism. When the Japanese War began, the communists in Yen-an and theNationalists under Chiang Kai-shek agreed to cooperate against theinvaders. Yet, each side remembered its experiences in 1927 anddistrusted the other. Chiang's resistance against the invaders becameless effective after the Japanese occupied all of China's ports;supplies could reach China only in small quantities by airlift or viathe Burma Road. There was also the belief that Japan could be defeatedonly by an attack on Japan itself and that this would have to beundertaken by the Western powers, not by China. The communists, on theirside, set up a guerilla organization behind the Japanese lines, so that, although the Japanese controlled the cities and the lines ofcommunication, they had little control over the countryside. Thecommunists also attempted to infiltrate the area held by theNationalists, who in turn were interested in preventing the communistsfrom becoming too strong; so, Nationalist troops guarded also theborders of communist territory. American politicians and military advisers were divided in theiropinions. Although they recognized the internal weakness of theNationalist government, the fighting between cliques within thegovernment, and the ever-increasing corruption, some advocated more helpto the Nationalists and a firm attitude against the communists. Others, influenced by impressions gained during visits to Yen-an, and believingin the possibility of honest cooperation between a communist regime andany other, as Roosevelt did, attempted to effect a coalition of theNationalists with the communists. At the end of the war, when the Nationalist government took over theadministration, it lacked popular support in the areas liberated fromthe Japanese. Farmers who had been given land by the communists, or whohad been promised it, were afraid that their former landlords, whetherthey had remained to collaborate with the Japanese or had fled to WestChina, would regain control of the land. Workers hoped for new sociallegislation and rights. Businessmen and industrialists were faced withdestroyed factories, worn-out or antiquated equipment, and an uncheckedinflation which induced them to shift their accounts into foreign banksor to favor short-term gains rather than long-term investments. As inall countries which have suffered from a long war and an occupation, the youth believed that the old regime had been to blame, and sawpromise and hope on the political left. And, finally, the Nationalistsoldiers, most of whom had been separated for years from their homes andfamilies, were not willing to fight other Chinese in the civil war nowwell under way; they wanted to go home and start a new life. Thecommunists, however, were now well organized militarily and well equipedwith arms surrendered by the Japanese to the Soviet armies as well aswith arms and ammunition sold to them by KMT soldiers; moreover, theywere constantly strengthened by deserters from the KMT. The civil warwitnessed a steady retreat by the KMT armies, which resisted onlysporadically. By the end of 1948, most of mainland China was in thehands of the communists, who established their new capital in Peking. 2 _Nationalist China in Taiwan_ The Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan with those soldiers whoremained loyal. This island was returned to China after the defeat ofJapan, though final disposition of its status had not yet beendetermined. Taiwan's original population had been made up of more than a dozentribes who are probably distant relatives of tribes in the Philippines. These are Taiwan's "aborigines, " altogether about 200, 000 people in1948. At about the time of the Sung dynasty, Chinese began to establishoutposts on the island; these developed into regular agriculturalsettlements toward the end of the Ming dynasty. Immigration increased inthe eighteenth and especially the nineteenth centuries. These Chineseimmigrants and their descendants are the "Taiwanese, " Taiwan's mainpopulation of about eight million people as of 1948. Taiwan was at first a part of the province of Fukien, whence most of itsChinese settlers came; there was also a minority of Hakka, Chinese fromKuangtung province. When Taiwan was ceded to Japan, it was still acolonial area with much lawlessness and disorder, but with a number offlourishing towns and a growing population. The Japanese, who sentadministrators but no settlers, established law and order, protected theaborigines from land-hungry Chinese settlers, and attempted to abolishheadhunting by the aborigines and to raise the cultural level ingeneral. They built a road and railway system and strongly stressed theproduction of sugar cane and rice. During the Second World War, theisland suffered from air attacks and from the inability of the Japaneseto protect its industries. After Chiang Kai-shek and the remainder of his army and of hisgovernment officials arrived in Taiwan, they were followed by othersfleeing from the communist regime, mainly from Chekiang, Kiangsu, andthe northern provinces of the mainland. Eventually, there were on Taiwanabout two million of these "mainlanders, " as they have sometimes beencalled. When the Chinese Nationalists took over from the Japanese, they assumedall the leading positions in the government. The Taiwanese nationals whohad opposed the Japanese were disappointed; for their part, theNationalists felt threatened because of their minority position. Thenext years, especially up to 1952, were characterized by terror andbloodshed. Tensions persisted for many years, but have lessened sinceabout 1960. The new government of Taiwan resembled China's pre-war government underChiang Kai-shek. First, to maintain his claim to the legitimate rule ofall of China, Chiang retained--and controlled through his party, theKMT--his former government organization, complete with cabinetministers, administrators, and elected parliament, under the name"Central Government of China. " Secondly, the actual government ofTaiwan, which he considered one of China's provinces, was organized asthe "Provincial Government of Taiwan, " whose leading positions were atfirst in the hands of KMT mainlanders. There have since been electionsfor the provincial assembly, for local government councils and boards, and for various provincial and local positions. Thirdly, the militaryforces were organized under the leadership and command of mainlanders. And finally, the education system was set up in accordance with formermainland practices by mainland specialists. However, evolutionarychanges soon occurred. The government's aim was to make Mandarin Chinese the language of allChinese in Taiwan, as it had been in mainland China long before the War, and to weaken the Taiwanese dialects. Soon almost every child had aminimum of six years of education (increased in 1968 to nine years), with Mandarin Chinese as the medium of instruction. In the beginning fewTaiwanese qualified as teachers because, under Japanese rule, Japanesehad been the medium of instruction. As the children of Taiwanese andmainland families went to school together, the Taiwanese childrenquickly learned Mandarin, while most mainland children became familiarwith the Taiwan dialect. For the generation in school today, thedifference between mainlander and Taiwanese has lost its importance. Atthe same time, more teachers of Taiwanese origin, but with moderntraining, have begun to fill first the ranks of elementary, later ofhigh-school, and now even of university instructors, so that the end ofmainland predominance in the educational system is foreseeable. The country is still ruled by the KMT, but although at first hardly anyTaiwanese belonged to the Party, many of the elective jobs and almostall positions in the provincial government are at present (1969) in thehands of Taiwanese independents, or KMT members, more of whom areentering the central government as well. Because military service iscompulsory, the majority of common soldiers are Taiwanese: as careerofficers grow older and their sons show little interest in an armycareer, more Taiwan-Chinese are occupying higher army positions. Foreignpolicy and major political decisions still lie in the hands of mainlandChinese, but economic power, once monopolized by them, is now held byTaiwan-Chinese. This shift gained impetus with the end of American economic aid, whichhad tied local businessmen to American industry and thus worked to theadvantage of mainland Chinese, for these had contacts in the UnitedStates, whereas the Taiwan-Chinese had contacts only in Japan. After thetermination of American economic aid, Taiwanese trade with Japan, thePhilippines, and Korea grew in importance and with it the economicstrength of Taiwan-Chinese businessmen. After 1964, Taiwan became astrong competitor of Hong Kong and Japan in some export industries, suchas electronics and textiles. We can regard Taiwan from 1964 on asoccupying the "take-off" stage, to use Rostow's terminology--a stage ofrapid development of new, principally light and consumer, industries. There has been a rapid rise of industrial towns around the major cities, and there are already many factories in the countryside, even in somevillages. Electrification is essentially completed, and heavyindustries, such as fertilizer and assembly plants and oil refineries, now exist. This rapid industrialization was accompanied by an unusually fastdevelopment of agriculture. A land-reform program limited landownership, reduced rents, and redistributed formerly Japanese-ownedland. This was the program that the Nationalist government had attemptedunsuccessfully to enforce in liberated China after the Pacific War. Itis well known that the abolition of landlordism and the distribution ofland to small farmers do not in themselves improve or enlargeproduction. The Joint Council on Rural Reconstruction, on which Americanadvisers worked with Chinese specialists to devise a system comparableto American agricultural extension services but possessing addedelements of community development, introduced better seeds, more andbetter fertilizers, and numerous other innovations which the farmersquickly adopted, with the result that the island becameself-supporting, in spite of a steadily growing population (thirteenmillion in 1968). At the same time, the government succeeded in stabilizing the currencyand in eliminating corruption, thus re-establishing public confidenceand security. Good incomes from farming as well as from industries wereinvested on the island instead of flowing into foreign banks. Inaddition, the population had enough surplus money to buy the products ofthe new domestic industries as these appeared. Thus, theindustrialization of Taiwan may be called "industrialization withouttears, " without the suffering, that is, of proletarian masses whoproduce objects which they cannot afford for themselves. Today, evenlower middle-class families have television consoles which cost theequivalent of US $200; they own electric fans and radios; they arebuying Taiwan-produced refrigerators and air conditioners; and more andmore think of buying Taiwan-assembled cars. They encourage theirchildren to finish high school and to attend college if at all possible;competition for admission is very strong in spite of the continuousbuilding of new schools and universities. Education to the level of theB. A. Is of good quality, but for most graduate study students are stillsent abroad. Taiwan complains about the "brain drain, " as about 93 percent of its students who go overseas do not return, but in many fieldsit has sufficient trained manpower to continue its development, and inany case there would not be enough jobs available if all the studentsreturned. Most of these expatriates would be available to developmainland China, if conditions there were to change in a way that wouldmake them compatible with the values with which these expatriates grewup on Taiwan, or with the Western democratic values which they absorbedabroad. Chiang Kai-shek's government still hopes that one day its people willreturn to the mainland. This hope has changed from hope of victory in acivil war to hope of revolutionary developments within Communist Chinawhich might lead to the creation of a more liberal government in whichmen with KMT loyalties could find a place. Because they are Chinese, thepresent government and, it is believed, the majority of the people, consider themselves a part of China from which they are temporarilyseparated. Therefore they reject the idea, proposed by some Americanpoliticians, that Taiwan should become an independent state. There are, mainly in the United States and Japan, groups of Taiwan-Chinese whofavor an independent Taiwan, which naturally would be close to Japanpolitically and economically. One may agree with their belief thatTaiwan, now larger than many European countries, could exist andflourish as an independent country; yet few Chinese will wish to divorcethemselves from the world's largest society. 3 _Communist China_ Both Taiwan and mainland China have developed extremely quickly. Thereasons do not seem to lie solely in the form of government, for thepre-conditions for a "take-off" existed in China as early as the 1920's, if not earlier. That is, the quick development of China could havestarted forty years ago but was prevented, primarily for politicalreasons. One of the main pre-conditions for quick development is that alarge part of the population is inured to hard and repetitive work. TheChinese farmer was accustomed to such work; he put more time and energyinto his land than any other farmer. He and his fellows were theindustrial workers of the future: reliable, hard-working, tractable, intelligent. To train them was easy, and absenteeism was never a seriousproblem, as it is in other developing nations. Another pre-condition isthe existence of sufficient trained people to manage industry. Fortyyears ago China had enough such men to start modernization; foreignassistance would have been necessary in some fields, but only briefly. Another requirement (at least in the period before radio and television)is general literacy. Meaningful statistical data on literacy in Chinabefore 1937 are lacking. Some authors remark that before 1800 probablyall upper-class sons and most daughters were educated, and that men inthe middle and even in the lower classes often had some degree ofliteracy. In this context "educated" means that these persons could readclassical poetry and essays written in literary Chinese, which was notthe language of daily conversation. "Literacy, " however, might mean onlythat a person could read and write some 600 characters, enough toconduct a business and to read simple stories. Although newspapers todayhave a stock of about 6, 000 characters, only some 600 characters arecommonly used, and a farmer or worker can manage well with a knowledgeof about 100 characters. Statements to the effect that in 1935 some 70per cent of all men and 95 per cent of all women were illiterate mustinclude the last category in these figures. In any case, the literacyprogram of the Nationalist government had penetrated the countryside andhad reached even outlying villages before the Pacific War. The transportation system in China before the war was not highlydeveloped, but numerous railroads connecting the main industrial centersdid exist, and bus and truck services connected small towns with thelarger centers. What were missing in the pre-war years were laws toprotect the investor, efficient credit facilities, an insurance systemsupported by law, and a modern tax structure. In addition, the monetarysystem was inflation-prone. Although sufficient capital probably couldhave been mobilized within the country, the available resources eitherwent into foreign banks or were invested in enterprises providing aquick return. The failure to capitalize on existing means of development before theWar resulted from the chronic unrest caused by warlordism, revolutionaries and foreign invaders, which occupied the energies of theNationalist government from its establishment to its fall. Once a stablegovernment free from internal troubles arose, national development, whether private or socialist, could proceed at a rapid pace. Thus, the development of Communist China is not a miracle, possible onlybecause of its form of government. What is unusual about Communist Chinais the fact that it is the only nation possessing a highly developedculture of its own to have jettisoned it in favor of a foreign one. Whatmissionaries had dreamed of for centuries and knew they would neveraccomplish, Mao Tse-tung achieved; he imposed an ideology created byEuropeans and understandable only in the context of Central Europe inthe nineteenth century. How long his success will last is uncertain. Oneschool of analysts believes that the friction between Soviet Russia andCommunist China indicates that China's communism has become Chinese. These men point out that Communist Chinese practices are often directcontinuations of earlier Chinese practices, customs, and attitudes. Andthey predict that this trend will continue, resulting in a form ofsocialism or communism distinctly different from that found in any othercountry. Another school, however, believes that communism precedes"Sinism, " and that the regime will slowly eliminate traits which oncewere typical of China and replace them with institutions developed outof Marxist thinking. In any case, for the present, although theCommunist government's aim is to impose communist thought andinstitutions in the country, typically Chinese traits are stillomnipresent. Soon after the establishment of the Peking regime, a pact of friendshipand alliance with the Soviet Union was concluded (February 1950), andSoviet specialists and civil and military products poured into China tospeed its development. China had to pay for this assistance as well asfor the loans it received from Russia, but the application of Russianexperience, often involving the duplication of whole factories, wassuccessful. In a few years, China developed its heavy industry, just asRussia had done. It should not be forgotten that Manchuria, as well asother parts of China, had had modern heavy industries long before 1949. The Manchurian factories ceased production because, when the Russiansinvaded Manchuria at the end of the war, they removed the machinery toRussia. Russian aid to Communist China continued to 1960. Its termination sloweddevelopment briefly but was not disastrous. Russian assistance was a"shot in the arm, " as stimulating and about as lasting as American aidto Taiwan or to European countries. The stress laid upon heavy industry, in imitation of Russia, increased China's military strength quickly, butthe consumer had to wait for goods which would make his life moreenjoyable. One cause of friction in China today concerns the relativedesirability of heavy industry versus consumer industry, a problem whicharose in Russia after the death of Stalin. China's military strength was first demonstrated in the Korean War whenChinese armies entered Korea (October 1950). Their successes contributedto the prestige of the Peking regime at home and abroad, but they alsoforeshadowed a conflict with Soviet Russia, which regarded North Koreaas lying within its own sphere of influence. In the same year, China invaded and conquered Tibet. Tibet, under Manchurule until 1911, had achieved a certain degree of independencethereafter: no republican Chinese regime ever ruled Lhasa. The militaryconquest of Tibet is regarded by many as an act of Chinese imperialism, or colonialism, as the Tibetans certainly did not want to belong toChina or be forced to change their traditional form of government. Having regarded themselves as subjects of the Manchu but not of theChinese, they rose against the communist rulers in March 1959, butwithout success. Chinese control of Tibet, involving the construction of numerous roads, airstrips, and military installations, as well as differences concerningthe international border, led in 1959 to conflicts with India, a countrywhich had previously sided with the new China in international affairs. Indeed, the borders were uncertain and looked different depending onwhether one used Manchu or Indian maps. China's other border problem waswith Burma. Early in 1960 the two countries concluded a border agreementwhich ended disputes dating from British colonial times. Very early in its existence Communist China assumed control of Sinkiang, Chinese Central Asia, a large area originally inhabited by Turkish andMongolian tribes and states, later conquered by the Manchu, and thenintegrated into China in the early nineteenth century. The communistaction was to be expected, although after the Revolution of 1911 Chineserule over this area had been spotty, and during the Pacific War someSoviet-inspired hope had existed that Sinkiang might gain independence, following the example of Outer Mongolia, another country which had beenattached to the Manchu until 1911 and which, with Russian assistance, had gained its independence from China. Sinkiang is of great importanceto Communist China as the site of large sources of oil and of atomicindustries and testing grounds. The government has stimulated and oftenforced Chinese immigration into Sinkiang, so that the erstwhile Turkishand Mongolian majorities have become minorities, envious of their ethnicbrothers in Soviet Central Asia who enjoy a much higher standard ofliving and more freedom. Inner Mongolia had a brief dream of independence under Japaneseprotection during the war. But the majority of the population wereChinese, and already before the Pacific War, the country had beendivided into three Chinese provinces, of which the Chinese Communistsgained control without delay. In general, when the Chinese Communists discuss territorial claims, theyappear to seek the restoration of borders that China claimed in theeighteenth century. Thus, they make occasional remarks about the Iliarea and parts of Eastern Siberia, which the Manchu either lost to theRussians or claimed as their territory. North Vietnam is probably awarethat Imperial China exercised political rights over Tongking and Annam(the present-day North and part of South Vietnam). And, treaty or no, the Sino-Burmese question may be reopened one day, for Burma wassemi-dependent on China under the Manchu. The build-up of heavy industry enabled China to conduct an aggressivepolicy towards the countries surrounding her, but industrialization hadto be paid for, and, as in other countries, it was basically agriculturethat had to create the necessary capital. Therefore, in June 1950 aland-reform law was promulgated. By October 1952 it had been implementedat an estimated cost of two million human lives: the landlords. The nextstep, socialization of the land, began in 1953. The cooperative farms were supposed to achieve higher production thansmall individual farms. It may be that any farmer, but particularly theChinese, is emotionally involved in his crop, in contrast to theindustrial worker, who often is alienated from the product he makes. Thus the farmer is unwilling to put unlimited energy and time intoworking on a farm that does not belong to him. But it may also be thatthe application of principles of industrial operation to agriculturefails because emergencies often occur in farming and are followed byperiods of leisure, whereas in industry steady work is possible. In any case, in 1956 strains began to appear in China's economy. Inearly 1958 the "Great Leap Forward" was promoted in an attempt to speedproduction in all sectors. Soon after, the first communes were created, against the advise of Russian specialists. The objective of the communesseems to have been not only the creation of a new organizational formwhich would allow the government to exercise more pressure upon farmersto increase production, but also the correlation of labor and otherneeds of industry with agriculture. The communes may have represented anattempt to set up an organization which could function independently, even in the event of a governmental breakdown in wartime. At the sametime, the decentralization of industries began and a people's militiawas created. The "back-yard furnaces, " which produced high-cost iron oflow quality, seem to have had a similar purpose: to teach citizens howto produce iron for armaments in case of war and enemy occupation, whenonly guerrilla resistance would be possible. In the same year, aggressive actions against offshore, Nationalist-held islands increased. China may have believed that war with the United States was imminent. Perhaps as a result of Russian talks with China, a détente followed in1959, but so too did increased tension between Russia and China, whilethe results of the Great Leap and its policies proved catastrophic. Theyears 1961-64 provided a needed respite from the failures of the GreatLeap. Farmers regained limited rights to income from private efforts, and improved farm techniques such as better seed and the use offertilizer began to produce results. China can now feed her populationin normal years. Chinese leaders realize that an improved level of living is difficult toattain while the birth rate remains high. They have hesitated to adopt afamily-planning policy, which would fly in the face of Marxist doctrine, although for a short period family planning was openly recommended. Their most efficient method of limiting the birth rate has been torecommend postponement of marriage. First the limitation of private enterprise and business and then thenationalization of all important businesses following the completion ofland reform deprived many employers as well as small shopkeepers of anoccupation. But the new industries could not absorb all of the laborthat suddenly became available. When rural youth inundated the cities insearch of employment, the government returned the excess urbanpopulation to the countryside and recruited students and other urbanyouth to work on farms. Re-education camps in outlying areas alsoprovided cheap farm labor. The problem facing China or any nation that modernizes andindustrializes in the twentieth century can be simply stated. Nineteenth-century industry needed large masses of workers which onlythe rural areas could supply; and, with the development of farmingmethods, the countryside could afford to send its youth to the cities. Twentieth-century industry, on the other hand, needs technicians andhighly qualified personnel, often with college degrees, but fewunskilled workers. China has traditionally employed human labor wheremachines would have been cheaper and more efficient, simply becauselabor was available and capital was not. But since, with the growth ofmodern industry and modern farming, the problem will arise again, thepolicy of employing urban youth on farms is shortsighted. The labor force also increased as a result of the "liberation" of women, in which the marriage law of April 1950 was the first step. NationalistChina had earlier created a modern and liberal marriage law; moreover, women were never the slaves that they have sometimes been painted. Inmany parts of China, long before the Pacific War, women worked in thefields with their husbands. Elsewhere they worked in secondaryagricultural industries (weaving, preparation of food conserves, homeindustries, and even textile factories) and provided supplementaryincome for their families. All that "liberation" in 1950 really meantwas that women had to work a full day as their husbands did, and had, inaddition, to do house work and care for their children much as before. The new marriage law did, indeed, make both partners equal; it also madeit easier for men to divorce their wives, political incompatibilitybecoming a ground for divorce. The ideological justification for a new marriage law was thedesirability of destroying the traditional Chinese family and itseconomic basis because a close family, and all the more an extendedfamily or a clan, could obviously serve as a center of resistance. Landcollectivization and the nationalization of business destroyed theeconomic basis of families. The "liberation" of women brought them outof the house and made it possible for the government to exploitdissention between husband and wife, thereby increasing its control overthe family. Finally, the new education system, which indoctrinated allchildren from nursery to the end of college, separated children fromparents, thus undermining parental control and enabling the state tointimidate parents by encouraging their children to denounce their"deviations. " Sporadic efforts to dissolve the family completely byseparating women from men in communes--recalling an attempt made almosta century earlier by the T'ai-p'ing--were unsuccessful. The best formula for a revolution seems to involve turning youth againstits elders, rather than turning one class against another. Not allsocieties have a class system so clear-cut that class antagonism iseffective. On the other hand, Chinese youth, in its opposition to the"establishment, " to conservatism, to traditional religion, to blindemulation of Western customs and institutions, to the traditional familystructure and the position of women, had hopes that communism woulderadicate the specific "evil" which each individual wanted abolished. Mao and his followers had once been such rebellious youths, but by the1960's they were mostly old men and a new youth had appeared, ageneration of revolutionaries for whom the "old regime" was dim history, not reality. In the struggle between Mao and Liu Shao-ch'i, which becameincreasingly apparent in 1966, Mao tried to retain his power bymobilizing young people as "Red Guards" and by inciting them to make the"Great Proletarian Revolution. " The motives behind the struggle arediverse. It is on the one hand a conflict of persons contending forpower, but there are also disagreements over theory: for example, shouldChina's present generation toil to make possible a better life only forthe next generation, or should it enjoy the fruits of its labor, afterits many years of suffering? Mao opposes such "weakening" and favors anew generation willing to endure hardships, as he did in his youth. There is also a question whether the Chinese Communist Party under thebanner of Maoism should replace the Russian party, establish Mao as thefourth founder after Marx, Lenin, and Stalin, and become the leader ofworld communism, or whether it should collaborate with the Russianparty, at least temporarily, and thus ensure China Russian support. When, however, Chinese youth was summoned to take up the fight for Maoand his group, forces were loosed which could not be controlled. Following independent action by youth groups similar in nature to youthrevolts in Western countries, the power and prestige of older leaderssuffered. Even now (1969) it is impossible to re-establish unity andorder; the Mao and Liu groups still oppose each other, and localfactions have arisen. Violent confrontations, often resulting inhundreds of deaths, occur in many provinces. The regime is no longer sostrong and unified as it was before 1966, although its end is not insight. Quite possibly far-reaching changes may occur in the future. Three factors will probably influence the future of China. First, theemergence of neo-communism, as in Czechoslovakia in 1968, in an attemptto soften traditional communist practice. Second, the outcome of the warin Vietnam. Will China be able to continue its eighteenth-century dreamof direct or indirect domination of Southeast Asia? Will North Vietnamdetach itself from China and attach itself more closely to Russia? WillRussia and China continue to create separate spheres of influence inAsia, Africa, and South America? The first factor depends ondevelopments inside China, the second on events outside, and at least inpart on decisions in the United States, Japan, and Europe. The third factor has to do with human nature. One may justifiably askwhether the change in human personality which Chinese communism hasattempted to achieve is possible, let alone desirable. Studies ofanimals and of human beings have demonstrated a tendency to identifywith a territory, with property, and with kin. Can the Chinese eradicatethis tendency? The Chinese have been family-centered and accustomed tosubordinating their individual inclinations to the requirements offamily and neighborhood. But beyond these established frameworks theyhave been individualistic and highly idiosyncratic at all times. Underthe communist regime, however, the government is omnipresent, and peoplemust toe the official line. One senses the tragedy that affectswell-known scholars, writers and poets, who must degrade themselves, their work, their past and their families in order to survive. They mayhope for comprehension of their actions, but nonetheless they mustsuffer shame. Will the present government change the minds of these menand eradicate their feelings? Communist China has made great progress, no doubt. Soon it may equalother developed nations. But its progress has been achieved at anunnecessary cost in human lives and happiness. That the regime is no longer so strong and unified as it was before 1966does not mean that its end is in sight. Far-reaching changes may occurin the near future. Public opinion is impressed with mainland China'sprogress, as the world usually is with strong nations. And publicopinion is still unimpressed by the achievements of Taiwan and hashardly begun to change its attitude toward the government of the"Republic of China. " To the historian and the sociologist, theexperience of Taiwan indicates that China, if left alone and freed fromideological pressures, could industrialize more quickly than any otherpresently underdeveloped nation. Taiwan offers a model with which tocompare mainland China. NOTES AND REFERENCES The following notes and references are intended to help the interestedreader. They draw his attention to some more specialized literature inEnglish, and occasionally in French and German. They also indicate forthe more advanced reader the sources for some of the interpretations ofhistorical events. As such sources are most often written in Chinese orJapanese and, therefore, inaccessible to most readers, only brief hintsand not full bibliographical data are given. The specialists know thenames and can easily find details in the standard bibliographies. Thegeneral reader will profit most from the bibliography on Chinese historypublished each year in the _Journal of Asian Studies_. These Notes donot mention the original Chinese sources which are the factual basis ofthis book. _Chapter One_ p. 7: Reference is made here to the _T'ung-chien kang-mu_ and itstranslation by de Mailla (1777-85). Criticism by O.  Franke, KuChieh-kang and his school, also by G.  Haloun. p. 8: For the chronology, I rely here upon Ijima Tadao and my ownresearch. Excavations at Chou-k'ou-tien still continue and my accountshould be taken as very preliminary. An earlier analysis is given by E. Von Eickstedt (_Rassendynamik von Ostasien_, Berlin 1944). For thefollowing periods, the best general study is still J.  G.  Andersson, _Researches into the Prehistory of the Chinese_, Stockholm 1943. A greatnumber of new findings has been made recently, but no comprehensiveanalysis in a Western language is available. p. 9: Comparison with Ainu has been made by Weidenreich. The theory ofdesiccation of Asia is not the Huntington theory, but I rely here uponarguments by J.  G.  Andersoon and Sven Hedin. p. 10: The earlier theories of R.  Heine-Geldern have been used here. p. 11: This is a summary of my own theories. Concerning the Tungustribes, K.  Jettmar (_Wiener Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte_, vol. 9, 1952, p. 484f and later studies) has proposed a more refined theory;other parts of the theory, as far as it is concerned with conditions inCentral Asia, have been modified by F.  Kussmaul (in: _Tribus_, vol. 1952-3, pp. 305-60). Archaeological data from Central Asia have beenanalysed again by K.  Jettmar (in: _The Museum of Far EasternAntiquities, Bulletin_ No. 23, 1951). The discussion on domestication oflarge animals relies on the studies by C.  O.  Sauer, H.  von Wissmann, Menghin, Amschler, Flohr and, most recently, F.  Hančar (in: _Saeculum_, vol. 10, 1959, pp. 21-37 with further literature), and also on my ownresearch. p. 12: An analysis of the situation in the South according to Westernand Chinese studies is found in H.  J.  Wiens, _China's March toward theTropics_, Hamden 1954. Much further work is now published by LingShun-sheng, Rui Yi-fu and other anthropologists in Taipei. The bestanalysis of denshiring in the Far East is still the book by K.  J.  Pelzer, _Population and Land Utilization_, New York 1941. The anthropologicaltheories on this page are my own, influenced by ideas of R. Heine-Geldern and Gordon Luce. p. 14: Sociological theory, as developed by R.  Thurnwald and others, hasbeen used as a theoretical tool here, together with observations by A. Credner and H.  Bernatzik. Concerning rice in Yang-shao see R. Heine-Geldern in _Anthropos_, vol. 27, p. 595. p. 15: Wu Chin-ting defended the local origin of Yang-shao; T.  J.  Arne, J.  G.  Andersson and many others suggested Western influences. Mostrecently R.  Heine-Geldern elaborated this theory. The allusion toIndo-Europeans refers to the studies by G.  Haloun and others concerningthe Ta-Hsia, the later Yüeh-chih, and the Tocharian problem. p. 16: R.  Heine-Geldern proposed a "Pontic migration". Yin Huan-changdiscussed most recently Lung-shan culture and the mound-dwellers. p. 17: The original _Chu-shu chi-nien_ version of the stories about Yaohas been accepted here, together with my own research and the studies byB.  Karlgren, M.  Loehr, G.  Haloun, E.  H.  Minns and others concerning theorigin and early distribution of bronze and the animal style. Smithfamilies or tribes are well known from Central Asia, but also from Indiaand Africa (see W.  Ruben, _Eisenschmiede und Dämonen in Indien_, Leiden1939, for general discussion). --For a discussion of the Hsia see E. Erkes. _Chapter Two_ p. 19: The discussion in this chapter relies mainly upon the An-yangexcavation reports and the studies by Tung Tso-pin and, most strongly, Ch'en Meng-chia. In English, the best work is still H.  G.  Creel, _TheBirth of China_, London 1936 and his more specialized _Studies in EarlyChinese Culture_, Baltimore 1937. p. 20: The possibility of a "megalithic" culture in the Far East hasoften been discussed, by O.  Menghin, R.  Heine-Geldern, Cheng Tê-k'un, Ling Shun-sheng and others. Megaliths occur mainly in South-East Asia, southern China, Korea and Japan. --Teng Ch'u-min and others believe thatsilk existed already in the time of Yang-shao. p. 21: Kuo Mo-jo believes, that the Shang already used a real ploughdrawn by animals. The main discussion on ploughs in China is by HsüChung-shu; for general anthropological discussion see E.  Werth and H. Kothe. p. 22: For the discussion of the T'ao-t'ieh see the research by B. Karlgren and C.  Hentze. p. 23: I follow here mainly Ch'en Meng-chia, but work by B.  Schindler, C.  Hentze, H.  Maspero and also my own research has been considered. p. 24: I am accepting here a narrow definition of feudalism (see my_Conquerors and Rulers_, Leiden 1952). --The division of armies into"right" and "left" is interesting in the light of the theoriesconcerning the importance of systems of orientation (Fr. Röck andothers). p. 25: Here, the work by W.  Koppers, O.  Spengler, F.  Hančar, V.  G.  Childeand many others, concerning the domestication of the horse and theintroduction of the war-chariot in general, and work by Shih Chang-ju, Ch'en Meng-chia, O.  Maenchen, Uchida Gimpu and others concerninghorses, riding and chariots in China has been used, in addition to myown research. p. 26: Concerning the wild animals, I have relied upon Ch'en Meng-chia, Hsü Chung-shu and Tung Tso-pin. --The discussion as to whether there wasa period of "slave society" (as postulated by Marxist theory) in China, and when it florished, is still going on under the leadership of KuoMo-jo and his group. I prefer to differentiate between slaves and serfs, and relied for factual data upon texts from oracle bones, not uponhistorical texts. --The problem of Shang chronology is still not solved, in spite of extensive work by Liu Ch'ao-yang, Tung Tso-pin and manyJapanese and Western scholars. The old chronology, however, seems to berejected by most scholars now. _Chapter Three_ p. 29: Discussing the early script and language, I refer to the greatnumber of unidentified Shang characters and, especially, to thecomposite characters which have been mentioned often by C.  Hentze in hisresearch; on the other hand, the original language of the Chou may havebeen different from classical Chinese, if we can judge from the form ofthe names of the earliest Chou ancestors. Problems of substratalanguages enter at this stage. Our first understanding of Chou languageand dialects seems to come through the method applied by P.  Serruys, rather than through the more generally accepted theories and methods ofB.  Karlgren and his school. p. 30: I reject here the statement of classical texts that the lastShang ruler was unworthy, and accept the new interpretation of Ch'enMeng-chia which is based upon oracle bone texts. --The most recentgeneral study on feudalism, and on feudalism in China, is in R. Coulborn, _Feudalism in History_, Princeton 1956. Stimulating, but inparts antiquated, is M.  Granet, _La Féodalité Chinoise_, Oslo 1952. Irely here on my own research. The instalment procedure has beendescribed by H.  Maspero and Ch'i Szŭ-ho. p. 31: The interpretation of land-holding and clans follows my ownresearch which is influenced by Niida Noboru, Katō Shigeru and otherJapanese scholars, as well as by G.  Haloun. --Concerning the origin offamily names see preliminarily Yang Hsi-mei; much further research isstill necessary. The general development of Chinese names is now studiedby Wolfgang Bauer. --The spread of cities in this period has been studiedby Li Chi, _The Formation of the Chinese People_, Cambridge 1928. Myinterpretation relies mainly upon a study of the distribution ofnon-Chinese tribes and data on early cities coming from excavationreports (see my "Data on the Structure of the Chinese City" in _EconomicDevelopment and Cultural Change_, 1956, pp. 253-68, and "The Formationof Chinese Civilization" in _Sociologus_ 7, 1959, pp. 97-112). p. 32: The work on slaves by T.  Pippon, E.  Erkes, M.  Wilbur, WanKuo-ting, Kuo Mo-jo, Niida Noboru, Kao Nien-chih and others has beenconsulted; the interpretation by E.  G.  Pulleyblank, however, was notaccepted. p. 33: This interpretation of the "well-field" system relies in partupon the work done by Hsü Ti-shan, in part upon M.  Granet and H. Maspero, and attempts to utilize insight from general anthropologicaltheory and field-work mainly in South-East Asia. Other interpretationshave been proposed by Yang Lien-sheng, Wan Kuo-ting, Ch'i Szŭ-ho P. Demiéville, Hu Shih, Chi Ch'ao-ting, K.  A.  Wittfogel, and others. Someauthors, such as Kuo Mo-jo, regard the whole system as an utopia, butbelieve in an original "village community". --The characterization of the_Chou-li_ relies in part upon the work done by Hsü Chung-shu and KuChieh-kang on the titles of nobility, research by Yang K'uan and textualcriticism by B.  Karlgren, O.  Franke, and again Ku Chieh-kang and hisschool. --The discussion on twin cities is intended to draw attention toits West Asian parallels, the "acropolis" or "ark" city, as well as tothe theories on the difference between Western and Asian cities (M. Weber) and the specific type of cities in "dual societies" (H.  Boeke). p. 34: This is a modified form of the Hu Shih theory. --The problem ofnomadic agrarian inter-action and conflict has been studied for a laterperiod mainly by O.  Lattimore. Here, general anthropological research aswell as my own have been applied. p. 36: The supra-stratification theory as developed by R.  Thurnwald hasbeen used as analytic tool here. p. 38: For this period, a novel interpretation is presented by R.  L. Walker, _The Multi-State System of China_, Hamden 1953. For the conceptsof sovereignty, I have used here the _Chou-li_ text and interpretationsbased upon this text. p. 40: For the introduction of iron and the importance of Ch'i, see ChuHsi-tsu, Kuo Mo-jo, Yang K'uan, Sekino, Takeshi. --Some scholars (G. Haloun) tend to interpret attacks such as the one of 660 B.  C.  as attacksfrom outside the borders of China. p. 41: For Confucius see H.  G.  Creel, _Confucius_, New York 1949. I donot, however, follow his interpretation, but rather the ideas of HuShih, O.  Franke and others. p. 42: For "chün-tzu" and its counterpart "hsiao-jen" see D.  Bodde andCh'en Meng-chia. p. 43: I rely strongly here upon O.  Franke and Ku Chieh-kang and upon myown work on eclipses. p. 44: I regard the Confucian traditions concerning the model emperorsof early time as such a falsification. The whole concept of "abdication"has been analysed by M.  Granet. The later ceremony of abdication wasdeveloped upon the basis of the interpretations of Confucius and hasbeen studied by Ku Chieh-kang and Miyakawa Hisayuki. Already Confucius'disciple Meng Tzŭ, and later Chuang Tzŭ and Han Fei Tzŭ were againstthis theory. --As a general introduction to the philosophy of thisperiod, Y.  L.  Feng's _History of Chinese Philosophy_, London 1937 hasstill to be recommended, although further research has made manyadvances. --My analysis of the role of Confucianism in society isinfluenced by theories in the field of Sociology of religion. p. 45: The temple in Turkestan was in Khotan and is already mentioned inthe _Wei-shu_ chapter 102. The analysis of the famous "Book on thetransfiguration of Lao Tzŭ into a Western Barbarian" by Wang Wei-chengis penetrating and has been used here. The evaluation of Lao Tzŭ and hispupils as against Confucius by J.  Needham, in his _Science andCivilization in China_, Cambridge 1954 _et sqq. _ (in volume 2) is verystimulating, though necessarily limited to some aspects only. p. 47: The concept of _wu-wei_ has often been discussed; some, such asMasaaki Matsumoto, interpreted the concept purely in social terms as"refusal of actions carrying wordly estimation". p. 49: Further literature concerning alchemy and breathing exercises isfound in J.  Needham's book. _Chapter Four_ p. 51: I have used here the general frame-work of R.  L.  Walker, but moreupon Yang K'uan's studies. p. 52: The interpretation of the change of myths in this period is basedin part upon the work done by H.  Maspero, G.  Haloun, and Ku Chieh-kang. The analysis of legends made by B.  Karlgren from a philological point ofview ("Legends and Cults in Ancient China", _The Museum of Far EasternAntiquities, Bulletin_ No. 18, 1946, pp. 199-365) follows anotherdirection. p. 53: The discussion on riding involves the theories concerninghorse-nomadic tribes and the period of this way of life. It alsoinvolves the problem of the invention of stirrup and saddle. The saddleseems to have been used in China already at the beginning of our period;the stirrup seems to be as late as the fifth century A. D. The article byA.  Kroeber, _The Ancient Oikumene as an Historic Culture Aggregate_, Huxley Memorial Lecture for 1945, is very instructive for our problemsand also for its theoretical approach. --The custom of attractingsettlers from other areas in order to have more production as well asmore man-power seems to have been known in India at the same time. p. 54: The work done by Katō Shigeru and Niida Noboru on property andfamily has been used here. For the later period, work done by MakinoTatsumi has also been incorporated. --Literature on the plough and oniron for implements has been mentioned above. Concerning the fallowsystem, I have incorporated the ideas of Katō Shigeru, Ōshima Toshikaza, Hsü Ti-shan and Wan Kuo-ting. Hsü Ti-shan believes that a kind of3-field system had developed by this time. Traces of such a system havebeen observed in modern China (H.  D.  Scholz). For these questions, thetranslation by N.  Lee Swann, _Food and Money in Ancient China_, 1959 isvery important. p. 55: For all questions of money and credit from this period down tomodern times, the best brief introduction is by Lien-sheng Yang, _Moneyand Credit in China_, Cambridge 1952. The _Introduction to the EconomicHistory of China_, London 1954, by E.  Stuart Kirby is certainly stillthe best brief introduction into all problems of Chinese Economichistory and contains a bibliography in Western and Chinese-Japaneselanguages. Articles by Chinese authors on economic problems have beentranslated in E-tu Zen Sun and J.  de Francis, _Chinese Social History_;Washington 1956. --Data on the size of early cities have been collectedby T.  Sekino and Katō Shigeru. p. 56: T.  Sekino studied the forms of cities. G.  Hentze believes thatthe city even in the Shang period normally had a square plan. --T.  Sekinohas also made the first research on city coins. Such a privilege andsuch independence of cities disappear later, but occasionally theprivilege of minting was given to persons of high rank. --K.  A.  Wittfogel, _Oriental Despotism_, New Haven 1957 regards irrigation as a keyeconomic and social factor and has built up his theory around thisconcept. I do not accept his theory here or later. Evidence seems topoint towards the importance of transportation systems rather than ofgovernment-sponsored or operated irrigation systems. --Concerning steel, we follow Yang K'uan; a special study by J.  Needham is underpreparation. Centre of steel production at this time was Wan (laterNan-yang in Honan). --For early Chinese law, the study by A.  F.  P.  Hulsewé, _Remnants of Han Law_, Leiden 1955 is the best work in English. He doesnot, however, regard Li K'ui as the main creator of Chinese law, thoughKuo Mo-jo and others do. It is obvious, however, that Han law was not acreation of the Han Chinese alone and that some type of code must haveexisted before Han, even if such a code was not written by the man LiK'ui. A special study on Li was made by O.  Franke. p. 57: In the description of border conditions, research by O.  Lattimorehas been taken into consideration. p. 59: For Shang Yang and this whole period, the classical work inEnglish is still J.  J.  L.  Duyvendak, _The Book of Lord Shang_, London1928; the translation by Ma Perleberg of _The Works of Kung-sunLung-tzu_, Hongkong 1952 as well as the translation of the _EconomicDialogues in Ancient China: The Kuan-tzu_, edited by L.  Maverick, NewHaven 1954 have not found general approval, but may serve asintroductions to the way philosophers of our period worked. Han Fei Tzŭhas been translated by W.  K.  Liao, _The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzŭ_, London 1939 (only part 1). p. 60: Needham does not have such a positive attitude towards Tsou Yen, and regards Western influences upon Tsou Yen as not too likely. Thediscussion on pp. 60-1 follows mainly my own researches. p. 61: The interpretation of secret societies is influenced by generalsociological theory and detailed reports on later secret societies. S. Murayama and most modern Chinese scholars stress almost solely thesocial element in the so-called "peasant rebellions". _Chapter Five_ p. 63: The analysis of the emergence of Ch'in bureaucracy has profittedfrom general sociological theory, especially M.  Weber (see the newanalysis by R.  Bendix, _Max Weber, an Intellectual Portrait_, GardenCity 1960, p. 117-157). Early administration systems of this type inChina have been studied in several articles in the journal _Yü-kung_(vol. 6 and 7). p. 65: In the discussion of language, I use arguments which have beenbrought forth by P.  Serruys against the previously generally acceptedtheories of B.  Karlgren. --For weights and measures I have referred to T. Sekino, Liu Fu and Wu Ch'eng-lo. p. 66: For this period, D.  Bodde's _China's First Unifier_, Leiden 1938and his _Statesman, Patriot, and General in Ancient China_, New Haven1940 remain valuable studies. _Chapter Six_ p. 71: The basic historical text for this whole period, the _DynasticHistory of the Han Dynasty_, is now in part available in Englishtranslation (H.  H.  Dubs, _The History of the Former Han Dynasty_, Baltimore 1938, 3 volumes). p. 72: The description of the gentry is based upon my own research. Other scholars define the word "gentry", if applied to China, differently (some of the relevant studies are discussed in my note inthe _Bull. School of Orient. & African Studies_, 1955, p. 373 f. ). p. 73: The theory of the cycle of mobility has been brought forth by Fr. L.  K.  Hsu and others. I have based my criticism upon a forthcoming studyof _Social Mobility in Traditional Chinese Society_. The basic point isnot the momentary economic or political power of such a family, but thesocial status of the family (_Li-shih yen-chiu_, Peking 1955, No. 4, p. 122). The social status was, increasingly, defined and fixed by law(Ch'ü T'ung-tsu). --The difference in the size of gentry and otherfamilies has been pointed out by a number of scholars such as Fr. L.  K. Hsu, H.  T.  Fei, O.  Lang. My own research seems to indicate that gentryfamilies, on the average, married earlier than other families. p. 74: The Han system of examinations or rather of selection has beenstudied by Yang Lien-sheng; and analysis of the social origin ofcandidates has been made in the _Bull. Chinese Studies_, vol. 2, 1941, and 3, 1942. --The meaning of the term "Hundred Families" has beendiscussed by W.  Eichhorn, Kuo Mo-jo, Ch'en Meng-chia and especially byHsü T'ung-hsin. It was later also a fiscal term. p. 75: The analysis of Hsiung-nu society is based mainly upon my ownresearch. There is no satisfactory history of these northern federationsavailable in English. The compilation of W.  M.  MacGovern, _The EarlyEmpires of Central Asia_, Chapel Hill 1939, is now quite antiquated. --Anattempt to construct a model of Central Asian nomadic social structurehas been made by E.  E.  Bacon, _Obok, a Study of Social Structure inEurasia_, New York 1958, but the model constructed by B.  Vladimirtsovand modified by O.  Lattimore remains valuable. --For origin andearly-development of Hsiung-nu society see O.  Maenchen, K.  Jettmar, B. Bernstam, Uchida Gimpu and many others. p. 79: Material on the "classes" (_szŭ min_) will be found in aforthcoming book. Studies by Ch'ü T'ung-tsu and Tamai Korehiro areimportant here. An up-to-date history of Chinese education is still adesideratum. p. 80: For Tung Chung-shu, I rely mainly upon O.  Franke. --Some scholarsdo not accept this "double standard", although we have clear texts whichshow that cases were evaluated on the basis of Confucian texts and noton the basis of laws. In fact, local judges probably only in exceptionalcases knew the text of the law or had the code. They judged on the basisof "customary law". p. 81: Based mainly upon my own research. K.  A.  Wittfogel, _OrientalDespotism_, New Haven 1957, has a different interpretation. p. 82: Cases in which the Han emperors disregarded the law code werestudied by Y.  Hisamura. --I have used here studies published in the_Bull. Of Chinese Studies_, vol. 2 and 3 and in _Tôyô gakuho_, vol. 8and 9, in addition to my own research. p. 85: On local administration see Katō Shigeru and Yen Keng-wang'sstudies. p. 86: The problem of the Chinese gold, which will be touched upon lateragain, has gained theoretical interest, because it could be used as atest of M.  Lombard's theories concerning the importance of gold in theWest (_Annales, Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations_, vol. 12, Paris1957, No. 1, p. 7-28). It was used in China from _c. _ 600 B. C. On in formof coins or bars, but disappeared almost completely from A. D. 200 on, i. E. The period of economic decline (see L.  S.  Yang, Katō Shigeru). --Thepayment to border tribes occurs many times again in Chinese history downto recent times; it has its parallel in British payments to tribes inthe North-West Frontier Province in India which continued even after theIndependence. p. 88: According to later sources, one third of the tributary gifts wasused in the Imperial ancestor temples, one third in the Imperialmausolea, but one third was used as gifts to guests of the Emperor. --Thetrade aspect of the tributes was first pointed but by E.  Parker, laterby O.  Lattimore, recently by J.  K.  Fairbank. --The importance of ChangCh'ien for East-West contacts was systematically studied by B.  Laufer;his _Sino-Iranica_, Chicago 1919 is still a classic. p. 89: The most important trait which points to foreign trade, is theoccurrence of glass in Chinese tombs in Indo-China and of glass in Chinaproper from the fifth century B. C. On; it is assumed that this glass wasimported from the Near East, possibly from Egypt (O.  Janse, N.  Egami, Seligman). p. 91: Large parts of the "Discussions" have been translated by Esson M. Gale, _Discourses on Salt and Iron_, Leiden 1931; the continuation ofthis translation is in _Jour. Royal As. Society, North-China Branch_1934. --The history of eunuchs in China remains to be written. They wereknown since at least the seventh century B. C. The hypothesis has beenmade that this custom had its origin in Asia Minor and spread from there(R.  F.  Spencer in _Ciba Symposia_, vol. 8, No. 7, 1946 with references). p. 92: The main source on Wang Mang is translated by C.  B.  Sargent, _WangMang, a translation_, Shanghai 1950 and H.  H.  Dubs, _History of theFormer Han Dynasty_, vol, 3, Baltimore 1955. p. 93: This evaluation of the "Old character school" is not generallyaccepted. A quite different view is represented by Tjan Tjoe Som andR.  P.  Kramers and others who regard the differences between the schoolsas of a philological and not a political kind. I follow here moststrongly the Chinese school as represented by Ku Chieh-kang and hisfriends, and my own studies. p. 93: Falsification of texts refers to changes in the Tso-chuan. Myinterpretation relies again upon Ku Chieh-kang, and Japaneseastronomical studies (Ijima Tadao), but others, too, admitfalsifications (H.  H.  Dubs); B.  Karlgren and others regard the book as inits main body genuine. The other text mentioned here is the _Chou-li_which is certainly not written by Wang Mang (_Jung-chai Hsü-pi_ 16), butheavily mis-used by him (in general see S.  Uno). p. 94: I am influenced here by some of H.  H.  Dubs's studies. For this andthe following period, the work by H.  Bielenstein, _The Restoration ofthe Han Dynasty_, Stockholm 1953 and 1959 is the best monograph. --The"equalization offices" and their influence upon modern United States hasbeen studied by B.  Bodde in the _Far Eastern Quarterly_, vol. 5, 1946. p. 95: H.  Bielenstein regards a great flood as one of the main reasonsfor the breakdown of Wang Mang's rule. p. 98: For the understanding of Chinese military colonies in CentralAsia as well as for the understanding of military organization, civiladministration and business, the studies of Lao Kan on texts excavatedin Central Asia and Kansu are of greatest importance. p. 101: Mazdaistic elements in this rebellion have been mentioned mainlyby H.  H.  Dubs. Zoroastrism (Zoroaster born 569 B. C. ) and Mazdaism wereeminently "political" religions from their very beginning on. Mostscholars admit the presence of Mazdaism in China only from 519 on(Ishida Mikinosuke, O.  Franke). Dubs's theory can be strengthened byastronomical material. --The basic religious text of this group, the"Book of the Great Peace" has been studied by W.  Eichhron, H.  Masperoand Ho Ch'ang-ch'ün. p. 102: For the "church" I rely mainly upon H.  Maspero and W.  Eichhorn. p. 103: I use here concepts developed by Cheng Chen-to and especially byJung Chao-tsu. p. 104: Wang Ch'ung's importance has recently been mentioned again by J. Needham. p. 105: These "court poets" have their direct parallel in Western Asia. This trend, however, did not become typical in China. --On the generalhistory of paper read A.  Kroeber, _Anthropology_, New York 1948, p. 490f. , and Dard Hunter, _Paper Making_, New York 1947 (2nd ed. ). _Chapter Seven_ p. 109: The main historical sources for this period have been translatedby Achilles Fang, _The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms_, Cambridge, Mass. 1952; the epic which describes this time is C.  H.  Brewitt-Taylor, _San Kuo, or Romance of the Three Kingdoms_, Shanghai 1925. p. 112: For problems of migration and settlement in the South, we reliedin part upon research by Ch'en Yüan and Wang Yi-t'ung. p. 114: For the history of the Hsiung-nu I am relying mainly upon my ownstudies. p. 117: This analysis of tribal structure is based mainly upon my ownresearch; it differs in detail from the studies by E.  Bacon, _Obok, aStudy of Social Structure in Eurasia_, New York 1958, B.  Vladimirtsov, O.  Lattimore's _Inner Asian Frontiers of China_, New York 1951 (2ndedit. ) and the studies by L.  M.  J.  Schram, _The Monguors of theKansu-Tibetan Frontier_, Philadelphia 1954 and 1957. p. 118: The use of the word "Huns" does not imply that we identify theearly or the late Hsiung-nu with the European Huns. This question isstill very much under discussion (O.  Maenchen, W.  Haussig, W.  Henning, and others). p. 119: For the history of the early Hsien-pi states see the monographby G.  Schreiber, "The History of the Former Yen Dynasty", in _MonomentaSerica_, vol. 14 and 15 (1949-56). For all translations from ChineseDynastic Histories of the period between 220 and 960 the _Catalogue ofTranslations from the Chinese Dynastic Histories for the Period220-960_, by Hans H.  Frankel, Berkeley 1957, is a reliable guide. p. 125: For the description of conditions in Turkestan, especially inTunhuang, I rely upon my own studies, but studies by A.  von Gabein, L. Ligeti, J.  R.  Ware, O.  Franke and Tsukamoto Zenryû have been used, too. p. 133: These songs have first been studied by Hu Shih, later by Chinesefolklorists. p. 134: For problems of Chinese Buddhism see Arthur F.  Wright, _Buddhismin Chinese History_, Stanford 1959, with further bibliography. I haveused for this and later periods, in addition to my own sociologicalstudies, R.  Michihata, J.  Gernet, and Tamai Korehiro. --It is interestingthat the rise of land-owning temples in India occurred at exactly thesame time (R.  S.  Sharma in _Journ. Econ. And Soc. Hist. Orient_, vol. 1, 1958, p. 316). Perhaps even more interesting, but still unstudied, isthe existence of Buddhist temples in India which owned land and villageswhich were donated by contributions from China. --For the use of foreignmonks in Chinese bureaucracies, I have used M.  Weber's theory as aninterpretative tool. p. 135: The important deities of Khotan Buddhism are Vaišramana andKubera, (research by P.  Demiéville, R.  Stein and others). --Where, how, and why Hinayana and Mahayana developed as separate sects, is not yetstudied. Also, a sociological analysis of the different Buddhist sectsin China has not even been attempted yet. p. 136: Such public religious disputations were known also in India. p. 137: Analysis of the tribal names has been made by L.  Bazin. p. 138-9: The personality type which was the ideal of the Tobacorresponded closely to the type described by G.  Geesemann, _HeroischeLebensform_, Berlin 1943. p. 142: The Toba occur in contemporary Western sources as Tabar, Tabgaç, Tafkaç and similar names. The ethnic name also occurs as a title (O. Pritsak, P.  Pelliot, W.  Haussig and others). --On the _chün-t'ien_ systemcf. The article by Wan Kuo-ting in E-tu Zen Sun, _Chinese SocialHistory_, Washington 1956, p. 157-184. I also used Yoshimi Matsumoto andT'ang Ch'ang-ju. --Census fragments from Tunhuang have been published byL.  Giles, Niida Noboru and other Japanese scholars. p. 143: On slaves for the earlier time see M.  Wilbur, _Slavery in Chinaduring the Former Han Dynasty_, Chicago 1943. For our period WangYi-t'ung and especially Niida Noboru and Ch'ü T'ung-tsu. I used for thisdiscussion Niida, Ch'ü and Tamai Korehiro. --For the _pu-ch'ü_ I used inaddition Yang Chung-i, H.  Maspero, E.  Balazs, W.  Eichhorn. Yang'sarticle is translated in E-tu Zen Sun's book, _Chinese Social History_, pp. 142-56. --The question of slaves and their importance in Chinesesociety has always been given much attention by Chinese Communistauthors. I believe that a clear distinction between slaves and serfs isvery important. p. 145: The political use of Buddhism has been asserted for Japan aswell as for Korea and Tibet (H.  Hoffmann, _Quellen zur Geschichte dertibetischen Bon-Religion_, Mainz 1950, p. 220 f. ). A case could be madefor Burma. In China, Buddhism was later again used as a tool by rulers(see below). p. 146: The first text in which such problems of state versus church arementioned is Mou Tzŭ (P.  Pelliot transl. ). More recently, some of theproblems have been studied by R.  Michihata and E.  Zürcher. Michihataalso studied the temple slaves. Temple families were slightly different. They have been studied mainly by R.  Michihata, J.  Gernet and WangYi-t'ung. The information on T'an-yao is mainly in _Wei-shu_ 114(transl. J.  Ware). --The best work on Yün-kang is now Seiichi Mizuno andToshio Nagahiro, _Yün-kang. The Buddhist Cave-Temples of the FifthCentury A. D.  in North China_, Kyoto 1951-6, thus far 16 volumes. ForChinese Buddhist art, the work by Tokiwa Daijô and Sekino Tadashi, _Chinese Buddhist Monuments_, Tokyo 1926-38, 5 volumes, is mostprofusely illustrated. --As a general reader for the whole of Chineseart, Alexander Soper and L.  Sickman's _The Art and Architecture ofChina_, Baltimore 1956 may be consulted. p. 147: Zenryû Tsukamoto has analysed one such popular, revolutionaryBuddhist text from the fifth century A. D.  I rely here for the wholechapter mainly upon my own research. p. 150: On the Ephtalites (or Hephtalites) see R.  Ghirshman andEnoki. --The carpet ceremony has been studied by P.  Boodberg, and in acomparative way by L.  Olschki, _The Myth of Felt_, Berkeley 1949. p. 151: For Yang Chien and his time see now A.  F.  Wright, "The Formationof Sui Ideology" in John K.  Fairbank, _Chinese Thought andInstitutions_, Chicago 1957, pp. 71-104. p. 153: The processes described here, have not yet been thoroughlyanalysed. A preliminary review of literature is given by H.  Wiens, _China's March towards the Tropics_, Hamden 1954. I used Ch'en Yüan, Wang Yi-t'ung and my own research. p. 154: It is interesting to compare such hunting parks with the"_paradeisos_" (Paradise) of the Near East and with the "Garden ofEden". --Most of the data on gardens and manors have been broughttogether and studied by Japanese scholars, especially by Katō Shigeru, some also by Ho Tzû-ch'üan. --The disappearance of "village commons" inChina should be compared with the same process in Europe; bothprocesses, however, developed quite differently. The origin of manorsand their importance for the social structure of the Far East (China aswell as Japan) is the subject of many studies in Japan and in modernChina. This problem is connected with the general problem of feudalismEast and West. The manor (_chuang_: Japanese _shô_) in later periods hasbeen studied by Y.  Sudô. H.  Maspero also devotes attention to thisproblem. Much more research remains to be done. p. 158: This popular rebellion by Sun En has been studied by W. Eichhorn. p. 163: On foreign music in China see L.  C.  Goodrich and Ch'ü T'ung-tsu, H.  G.  Farmer, S.  Kishibe and others. --Niida Noboru pointed out thatmusicians belonged to one of the lower social classes, but had specialprivileges because of their close relations to the rulers. p. 164: Meditative or _Ch'an_ (Japanese: _Zen_) Buddhism in this periodhas been studied by Hu Shih, but further analysis is necessary. --Thephilosophical trends of this period have been analysed by E. Balazs. --Mention should also be made of the aesthetic-philosophicalconversation which was fashionable in the third century, but in otherform still occurred in our period, the so-called "pure talk"(_ch'ing-t'an_) (E.  Balazs, H.  Wilhelm and others). _Chapter Eight_ p. 167: For genealogies and rules of giving names, I use my own researchand the study by W.  Bauer. p. 168: For Emperor Wen Ti, I rely mainly upon A.  F.  Wright'sabove-mentioned article, but also upon O.  Franke. p. 169: The relevant texts concerning the T'u-chüeh are available inFrench (E.  Chavannes) and recently also in German translation (LiuMau-tsai, _Die chinesischen Nachrichten zur Geschichte der Ost-Tŭrken_, Wiesbaden 1958, 2 vol. ). --The Tölös are called T'e-lo in Chinesesources; the T'u-yü-hun are called Aza in Central Asian sources (P. Pelliot, A.  Minorsky, F.  W.  Thomas, L.  Hambis, _et al. _). The mostimportant text concerning the T'u-yü-hun had been translated by Th. D. Caroll, _Account of the T'u-yü-hun in the History of the Chin Dynasty_, Berkeley 1953. p. 171: The transcription of names on this and on the other maps couldnot be adjusted to the transcription of the text for technical reasons. p. 172: It is possible that I have underestimated the role of Li Yüan. Irelied here mainly upon O.  Franke and upon W.  Bingham's _The Founding ofthe T'ang Dynasty_, Baltimore 1941. p. 173: The best comprehensive study of T'ang economy in a Westernlanguage is still E.  Balazs's work. I relied, however, strongly upon WanKuo-ting, Yang Chung-i, Katō Shigeru, J.  Gernet, T.  Naba, Niida Noboru, Yoshimi Matsumoto. p. 173-4: For the description of the administration I used my ownstudies and the work of R.  des Rotours; for the military organization Iused Kikuehi Hideo. A real study of Chinese army organization andstrategy does not yet exist. The best detailed study, but for the Hanperiod, is written by H.  Maspero. p. 174: For the first occurrence of the title _tu-tu_ we used W. Eichhorn; in the form _tutuq_ the title occurs since 646 in Central Asia(J.  Hamilton). p. 177: The name T'u-fan seems to be a transcription of Tüpöt which, inturn, became our Tibet. (J.  Hamilton). --The Uigurs are the Hui-ho orHui-hu of Chinese sources. p. 179: On relations with Central Asia and the West see Ho Chien-min andHsiang Ta, whose classical studies on Ch'ang-an city life have recentlybeen strongly criticized by Chinese scholars. --Some authors (J.  K. Rideout) point to the growing influence of eunuchs in this period. --Thesources paint the pictures of the Empress Wu in very dark colours. Amore detailed study of this period seems to be necessary. p. 180: The best study of "family privileges" (_yin_) in general is byE.  A.  Kracke, _Civil Service in Early Sung China_, Cambridge, Mass. 1953. p. 180-1: The economic importance of organized Buddhism has been studiedby many authors, especially J.  Gernet, Yang Lien-sheng, Ch'üanHan-sheng, K.  Tamai and R.  Michihata. p. 182: The best comprehensive study on T'ang prose in English is stillE.  D.  Edwards, _Chinese Prose Literature of the T'ang Period_, London1937-8, 2 vol. On Li T'ai-po and Po Chü-i we have well-written books byA.  Waley, _The Poetry and Career of Li Po_, London 1951 and _The Lifeand Times of Po Chü-i_, London 1950. --On the "free poem" (_tz'ŭ_), whichtechnically is not a free poem, see A.  Hoffmann and Hu Shih. For theearly Chinese theatre, the classical study is still Wang Kuo-wei'sanalysis, but there is an almost unbelievable number of studiesconstantly written in China and Japan, especially on the later theatreand drama. p. 184: Conditions at the court of Hsüan Tsung and the life of YangKui-fei have been studied by Howard Levy and others, An Lu-shan'simportance mainly by E.  G.  Pulleyblank, _The Background of the Rebellionof An Lu-shan_, London 1955. p. 187: The tax reform of Yang Yen has been studied by K.  Hino; the mostimportant figures in T'ang economic history are Liu Yen (studied by ChüCh'ing-yüan) and Lu Chih (754-805; studied by E.  Balazs and others). p. 187-8: The conditions at the time of this persecution are welldescribed by E.  O.  Reischauer, _Ennin's Travels in T'ang China_, New York1955, on the basis of his _Ennin's Diary. The Record of a Pilgrimage toChina_, New York 1955. The persecution of Buddhism has been analysed inits economic character by Niida Noboru and other Japanesescholars. --Metal statues had to be delivered to the Salt and Iron Officein order to be converted into cash; iron statues were collected by localoffices for the production of agricultural implements; figures in gold, silver or other rare materials were to be handed over to the FinanceOffice. Figures made of stone, clay or wood were not affected(Michihata). p. 189: It seems important to note that popular movements are often notled by simple farmers or members of the lower classes. There are othersalt merchants and persons of similar status known as leaders. p. 190: For the Sha-t'o, I am relying upon my own research. Tatars arethe Ta-tan of the Chinese sources. The term is here used in a narrowsense. p. 195: Many Chinese and Japanese authors have a new period begin withthe early (Ch'ien Mu) or the late tenth century (T'ao Hsi-sheng, LiChien-nung), while others prefer a cut already in the Middle of theT'ang Dynasty (Teng Ch'u-min, Naito Torajiro). For many Marxists, theperiod which we called "Modern Times" is at best a sub-period within alarger period which really started with what we called "Medieval China". p. 196: For the change in the composition of the gentry, I am using myown research. --For clan rules, clan foundations, etc. , I used D.  C. Twitchett, J.  Fischer, Hu Hsien-chin, Ch'ü T'ung-tsu, Niida Noboru andT.  Makino. The best analysis of the clan rules is by Wang Hui-chen inD.  S.  Nivison, _Confucianism in Action_, Stanford 1959, p. 63-96. --I donot regard such marriage systems as "survivals" of ancient systems whichhave been studied by M.  Granet and systematically analysed by C. Lévy-Strauss in his _Les structures élémentaires de la parenté_, Paris1949, pp. 381-443. In some cases, the reasons for the establishment ofsuch rules can still be recognized. --A detailed study of despotism inChina still has to be written. K.  A.  Wittfogel's _Oriental Despotism_, New Haven 1957 does not go into the necessary detailed work. p. 197: The problem of social mobility is now under study, afterpreliminary research by K.  A.  Wittfogel, E.  Kracke, myself and others. E. Kracke, Ho Ping-ti, R.  M.  Marsh and I are now working on this topic. --Forthe craftsmen and artisans, much material has recently been collected byChinese scholars. I have used mainly Li Chien-nung and articles in_Li-shih yen-chiu_ 1955, No. 3 and in _Mem. Inst. Orient. Cult. _1956. --On the origin of guilds see Katō Shigeru; a general study ofguilds and their function has not yet been made (preliminary work by P. Maybon, H.  B.  Morse, J.  St. Burgess, K.  A.  Wittfogel and others). Comparisons with Near-Eastern guilds on the one hand and with Japaneseguilds on the other, are quite interesting but parallels should not beover-estimated. The _tong_ of U.  S.  Chinatowns (_tang_ in Mandarin) arelate and organizations of businessmen only (S.  Yokoyama and LaaiYi-faai). They are not the same as the _hui-kuan_. p. 198: For the merchants I used Ch'ü T'ung-tsu, Sung Hsi and WadaKiyoshi. --For trade, I used extensively Ch'üan Han-sheng and J. Kuwabara. --On labour legislation in early modern times I used KoCh'ang-chi and especially Li Chien-nung, also my own studies. --Onstrikes I used Katō Shigeru and modern Chinese authors. --The problem of"vagrants" has been taken up by Li Chien-nung who always refers to theoriginal sources and to modern Chinese research. --The growth of cities, perhaps the most striking event in this period, has been studied for theearlier part of our period by Katō Shigeru. Li Chien-nung also dealsextensively with investments in industry and agriculture. The problem asto whether China would have developed into an industrial society withoutoutside stimulus is much discussed by Marxist authors in China. p. 199: On money policy see Yang Lien-sheng, Katō Shigeru and others. p. 200: The history of one of the Southern Dynasties has been translatedby Ed. H.  Schafer, _The Empire of Min_, Tokyo 1954; Schafer'sannotations provide much detail for the cultural and economic conditionsof the coastal area. --For tea and its history, I use my own research;for tea trade a study by K.  Kawakami and an article in the _FrontierStudies_, vol. 3, 1943. --Salt consumption according to H.  T.  Fei, _Earthbound China_, 1945, p. 163. p. 201: For salt I used largely my own research. For porcelainproduction Li Chien-nung and other modern articles. --On paper, theclassical study is Th. F.  Carter, _The Invention of Printing in China_, New York 1925 (a revised edition now published by L.  C.  Goodrich). p. 202: For paper money in the early period, see Yang Lien-sheng, _Moneyand Credit in China_, Cambridge, Mass. , 1952. Although the origin ofpaper money seems to be well established, it is interesting to note thatalready in the third century A. D. Money made of paper was produced andwas burned during funeral ceremonies to serve as financial help for thedead. This money was, however, in the form of coins. --On iron money seeYang Lien-sheng; I also used an article in _Tung-fang tsa-chih_, vol. 35, No. 10. p. 203: For the Kitan (Chines: Ch'i-tan) and their history see K.  A. Wittfogel and Feng Chia-sheng, _History of Chinese Society. Liao_, Philadelphia 1949. p. 204: For these dynasties, I rely upon my own research. --Niida Noboruand Katō Shigeru have studied adoption laws; our specific case has inaddition been studied by M.  Kurihara. This system of adoptions isnon-Chinese and has its parallels among Turkish tribes (A.  Kollantz, Abdulkadir Inan, Osman Turan). p. 207: For the persecution I used K.  Tamai and my own research. p. 211: This is based mainly upon my own research. --The remark on taxincome is from Ch'üan Han-sheng. p. 212: Fan Chung-yen has been studied recently by J.  Fischer and D. Twitchett, but these notes on price policies are based upon my ownwork. --I regard the statement, that it was the gentry which preventedthe growth of an industrial society--a statement which has often beenmade before--as preliminary, and believe that further research, especially in the growth of cities and urban institutions may lead toquite different explanations. --On estate management I relied on Y. Sudô's work. p. 213: Research on place names such as mentioned here, has not yet beensystematically done. --On _i-chuang_ I relied upon the work by T.  Makinoand D.  Twitchett. --This process of tax-evasion has been used by K.  A. Wittfogel (1938) to construct a theory of a crisis cycle in China. I donot think that such far-reaching conclusions are warranted. p. 214: This "law" was developed on the basis of Chinese materials fromdifferent periods as well as on materials from other parts of Asia. --Inthe study of tenancy, cases should be studied in which wealthier farmersrent additional land which gets cultivated by farm labourers. Such casesare well known from recent periods, but have not yet been studied inearlier periods. At the same time, the problem of farm labourers shouldbe investigated. Such people were common in the Sung time. Researchalong these lines could further clarify the importance of the so-called"guest families" (_k'o-hu_) which were alluded to in these pages. Theyconstituted often one third of the total population in the Sung period. The problem of migration and mobility might also be clarified bystudying the _k'o-hu. _ p. 215: For Wang An-shih, the most comprehensive work is still H. Williamson's _Wang An-shih_, London 1935, 3 vol. , but this work in noway exhausts the problems. We have so much personal data on Wang that apsychological study could be attempted; and we have since Williamson'stime much deeper insight into the reforms and theories of Wang. I used, in addition to Williamson, O.  Franke, and my own research. p. 216: Based mainly upon Ch'ü T'ung-tsu. --For the social legislationsee Hsü I-t'ang; for economic problems I used Ch'üan Han-sheng, Ts'enChung-mien and Liu Ming-shu. --Most of these relief measures had theirprecursors in the T'ang period. p. 217: It is interesting to note that later Buddhism gave up its"social gospel" in China. Buddhist circles in Asian countries at thepresent time attempt to revive this attitude. p. 218: For slaughtering I used A.  Hulsewé; for greeting R.  Michihata;on law Ch'ü T'ung-tsu; on philosophy I adapted ideas from ChanWing-sit. p. 219: A comprehensive study of Chu Hsi is a great desideratum. Thusfar, we have in English mainly the essays by Feng Yu-lan (transl. Andannotated by D.  Bodde) in the _Harvard Journal of Asiat. Stud. _, vol. 7, 1942. T.  Makino emphasized Chu's influence upon the Far East, J.  Needhamhis interest in science. p. 220: For Su Tung-p'o as general introduction see Lin Yutang, _The GayGenius. The Life and Times of Su Tungpo_, New York 1947. --For painting, I am using concepts of A.  Soper here. p. 222: For this period the standard work is K.  A.  Wittfogel and FengChia-sheng, _History of Chinese Society, Liao_, Philadelphia1949. --Po-hai had been in tributary relations with the dynasties ofNorth China before its defeat, and resumed these from 932 on; there wereeven relations with one of the South Chinese states; in the same way, Kao-li continuously played one state against the other (M.  Rogers _etal. _). p. 223: On the Kara-Kitai see Appendix to Wittfogel-Feng. p. 228: For the Hakka, I relied mainly upon Lo Hsiang-lin; for ChiaSsu-tao upon H.  Franke. p. 229: The Ju-chên (Jurchen) are also called Nü-chih and Nü-chen, butJu-chen seems to be correct (_Studia Serica_, vol. 3, No. 2). _Chapter Ten_ p. 233: I use here mainly Meng Ssu-liang, but also others, such as ChüCh'ing-yüan and Li Chien-nung. --The early political developments aredescribed by H.  D.  Martin, _The Rise of Chingis Khan and his Conquest ofNorth China_, Baltimore 1950. p. 236: I am alluding here to such Taoist sects as the Cheng-i-chiao(Sun K'o-k'uan and especially the study in _Kita Aziya gakuhō_, vol. 2). pp. 236-7: For taxation and all other economic questions I have reliedupon Wan Kuo-ting and especially upon H.  Franke. The first part of themain economic text is translated and annotated by H.  F.  Schurmann, _Economic Structure of the Yüan Dynasty_, Cambridge, Mass. , 1956. p. 237: On migrations see T.  Makino and others. --For the system ofcommunications during the Mongol time and the privileges of merchants, Iused P.  Olbricht. p. 238: For the popular rebellions of this time, I used a study in the_Bull. Acad. Sinica_, vol. 10, 1948, but also Meng Ssu-liang and others. p. 239: On the White Lotos Society (Pai-lien-hui) see note to previouspage and an article by Hagiwara Jumpei. p. 240: H.  Serruys, _The Mongols in China during the Hung-wu Period_, Bruges 1959, has studied in this book and in an article the fate ofisolated Mongol groups in China after the breakdown of the dynasty. pp. 241-2: The travel report of Ch'ang-ch'un has been translated by A. Waley, _The Travels of an Alchemist_, London 1931. p. 242: _Hsi-hsiang-chi_ has been translated by S.  I.  Hsiung. _TheRomance of the Western Chamber_, London 1935. All important analyticliterature on drama and theatre is written by Chinese and Japaneseauthors, especially by Yoshikawa Kôjirô. --For Bon and early Lamaism, Iused H.  Hoffmann. p. 243: Lamaism in Mongolia disappeared later, however, and wasre-introduced in the reformed form (Tsong-kha-pa, 1358-1419) in thesixteenth century. See R.  J.  Miller, _Monasteries and Culture Change inInner Mongolia_, Wiesbaden 1959. p. 245: Much more research is necessary to clarify Japanese-Chineserelations in this period, especially to determine the size of trade. Good material is in the article by S.  Iwao. Important is also S.  Sakumaand an article in _Li-shih yen-chiu_ 1955, No. 3. For the loss of coins, I relied upon D.  Brown. p. 246: The necessity of transports of grain and salt was one of thereasons for the emergence of the Hsin-an and Hui-chou merchants. Theimportance of these developments is only partially known (studies mainlyby H.  Fujii and in _Li-shih-yen-chiu_ 1955, No. 3). Data are also in anunpublished thesis by Ch. Mac Sherry, _The Impairment of the MingTributary System_, and in an article by Wang Ch'ung-wu. p. 247: The tax system of the Ming has been studied among others byLiang Fang-chung. Yoshiyuki Suto analysed the methods of tax evasion inthe periods before the reform. For the land grants, I used WanKuo-ting's data. p. 248: Based mainly upon my own research. On the progress ofagriculture wrote Li Chien-nung and also Katō Shigeru and others. p. 250: I believe that further research would discover that the"agrarian revolution" was a key factor in the economic and socialdevelopment of China. It probably led to another change in dietaryhabits; it certainly led to a greater labour input per person, i. E. Ahigher number of full working days per year than before. It may be--butonly further research can try to show this--that the "agrarianrevolution" turned China away from technology and industry. --On cottonand its importance see the studies by M.  Amano, and some preliminaryremarks by P.  Pelliot. p. 250-1: Detailed study of Central Chinese urban centres in this timeis a great desideratum. My remarks here have to be taken as verypreliminary. Notice the special character of the industriesmentioned!--The porcelain centre of Ching-tê-chen was inhabited byworkers and merchants (70-80 per cent of population); there were morethan 200 private kilns. --On indented labour see Li Chien-nung, H.  Iwamiand Y.  Yamane. p. 253: On _pien-wen_ I used R.  Michihata, and for this generaldiscussion R.  Irvin, _The Evolution of a Chinese Novel_, Cambridge, Mass. , 1953, and studies by J.  Jaworski and J.  Prušek. Many texts of_pien-wen_ and related styles have been found in Tunhuang and have beenrecently republished by Chinese scholars. p. 254: _Shui-hu-chuan_ has been translated by Pearl Buck, _All Men areBrothers_. Parts of _Hsi-yu-chi_ have been translated by A.  Waley, _Monkey_, London 1946. _San-kuo yen-i_ is translated by C.  H. Brewitt-Taylor, _San Kuo, or Romance of the Three Kingdoms_, Shanghai1925 (a new edition just published). A purged translation ofChin-p'ing-mei is published by Fr. Kuhn _Chin P'ing Mei_, New York 1940. p. 255: Even the "murder story" was already known in Ming time. Anexample is R.  H.  van Gulik, _Dee Gong An. Three Murder Cases solved byJudge Dee_, Tokyo 1949. p. 256: For a special group of block-prints see R.  H.  van Gulik, _EroticColour Prints of the Ming Dynasty_, Tokyo 1951. This book is also anexcellent introduction into Chinese psychology. p. 257: Here I use work done by David Chan. p. 258: I use here the research of J.  J.  L.  Duyvendak; the reasons for theend of such enterprises, as given here, may not exhaust the problem. Itmay not be without relevance that Cheng came from a Muslim family. Hisfather was a pilgrim (_Bull. Chin. Studies_, vol. 3, pp. 131-70). Further research is desirable. --Concerning folk-tales, I use my ownresearch. The main Buddhist tales are the _Jataka_ stories. They arestill used by Burmese Buddhists in the same context. p. 260: The Oirat (Uyrat, Ojrot, Ölöt) were a confederation of fourtribal groups: Khosud, Dzungar, Dörbet and Turgut. p. 261: I regard this analysis of Ming political history asunsatisfactory, but to my knowledge no large-scale analysis has beenmade. --For Wang Yang-ming I use mainly my own research. p. 262: For the coastal salt-merchants I used Lo Hsiang-lin's work. p. 263: On the rifles I used P.  Pelliot. There is a large literature onthe use of explosives and the invention of cannons, especially L.  C. Goodrich and Feng Chia-sheng in _Isis_, vol. 36, 1946 and 39, 1948; alsoG.  Sarton, Li Ch'iao-p'ing, J.  Prušek, J.  Needham, and M.  Ishida; acomparative, general study is by K.  Huuri, _Studia Orientalia_ vol. 9, 1941. --For the earliest contacts of Wang with Portuguese, I used ChangWei-hua's monograph. --While there is no satisfactory, comprehensivestudy in English on Wang, for Lu Hsiang-shan the book by Huang Siu-ch'i, _Lu Hsiang-shan, a Twelfth-century Chinese Idealist Philosopher_, NewHaven 1944, can be used. p. 264: For Tao-yen, I used work done by David Chan. --Large parts of the_Yung-lo ta-tien_ are now lost (Kuo Po-kung, Yüan T'ung-li studied thisproblem). p. 265: Yen-ta's Mongol name is Altan Qan (died 1582), leader of theTümet. He is also responsible for the re-introduction of Lamaism intoMongolia (1574). --For the border trade I used Hou Jen-chih; for theShansi bankers Ch'en Ch'i-t'ien and P.  Maybon. For the beginnings of theManchu see Fr. Michael, _The Origins of Manchu Rule in China_, Baltimore1942. p. 266: M.  Ricci's diary (Matthew Ricci, _China in the SixteenthCentury_, The Journals of M.  Ricci, transl. By L.  J.  Gallagher, New York1953) gives much insight into the life of Chinese officials in thisperiod. Recently, J.  Needham has tried to show that Ricci and hisfollowers did not bring much which was not already known in China, butthat they actually attempted to prevent the Chinese from learning aboutthe Copernican theory. p. 267: For Coxinga I used M.  Eder's study. --The Szechwan rebellion wasled by Chang Hsien-chung (1606-1647); I used work done by James B. Parsons. Cheng T'ien-t'ing, Sun Yueh and others have recently publishedthe important documents concerning all late Ming peasantrebellions. --For the Tung-lin academy see Ch. O.  Hucker in J.  K. Fairbank, _Chinese Thought and Institutions_, Chicago 1957. A differentinterpretation is indicated by Shang Yüeh in _Li-shih yen-chiu_ 1955, No. 3. p. 268: Work on the "academies" (shu-yüan) in the earlier time is doneby Ho Yu-shen. p. 273-4: Based upon my own, as yet unfinished research. p. 274: The population of 1953 as given here, includes Chinese outsideof mainland China. The population of mainland China was 582. 6 millions. If the rate of increase of about 2 per cent per year has remained thesame, the population of mainland China in 1960 may be close to 680million. In general see P.  T.  Ho. _Studies on the Population of China, 1368-1953_, Cambridge, Mass. , 1960. p. 276: Based upon my own research. --A different view of the developmentof Chinese industry is found in Norman Jacobs, _Modern Capitalism andEastern Asia_, Hong Kong 1958. Jacobs attempted a comparison of Chinawith Japan and with Europe. Different again is Marion Levy and ShihKuo-heng, _The Rise of the Modern Chinese Business Class_, New York1949. Both books are influenced by the sociological theories of T. Parsons. p. 277: The Dzungars (Dsunghar; Chun-ko-erh) are one of the four Ölöt(Oirat) groups. I am here using studies by E.  Haenisch and W.  Fuchs. p. 278: Tibetan-Chinese relations have been studied by L.  Petech, _Chinaand Tibet in the Early 18th Century_, Leiden 1950. A collection of datais found in M.  W.  Fisher and L.  E.  Rose, _England, India, Nepal, Tibet, China, 1765-1958_, Berkeley 1959. For diplomatic relations and tributarysystems of this period, I referred to J.  K.  Fairbank and Teng Ssu-yü. p. 279: For Ku Yen-wu, I used the work by H.  Wilhelm. --A man whodeserves special mention in this period is the scholar Huang Tsung-hsi(1610-1695) as the first Chinese who discussed the possibility of anon-monarchic form of government in his treatise of 1662. For him seeLin Mou-sheng, _Men and Ideas_, New York 1942, and especially W.  T.  deBary in J.  K.  Fairbank, _Chinese Thought and Institutions_, Chicago 1957. p. 280-1: On Liang see now J.  R.  Levenson, _Liang Ch'i-ch'ao and the Mindof Modern China_, London 1959. p. 282: It should also be pointed out that the Yung-cheng emperor waspersonally more inclined towards Lamaism. --The Kalmuks are largelyidentical with the above-mentioned Ölöt. p. 286: The existence of _hong_ is known since 1686, see P'eng Tse-i andWang Chu-an's recent studies. For details on foreign trade see H.  B. Morse, _The Chronicles of the East India Company Trading to China1635-1834_, Oxford 1926, 4 vols. , and J.  K.  Fairbank, _Trade andDiplomacy on the China Coast. The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842-1854_, Cambridge, Mass. , 1953, 2 vols. --For Lin I used G.  W. Overdijkink's study. p. 287: On customs read St. F.  Wright, _Hart and the Chinese Customs_, Belfast 1950. p. 288: For early industry see A.  Feuerwerker, _China's EarlyIndustrialization: Sheng Hsuan-huai (1844-1916)_, Cambridge, Mass. , 1958. p. 289: The Chinese source materials for the Mohammedan revolts haverecently been published, but an analysis of the importance of therevolts still remains to be done. --On T'ai-p'ing much has beenpublished, especially in the last years in China, so that all documentsare now available. I used among other studies, details brought out by LoHsiang-lin and Jen Yu-wen. p. 291: For Tsêng Kuo-fan see W.  J.  Hail, _Tsêng Kuo-fan and theT'ai-p'ing Rebellion_, Hew Haven 1927, but new research on him is aboutto be published. --The Nien-fei had some connection with the White Lotos, and were known since 1814, see Chiang Siang-tseh, _The Nien Rebellion_, Seattle 1954. p. 292: Little is known about Salars, Dungans and Yakub Beg's rebellion, mainly because relevant Turkish sources have not yet been studied. OnSalars see L.  Schram, _The Monguors of Kansu_, Philadelphia 1954, p. 23and P.  Pelliot; on Dungans see I.  Grebe. p. 293: On Tso Tsung-t'ang see G.  Ch'en, _Tso Tung T'ang, PioneerPromotor of the Modern Dockyard and Woollen Mill in China_, Peking 1938, and _Yenching Journal of Soc. Studies_, vol. 1. p. 294: For the T'ung-chih period, see now Mary C.  Wright, _The LastStand of Chinese Conservativism. The T'ung-chih Restoration, 1862-1874_, Stanford 1957. p. 295: Ryukyu is Chinese: Liu-ch'iu; Okinawa is one of the islands ofthis group. --Formosa is Chinese: T'ai-wan (Taiwan). Korea is Chinese:Chao-hsien, Japanese: Chôsen. p. 297: M.  C.  Wright has shown the advisers around the ruler before theEmpress Dowager realized the severity of the situation. --Much researchis under way to study the beginning of industrialization of Japan, andmy opinions have changed greatly, due to the research done by Japanesescholars and such Western scholars as H.  Rosovsky and Th. Smith. Theeminent role of the lower aristocracy has been established. Similarresearch for China has not even seriously started. My remarks areentirely preliminary. p. 298: For K'ang Yo-wei, I use work done by O.  Franke and others. SeeM.  E.  Cameron, _The Reform Movement in China, 1898-1921_, Stanford 1921. The best bibliography for this period is J.  K.  Fairbank and LiuKwang-ching, _Modern China: A Bibliographical Guide to Chinese Works, 1898-1937_, Cambridge, Mass. , 1950. The political history of the time, as seen by a Chinese scholar, is found in Li Chien-nung, _The PoliticalHistory of China 1840-1928_, Princeton 1956. --For the social history ofthis period see Chang Chung-li, _The Chinese Gentry_, Seattle 1955. --Forthe history of Tzŭ Hsi Bland-Backhouse, _China under the EmpressDowager_, Peking 1939 (Third ed. ) is antiquated, but still used For someof K'ang Yo-wei's ideas, see now K'ang Yo-wei: _Ta T'ung Shu. The OneWorld Philosophy of K'ang Yu Wei_, London 1957. _Chapter Eleven_ p. 305: I rely here partly upon W.  Franke's recent studies. For SunYat-sen (Sun I-hsien; also called Sun Chung-shan) see P.  Linebarger, _Sun Yat-sen and the Chinese Republic_, Cambridge, Mass. , 1925 and hislater _The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen_, Baltimore1937. --Independently, Atatürk in Turkey developed a similar theory ofthe growth of democracy. p. 306: On student activities see Kiang Wen-han, _The IdeologicalBackground of the Chinese Student Movement_, New York 1948. p. 307: On Hu Shih see his own _The Chinese Renaissance_, Chicago 1934and J.  de Francis, _Nationalism and Language Reform in China_, Princeton1950. p. 310: The declaration of Independence of Mongolia had its basis in theearly treaty of the Mongols with the Manchus (1636): "In case the TaiCh'ing Dynasty falls, you will exist according to previous basic laws"(R.  J.  Miller, _Monasteries and Culture Change in Inner Mongolia_, Wiesbaden 1959, p. 4). p. 315: For the military activities see F.  F.  Liu, _A Military History ofModern China, 1924-1949_, Princeton 1956. A marxist analysis of the 1927events is Manabendra Nath Roy, _Revolution and Counter-Revolution inChina_, Calcutta 1946; the relevant documents are translated in C. Brandt, B.  Schwartz, J.  K.  Fairbank, _A Documentary History of ChineseCommunism_, Cambridge, Mass. , 1952. _Chapter Twelve_ For Mao Tse-tung, see B.  Schwartz, _Chinese Communism and the Rise ofMao_, second ed. , Cambridge, Mass. , 1958. For Mao's early years; seeJ.  E.  Rue, _Mao Tse-tung in Opposition, 1927-1935_, Stanford 1966. Forthe civil war, see L.  M.  Chassin, _The Communist Conquest of China: AHistory of the Civil War, 1945-1949_, Cambridge, Mass. , 1965. Forbrief information on communist society, see Franz Schurmann and OrvilleSchell, _The China Reader_, vol. 3, _Communist China_, New York 1967. For problems of organization, see Franz Schurmann, _Ideology andOrganization in Communist China_, Berkeley 1966. For cultural andpolitical problems, see Ho Ping-ti, _China in Crisis_, vol. 1, _China'sHeritage and the Communist Political System_, Chicago 1968. For asympathetic view of rural life in communist China, see J.  Myrdal, _Report from a Chinese Village_, New York 1965; for Taiwanese villagelife, see Bernard Gallin, _Hsin Hsing, Taiwan: A Chinese Village inChange_, Berkeley 1966. INDEX Abahai, ruler, 269 Abdication, 92-3, 182, 227, 302 Aborigines, 323 Absolutism, 196, 208, 210, 232 ff. , 247 (_see_ Despotism, Dictator, Emperor, Monarchy) Academia Sinica, 307 Academies, 221, 255, 267-8, 272 Administration, 64, 82-4, 138 ff, 142, 144, 154, 170, 173-4, 210; provincial, 85 (_see_ Army, Feudalism, Bureaucracy) Adobe (Mud bricks), 16, 19, 32 Adoptions, 204 Afghanistan, 146-7 Africa, 201, 259 Agriculture, development, 54, 198 ff. , 249-50, 275; Origin of, 10, 11; of Shang, 21; shifting (denshiring), 32 (_see_ Wheat, Millet, Rice, Plough, Irrigation, Manure, Canals, Fallow) An Ti, ruler of Han, 92 Ainu, tribes, 9 Ala-shan mountain range, 88 Alchemy, 49, 104 (_see_) Elixir Alexander the Great, 146-7 America, 276, 300 (_see_) United States Amithabha, god, 188 Amur, river, 278 An Chi-yeh, rebel, 293 An Lu-shan, rebel, 184 ff. , 189, 195 Analphabetism, 65 Anarchists, 47 Ancestor, cult, 24, 32 Aniko, sculptor, 243 Animal style, 17 Annam (Vietnam), 97, 160, 209, 219, 234, 258, 265, 295, 330 Anyang (Yin-ch'ü), 19, 22 Arabia, 258; Arabs, 104, 178, 183, 185, 266 Architecture, 147, 256 Aristocracy, 25, 26, 36, 122, 195 (_see_ Nobility, Feudalism) Army, cost of, 211; organization of, 24, 118, 174, 236; size of, 53; Tibetan, 127 (_see_ War, Militia, tu-tu, pu-ch'ü) Art, Buddhist, 146-7 (_see_ Animal style, Architecture, Pottery, Painting, Sculpture, Wood-cut) Arthashastra, book, attributed to Kautilya, 59 Artisans, 19, 26, 31, 33, 56, 79; Organizations of, 58 (_see_ Guilds, Craftsmen) Assimilation, 144, 152, 166, 244 (_see_ Colonization) Astronomy, 266 Austroasiats, 10, 12 Austronesians, 12 Avars, tribe, 140 (_see_ Juan-juan) Axes, prehistoric, 10 Axis, policy, 51 Babylon, 65 Baghdad, city, 201 Balasagun, city, 224 Ballads, 133 Banks, 265, 305 Banner organization, 268, 291 Barbarians (Foreigners), 109, 122, 246, 278 Bastards, 41 Bath, 217 Beg, title, 289 Beggar, 239 Bengal, 250, 283 Boat festival, 23 Bokhara (Bukhara), city, 46 Bon, religion, 242 Bondsmen, 31, 117, 143 (_see pu-ch'ü_, Serfs, Feudalism) Book, printing, 201; B burning, 66 Böttger, inventor, 256 Boxer rebellion, 299 Boycott, 314 Brahmans, Indian caste, 34, 106 Brain drain, 326 Bronze, 17, 20, 22, 29, 33, 40, 106, 180-1 (_see_ Metal, Copper) Brothel (Tea-house), 163, 217 Buddha, 46; Buddhism, 20, 106, 108-9, 125, 127, 133 ff. , 145 ff. , 150, 161, 164, 168, 178, 179 ff. , 188, 217, 218, 236, 257, 259, 266, 306 (_see_ Ch'an, Vinaya, Sects, Amithabha, Maitreya, Hinayana, Mahayana, Monasteries, Church, Pagoda, Monks, Lamaism) Budget, 168, 175, 209, 210, 215, 261 (_see_ Treasury, Inflation, Deflation) Bullfights, 182 Bureaucracy, 24, 33, 63, 72; religious B, 25 (_see_ Administration; Army) Burgher (_liang-min_), 143, 183, 216 Burma, 12, 146, 234, 248, 265, 269, 283, 318, 319, 322, 329, 330 Businessmen, 64 (_see_ Merchants, Trade) Byzantium, 177 Calcutta, city, 283 Caliph (Khaliph), 185 Cambodia, 234, 295 Canals, 170, 246; Imperial C, 168, 235-6 (_see_ Irrigation) Cannons, 232, 263 Canton (Kuang-chou), city, 67, 77, 89, 97, 159, 190, 209, 237, 262, 266, 286, 287, 308, 309, 312, 314 Capital of Empire, 144 (_see_ Ch'ang-an, Si-an, Lo-yang, etc. ) Capitalism, 180-1, 212, 297, 303 (_see_ Investments, Banks, Money, Economy, etc. ) Capitulations (privileges of foreign nations), 273, 287, 290, 312, 316 Caravans, 86, 98, 121, 129, 181 (_see_ Silk road, Trade) Carpet, 243 Castes, 106 (_see_ Brahmans) Castiglione, G. , painter, 281 Cattle, breeding, 155 Cavalry, 53 (_see_ Horse) Cave temples, 146-7 (_see_ Lung-men, Yün-kang, Tun-huang) Censorate, 84 Censorship, 254 Census, 143 (_see_ Population) Central Asia, 25, 87-88, 90, 113, 119, 135, 169, 179, 209, 259, 277, 330 (_see_ Turkestan, Sinkiang, Tarim, City States) Champa, State, 249 Ch'an (Zen), meditative Buddhism, 164, 175, 218, 263 Chan-kuo Period (Contending States), 51 ff. Chancellor, 82 Ch'ang-an, capital of China, 123, 127, 129, 167, 172, 176, 184, 185, 190, 207 (_see_ Sian) Chang Ch'ien, ambassador, 88 Chang Chü-chan, teacher, 265 Chang Hsien-chung, rebel, 268, 271 Chang Hsüeh-liang, war lord, 316 Chang Ling, popular leader, 101, 136, 147, 264 Chang Ti, ruler, 99 Chang Tsai, philosopher, 218 Chang Tso-lin, war lord, 312, 316 Chao, state, 53, 63; Earlier Chao, 124; Later Chao, 124 Chao K'uang-yin (T'ai Tsu), ruler, 208, 209 Chao Meng-fu, painter, 243 Charters, 30 Chefoo Convention, 295 Ch'en, dynasty, 162 ff. Ch'en Pa-hsien, ruler, 162 Ch'en Tu-hsiu, intellectual, 307, 320 Ch'eng Hao, philosopher, 219 Cheng Ho, navy commander, 258 Ch'eng I, philosopher, 219 Cheng-i-chiao, religion, 263-4 Ch'eng Ti, ruler of Han, 92; ruler of Chin, 156 Ch'eng Tsu, ruler of Manchu, 257 Ch'eng-tu, city, 110, 120 Ch'i, state, 40; short dynasty, 190, 225; Northern Ch'i, 148 ff. , 149, 150 ff. , 161, 162, 168 Ch'i-fu, clan, 129 ff. Chi-nan, city, 55 Ch'i-tan (_see_ Kitan) Ch'i Wan-nien, leader, 118 Chia, clan, 120 Chia-ch'ing, period, 285 Chia Ssŭ-tao, politician, 228 Ch'iang, tribes, 21, 118 (_see_ Tanguts) Chiang Kai-shek, president, 264, 311, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 321, 322, 324, 326 Ch'ien-lung, period, 272, 282, 284, 285 _ch'ien-min_ (commoners), 143 Chin, dynasty, 229 ff. (_see_ Juchên); dynasty, 114, 115 ff. ; Eastern Chin dynasty, 152 ff. , 155 ff. ; Later Chin dynasty, 139 Ch'in, state, 36; Ch'in, dynasty, 53, 59, 60, 62 ff. , 80; Earlier Ch'in dynasty, 126, 157; Later Ch'in dynasty, 129, 139, 159; Western Ch'in dynasty, 129, 140 Ch'in K'ui, politician, 226 Chinese, origin of, 2, 8 ff. Ching Fang, scholar, 255 Ching-tê (-chen), city, 201, 256 _ching-t'ien_ system, 33 Ching Tsung, Manchu ruler, 260 Ch'in Ying, painter, 255 Chou, dynasty, 29 f. , 76; short Chou dynasty, 180; Later Chou dynasty, 206; Northern Chou dynasty, 148, 149, 150 ff. , 169, 172 Chou En-lai, politician, 320 Chou-k'ou-tien, archaeological site, 8 Chou-kung (Duke of Chou), 33, 93Chou-li, book, 33 Chou Tun-i, philosopher, 218 Christianity, 179, 266, 282, 290 (_see_ Nestorians, Jesuits, Missionaries) Chronology, 7, 335 Ch'u, state, 38, 199 ff. , 205 Chu Ch'üan-chung, general and ruler, 190, 191, 203, 204 Chu Hsi, philosopher, 219, 263, 279 Chu-ko Liang, general, 111 Chu Tê general, 321 Chu Tsai-yü, scholar, 255 Chu Yüan-chang (T'ai Tsu), ruler, 239 ff. , 243 ff. , 246, 247, 256, 257 _chuang_, 181, 212-13, 345 (_see_ Manors, Estates) Chuang Tzŭ;, philosopher, 47-8, 50 Chün-ch'en, ruler, 88 Ch'un-ch'iu, book, 43, 80 _chün-t'ien_ system (land equalization system), 142-3, 173, 187 _chün-tzü_ (gentleman), 42, 44 Chung-ch'ang T'ung, philosopher, 50 Chungking (Ch'ung-ch'ing), city, 38, 110, 318 Church, Buddhistic, 146, 147, 188, 218; Taoistic, 136, 147 (_see_ Chang Ling) Cities, 36, 37; spread and growth of cities, 31, 55-6, 175, 229, 250-1, 252; origin of cities, 19; twin cities, 33 (_see_ City states, Ch'ang-an, Sian, Lo-yang, Hankow, etc. ) City States (of Central Asia), 97, 132, 177 Clans, 31, 196 Classes, social classes, 79, 143-4, 207, 216 (_see_ Castes, _ch'ien-min_, _liang-min_, Gentry, etc. ) Climate, changes, 9 Cliques, 91, 160, 197, 257, 261 Cloisonné, 256 Cobalt, 221, 256 Coins, 78, 94, 116, 199, 209 (_see_ Money) Colonialism, 278, 283, 329 (_see_ Imperialism) Colonization, 97, 102, 111, 116, 153, 209, 248 ff. (_see_ Migration, Assimilation) Colour prints, 256 Communes, 331 Communism, 314, 320 ff. (_see_ Marxism, Socialism, Soviets) Concubines, 100, 227 Confessions, 102 Confucian ritual, 78-9; Confucianism, 93, 136, 145, 150, 163-4, 168, 175, 183-4, 188, 306; Confucian literature, 78; false Confucian literature, 93-4; Confucians, 40 ff. , 134 (_see_ Neo-Confucianism) Conquests, 122, 270 (_see_ War, Colonialism) Conservatism, 219 Constitution, 311 Contending States, 40 ff. Co-operatives, 319 Copper, 17, 211 (_see_ Bronze, Metal) Corruption, 51, 200 Corvée (forced labour), 82, 173, 187, 196, 238 (_see_ Labour) Cotton, 250 Courtesans, 182 (_see_ Brothel) Coxinga, rebel, 267, 271 Craftsmen, 26, 105, 183, 197, 216, 247-8 (_see_ Artisans) Credits, 215 Criminals, 146, 218, 248 Crop rotation, 249 Dalai Lama, religious ruler of Tibet, 278, 310 Dance, 105 Deflation, 215 Deities, 23 (_see_ Tien, Shang Ti, Maitreya, Amithabha, etc. ) Delft, city, 256 Demands, the twenty-one, 311, 313 Democracy, 305, 301 Denshiring, 12 Despotism, 81, 196 (_see_ Absolutism) Dewey, J. , educator, 307 Dialects, 64-5 (_see_ Language) Dialecticians, 59 Dictators, 38, 47 (_see_ Despotism) Dictionaries, 65 Diploma, for monks, 208 Diplomacy, 223, 226 Disarmament, 115, 120 Discriminatory laws, 189, 233 ff. , 270 (_see_ Double Standard) Dog, 54 Dorgon, prince, 269 Double standard, legal, 80 Drama, 242, 255, 280 Dress, changes, 53 Dungan, tribes, 292 Dynastic histories (_see_ History), 2 Dzungars, people, 277 Eclipses, 43 Economy, 53 ff. , 94 ff. , 100, 109, 112-13, 142 ff. ; Money economy, 198; Natural economy, 107-8, 116 (_see_ Agriculture, Nomadism, Industry, Denshiring, Money, Trade, etc. ) Education, 73, 103, 201, 306, 326, 327 (_see_ Schools, Universities, Academies, Script, Examination system, etc. ) Elements, the five, 60 Elephants, 26 Elite, 73, 74, 196, 218 (_see_ Intellectuals, Students, Gentry) Elixir, 187 (_see_ Alchemy) Emperor, position of, 81, 92, 210, 304; Emperor and church, 218 (_see_ Despotism, King, Absolutism, Monarchy, etc. ) Empress (_see_ Lü, Wu, Wei, Tzŭ Hsi) Encyclopaedias, 219, 264, 279 England, 265, 283, 285 (_see_ Great Britain) Ephtalites, tribe, 150 Epics, 133 Equalization Office, 91, 94 (_see chün-t'ien_) Erotic literature, 254 Estates (_chuang, _) 154, 175, 181, 212, 236 Ethics, 45 (_see_ Confucianism) Eunuchs, 91, 100, 191, 253, 259-60, 261, 267, 272 Europe, 143, 212; Europeans, 209, 233, 237, 246, 263, 272, 297, 299 Examination system, 74, 78, 85-6, 91, 175, 197, 216, 252-3, 259, 280; Examinations for Buddhists, 207 Fables, 259 Factories, 250, 251 Fallow system, 54, 249 Falsifications, 93 (_see_ Confucianism) Family structure, 24, 29, 31, 42, 54, 138-9, 196, 332; Family ethics, 58; Family planning, 331 Fan Chung-yen, politician, 212, 213 Fascism, 264 Federations, tribal, 117 Felt, 33 Fêng Kuo-chang, politician, 312 Fêng Meng-lung, writer, 254, 255 Fêng Tao, politician, 201 Fêng Yü-hsiang, war lord, 312, 315 Ferghana, city, 88 Fertility cults, 23; differential fertility, 73 Fertilizer, 54 Feudalism, 24, 29, 30 ff. , 37, 38, 40, 42, 44, 45, 85; end of feudalism, 51, 59, 62-3; late feudalism, 71-2, 77 ff. ; new feudalism, 81; nomadic feudalism, 76, 131 (_see_ Serfs, Aristocracy, Fiefs, Bondsmen, etc. ) Fiefs, 30, 54, 78, 82 Finances, 209 (_see_ Budget, Inflation, Money, Coins) Fire-arms (_see_ Rifles, Cannons) Fishing, 94 Folk-tales, 254, 258 Food habits, 54-5, 155 Foreign relations, 84 (_see_ Diplomacy, Treaty, Tribute, War) Forests, 26 Formosa (T'aiwan), 152, 267, 276, 277, 295, 296, 323 ff. France, 287, 295, 296, 313, 317 Frontier, concept of, 38 Frugality, 58 Fu Chien, ruler, 126 ff. , 130, 131, 136, 139, 157-8 Fu-lan-chi (Franks), 263 Fu-lin, Manchu ruler, 269 Fu-yü, country, 141 Fukien, province, 167, 228, 237, 248, 249, 250, 251, 276 Galdan, leader, 277 Gandhara, country, 146 Gardens, 154 Geisha (_see_ Courtesans), 217 Genealogy, 52, 167, 196 Genghiz Khan, ruler, 225, 230, 241 Gentry (Upper class), 44, 78, 80, 101, 108, 133, 138, 143, 144, 166, 173, 174, 196, 197, 203, 209, 210, 214, 236, 239, 252 ff. , 257, 268, 272, 297, 303-4, 307; colonial gentry, 163; definition of gentry, 72; gentry state, 71 ff. , southern gentry, 153 Germany, 296, 311, 312, 317 Gök Turks, 149 ff. Governors, role of, 184 ff. Grain (_see_ Millet, Rice, Wheat) Granaries, 216, 290 Great Britain, 285, 293, 294, 295, 310 (_see_ England) Great Leap Forward, 331 Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 333 Great Wall, 57 Greeks, 59, 60 Guilds, 58, 197 Hakka, ethnic group, 228, 289, 323 Hami, city state, 245 Han, dynasty, 71 ff. , 122; Later Han dynasty, 206 Han Fei Tzu, philosopher, 59 Han T'o-wei, politician, 226-7 Han Yü, philosopher, 182, 217, 218 Hankow (Han-k'ou), city, 38, 156, 162, 251, 290, 314 Hangchow (Hang-chou), city, 38, 225, 228 Heaven, 42, 81 (_see_ Shang Ti, T'ien) Hermits, 46 ff. (_see_ Monks, Sages) Hinayana, religion, 135 Historians, 2 Histories, dynastic, 2, 242; falsification of histories, 43, 52, 93; Historiography, 43, 103-4Hitler, Adolf, dictator, 317, 319 Hittites, ethnic group, 25 Ho Ch'eng-t'ien, scholar, 255 Ho-lien P'o-p'o, ruler, 139, 140, 159, 225 Ho Ti, Han ruler, 99 _hong_, association, 286 Hong Kong, colony, 286, 319, 325 Hopei, province, 296 Horse, 11, 90, 186, 223, 237; horse chariot, 25; horse riding, 53; horse trade, 63 Hospitals, 216 Hou Ching, ruler, 161-2 Houses, 19, 33 (_see_ Adobe) Hsi-hsia, kingdom, 214, 221, 223, 224 ff. , 231 Hsi-k'ang, Tibet, 310 Hsia, dynasty, 17-18, 21, 25; Hunnic Hsia dynasty, 139 (_see_ Hsi-hsia) Hsia-hou, clan, 113 Hsia Kui, painter, 221 Hsiao Tao-ch'eng, general, 160 Hsiao Wu Ti, Chin ruler, 158 Hsieh, clan, 157 Hsieh Hsüan, general, 128 Hsien-feng, period, 294 Hsien-pi, tribal federation, 98, 102, 114, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 123, 126, 127, 128 ff. , 130, 131, 132, 136, 137, 138, 140, 148, 169 Hsien Ti, Han ruler, 100 Hsien-yün, tribes, 21 Hsin, dynasty, 92 Hsin-an merchants, 251, 263 _Hsin Ch'ing-nien_, journal, 307 Hsiung-nu, tribal federation, 67 ff. , 75 ff. , 81, 86 ff. , 90, 95, 96, 97 ff. , 102, 108, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118, 224, 226 (_see_ Huns) Hsü Shih-ch'ang, president, 312 Hsüan-tê, period, 259 Hsüan-tsang, Buddhist, 181 Hsüan Tsung, T'ang ruler, 181; Manchu ruler, 259, 288 Hsüan-t'ung, period, 300 Hsün Tzŭ, philosopher, 57-8 Hu, name of tribes, 118 (_see_ Huns) Hu Han-min, politician, 314-15 Hu Shih, scholar and politician, 307, 320 Hu Wei-yung, politician, 257 Huai-nan Tzŭ, philosopher, 50, 104 Huai, Ti, Chin ruler, 123, 124 Huan Hsüan, general, 158, 159 Huan Wen, general, 157-8 Huang Ch'ao, leader of rebellion, 189 ff. , 195, 203 Huang Ti, ruler, 52 Huang Tsung-hsi, philosopher, 247, 352 Hui-chou merchants, 251, 254 _hui-kuan_, association, 197 Hui Ti, Chin ruler, 120; Manchu ruler, 257 Hui Tsung, Sung ruler, 221 Hui Tzŭ, philosopher, 59 Human sacrifice, 19, 23 Hung Hsiu-ch'üan, leader of rebellion, 289 ff. Huns, 57, 118, 119, 120, 121, 124, 125, 126, 127, 130, 131, 136, 139, 140, 147, 148, 151, 278 (_see_ Hu, Hsiung-nu) Hunting, 25-6 Hutuktu, religious ruler, 310 Hydraulic society, 56 _i-chuang_, clan manors, 213 Ili, river, 282 ff. , 293, 330 Imperialism, 76, 265, 285 ff. , 294, 295, 329 (_see_ Colonialism) India, 20, 26, 34, 45, 60, 89, 106, 111, 118, 125, 134-5, 145, 146, 164, 181, 182, 198, 243, 265, 287, 288, 310, 329 (_see_ Brahmans, Bengal, Gandhara, Calcutta, Buddhism) Indo-China, 234, 258 (_see_ Cambodia, Annam, Laos). Indo-Europeans, language group, 15, 25, 29, 150 (_see_ Yüeh-chih, Tocharians, Hittites) Indonesia, 10, 201, 209, 319 (_see_ Java) Industries, 198, 214, 250 ff. ; Industrialization, 275, 325-26, 327-28, 331-32; Industrial society, 212 (_see_ Factories) Inflation, 20, 211, 215, 237 Inheritance, laws of, 24, 54 Intellectuals, 300, 309 (_see_ Élite, Students) Investments, 198, 212, 212-14 Iran (Persia), 60, 61, 234 Iron, 40, 55, 96, 198; Cast iron, 56; Iron money, 202 (_see_ Steel) Irrigation, 56, 62 Islam, 179, 183, 202-3 (_see_ Muslims) Istanbul (Constantinople), 256, 259, 293 Italy, 317 Japan, 9, 10, 26, 44, 88, 106, 112, 114, 126, 144, 145, 170, 178, 179, 181, 196, 201, 234, 245-6, 254, 256, 258, 263, 264, 265, 275, 294 ff. , 297, 298, 300, 308, 309, 311, 312, 313, 314, 316, 317 ff. , 322, 323, 324, 325 (_see_ Meiji, Tada, Tanaka) Java, 234 Jedzgerd, ruler, 178 Jehol, province, 11, 287Jen Tsung, Manchu ruler, 285 Jesuits, 266, 278 Jews, 179 _Ju_ (scribes), 34, 41 Ju-chen (Chin Dynasty, Jurchen), 221-2, 223, 225, 226, 227, 229 ff, 244, 265 Juan-juan, tribal federation, 114, 140, 149 Jurchen (_see_ Ju-chen) K'ai-feng, city (_see_ Yeh, Pien-liang), 203, 230 Kalmuk, Mongol tribes, 282, 283, 284 (_see_ Ölöt) Kang-hsi, period, 272, 277, 279 K'ang Yo-wei, politician and scholar, 298-99 Kansu, province, 12, 14, 86, 87, 121, 124, 125, 129, 131, 132, 139, 140, 142, 159, 163, 225, 292, 293, 324 (_see_ Tun-huang) Kao-ch'ang, city state, 177 Kao, clan, 148 Kao-li, state, 126, 141, 222 (_see_ Korea) Kao Ming, writer, 242 Kao Tsu, Han ruler, 71, 77 Kao Tsung, T'ang ruler, 179, 180 Kao Yang, ruler, 148 Kapok, textile fibre, 250 Kara Kitai, tribal federation, 223-4 Kashgar, city, 99, 282, 292 Kazak, tribal federation, 282, 283 Khalif (_see_ Caliph), 293 Khamba, Tibetans, 310 Khan, Central Asian title, 149, 169, 176, 177, 186 Khocho, city, 177 Khotan, city, 99, 135, 174 King, position of, 24, 34, 42, 43; first kings, 19; religious character of kingship, 37 (_see_ Yao, Shun, Hsia dynasty, Emperor, Wang, Prince) Kitan (Ch'i-tan), tribal federation, 184, 186, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 221, 222 ff. , 229, 241 (_see_ Liao dynasty) Ko-shu Han, general, 184-5 Korea, 9, 88-89, 112, 126, 169 ff. , 178, 181, 201, 219, 222, 265, 268, 295, 296, 324, 329 (_see_ Kao-li, Pai-chi, Sin-lo) K'ou Ch'ien-chih, Taoist, 147 Kowloon, city, 287 Ku Yen-wu, geographer, 279 Kuan Han-ch'ing, writer, 242 Kuang-hsü, period, 295 ff. Kuang-wu Ti, Han ruler, 96 ff. Kub(i)lai Khan, Mongol ruler, 234, 241 Kung-sun Lung, philosopher, 59 K'ung Tzu (Confucius), 40 ff. Kuo-min-tang (KMT), party, 313, 321, 323, 324, 325 Kuo Wei, ruler, 206 Kuo Tzŭ-hsing, rebel leader, 239 Kuo Tzŭ-i, loyal general, 184, 186 Kyakhta (Kiachta), city, 278 Labour, forced, 235, 237 (_see_ Corvée); Labour laws, 198; Labour shortage, 251 Lacquer, 256 Lamaism, religion, 242-3 Land ownership, 31, 32, 54 (_see_ Property); Land reform, 94, 142-3, 172-3, 229, 290, 315, 325, 330 (_see chün-t'ien, ching-t'ien_) Landlords, 54, 55, 154, 155, 198, 212, 213, 236-7, 251; temples as landlords, 134 Language, 36, 46; dialects, 64-5, 167; Language reform, 307-8, 324 Lang Shih-ning, painter, 281 La Tzŭ, philosopher, 45 ff. , 101, 136 Laos, country, 12 Law codes, 56, 66, 80, 81-2, 93 (_see_ Li K'ui, Property law, Inheritance, Legalists) Leadership, 73-4 League of Nations, 316 Leibniz, philosopher, 281 Legalists (_fa-chia_), 47, 63, 65, 66, 80, 81 Legitimacy of rule, 44, 111 (_see_ Abdication) Lenin, V. , 320, 333 Lhasa, city, 278, 329 Li An-shih, economist, 142 Li Chung-yen, governor, 315 Li Hung-chang, politician, 291, 296, 297 Li K'o-yung, ruler, 190, 191, 203, 204 Li Kuang-li, general, 88 Li K'ui, law-maker, 56, 80 Li Li-san, politician, 320 Li Lin-fu, politician, 184 Li Lung-mien, painter, 220 Li Shih-min (_see_ T'ai Tsung), T'ang ruler, 170, 172, 178 Li Ssŭ, politician, 66 Li Ta-chao, librarian, 320 Li T'ai-po, poet, 182 Li Tzŭ-ch'eng, rebel, 268, 269, 271 Li Yu, writer, 280 Li Yu-chen, writer, 280 Li Yüan, ruler, 172 Li Yüan-hung, politician, 301, 302, 312 Liang dynasty, Earlier, 124, 130; Later Liang, 130, 150, 162, 191, 203 ff. , 207; Northern Liang, 130 ff. , 132, 133, 140; Southern Liang, 132; Western Liang, 131, 140 Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, journalist, 280-1 _liang-min_ (burghers), 143 Liao, tribes, 12; Liao dynasty (_see_ Kitan), 203, 208, 222 ff. ; Western Liao dynasty, 224 _Liao-chai chih-i_, short-story collection, 280 Libraries, 66, 201-2 Lin-chin, city, 55 Lin-ch'uan, city, 263 Lin Shu, translator, 280 Lin Tse-hsü, politician, 286 Literati, 73 (_see_ Scholars, Confucianists) Literature, 66, 103 ff. , 182 ff. , 220, 253 ff. (_see_ _pien-wen_, _pi-chi_, Poetry, Drama, Novels, Epics, Theatre, ballads, Folk-tales, Fables, History, Confucians, Writers, Scholars, Scribes) Literary revolution, 307, 320 Liu Chi, Han ruler, 68, 71 ff. Liu Chih-yüan, ruler, 206 Liu Chin, eunuch, 261 Liu Hsiu (_see_ Kuang-wu Ti), Han ruler, 96 Liu Lao-chih, general, 158 _liu-min_ (vagrants), 198 Liu Pang (_see_ Liu Chi) Liu Pei, general and ruler, 100, 101, 102 Liu Shao-ch'i, political leader, 333 Liu Sung, rebel, 284 Liu Tsung-yüan, writer, 182 Liu Ts'ung, ruler, 123, 124 Liu Yao, ruler, 124 Liu Yü, general, 158, 159; emperor, 225 Liu Yüan, sculptor, 243; emperor, 119, 122, 123, 124, 126, 127, 131, 137, 139 Lo Kuan-chung, writer, 254 Loans, to farmers, 94; foreign, 288 Loess, soil formation, 9 Logic, 46 Long March, 321 Lorcha War, 287, 291 Loyang (Lo-yang), capital of China, 32, 33, 36, 37, 55, 97, 113, 122, 127, 142, 144, 145, 148, 149, 150, 160, 168, 176, 180, 184, 185, 215 Lu, state, 41, 43 Lü, empress, 77 ff. Lu Hsiang-shan, philosopher, 263 Lu Hsün, writer, 320 Lü Kuang, ruler, 130 Lü Pu, general, 100 Lü Pu-wei, politician, 63, 103 Lun, prince, 120 _Lun-heng_, book, 104 Lung-men, place, 150 Lung-shan, excavation site, 14, 15 ff. , 19 Lytton Commission, 316 Ma Yin, ruler, 199-200 Ma Yüan, general, 97; painter, 221 Macchiavellism, 60, 164, 263-4 Macao, Portuguese colony, 227, 266, 286 Mahayana, Buddhist sect, 135, 145 Maitreya, Buddhist deity, 147, 189 (_see_ Messianic movements) Malacca, state, 263 Malaria, 249 Managers, 212-13 Manchu, tribal federation and dynasty, 76, 232, 265, 267, 270 ff. , 301, 312, 329, 330 Manchuria, 9, 11, 14, 111, 114, 137, 222, 246, 275, 277, 296, 311, 316, 317 Manichaeism, Iranian religion, 46, 179, 187 Manors (_chuang_, _see_ Estates), 154 Mao Tun, Hsiung-nu ruler, 75, 76, 119, 122, 139, 170 Mao Tse-tung, party leader, 320, 321, 333 Marco Polo, businessman, 238, 317 Market, 56; Market control, 85 Marriage systems, 73-5, 167, 196, 332 Marxism, 304, 306, 322, 331, 333; Marxist theory of history, 75 (_see_ Materialism, Communism, Lenin, Mao Tse-tung) Materialism, 58, 164 Mathematics, 61 Matrilinear societies, 24 Mazdaism, Iranian religion, 101, 179, 187, 342 May Fourth Movement, 307, 320 Medicine, 219; Medical doctors, 144, 216-17 Meditation (_see_ Ch'an) Megalithic culture, 20 Meiji, Japanese ruler, 294 Melanesia, 10 Mencius (Meng Tzŭ), philosopher, 57 Merchants, 31, 55, 56, 62, 63, 65, 79, 90-1, 104-5, 134, 160, 163, 179, 189, 198, 200, 201, 202, 212, 215-16, 247-8, 251, 276-7, 297; foreign merchants, 190, 234, 237, 281-2 (_see_ Trade, Salt, Caravans, Businessmen) Messianic movements, 61, 147 Metal, 15, 20 (_see_ Bronze, Copper, Iron) Mi Fei, painter, 220 Middle Class, 195, 254, 297, 304, 309, 310, 314 (_see_ Burgher, Merchant, Craftsmen, Artisans) Middle East (_see_ Near East) Migrations, 54, 116, 120 ff. , 130, 142, 152 ff. , 228, 237, 248, 275-6, 294; forced migrations, 54, 167 (_see_ Colonization, Assimilation, Settlement) Militarism, 63 Militia, 174, 215, 291 Millet, 11, 21, 32 Mills, 181, 213 Min, state in Fukien, 205 Ming dynasty, 243 ff. Ming Jui, general, 283 Min Ti, Chin ruler, 123 Ming Ti, Han ruler, 99; Wei ruler, 114; Later T'ang ruler, 204 Minorate, 24 Missionaries, Christian, 266, 281, 287, 289 (_see_ Jesuits) Mo Ti, philosopher, 58 Modernization, 296-7 Mohammedan rebellions, 292 ff. (_see_ Muslim) Mon-Khmer tribes, 10 Monarchy, 47, 247, 281 (_see_ King, Emperor, Absolutism, Despotism) Monasteries, Buddhist, 144, 207, 236; economic importance, 125, 134, 180-1, 187 ff. Money, 20, 55, 180-1; Money economy, 56, 58, 107-8; Origin of money, 40; paper money, 202, 211, 347 (_see_ Coins, Paper, Silver) Mongolia, 8, 9, 11, 98, 283, 317 Mongols, tribes, tribal federation, dynasty, 17, 40, 53, 57, 76, 102, 114, 117, 119, 120, 137, 140, 175, 220, 225, 227, 228, 230 ff. , 232 ff. , 240, 243, 244, 257, 259, 264, 266, 268, 270, 277, 281, 284, 291, 329, 330 (_see_ Yüan dynasty, Kalmuk, Tümet, Oirat, Ölöt, Naiman, Turgut, Timur, Genghiz, Kublai) Monks, Buddhist, 134, 146, 164, 188, 207, 218, 239, 246, 253-4 Monopolies, 85, 91, 200, 215 Mound-dwellers, 16 Mu-jung, tribes, 119, 126, 128-9 Mu Ti, East Chin ruler, 157 Mu Tsung, Manchu ruler, 294 Mulberries, 143 Munda tribes, 10 Music, 163, 182-3, 255 (_see_ Theatre, Dance, Geisha) Muslims, 179, 233, 278, 289; Muslim rebellions, 289, 292 ff. (_see_ Islam, Mohammedans) Mysticism, 46 Naiman, Mongol tribe, 233 Nan-chao, state, 171 Nan-yang, city, 96 Nanking (Nan-ching), capital of China, 38, 121, 156, 162, 225, 228, 235, 246, 250, 254, 257, 262, 263, 266, 270, 286, 287, 290, 291, 302, 315, 316, 318; Nanking regime, 314 ff. Nationalism, 76, 131, 233, 284-5 (_see_ Kuo-min-tang) Nature, 46; Nature philosophers, 60 Navy, 258 Near East, 16, 81, 106, 109, 111, 140, 146, 221, 238 (_see_ Arabs, Iran, etc. ) Neo-Confucianism, 218 ff. , 263 Neolithicum, 9 Nepal, 243, 283 Nerchinsk, place, 278 Nestorian Christianity, 187 Ni Tsan, painter, 243 Nien Fei, rebels, 291-2 Niu Seng-yu, politician, 188 Nobility, 31, 80, 124, 131, 138; Nomadic nobility, 76 (_see_ Aristocracy) Nomadism, 10, 40, 67, 222-3; Economy of nomads, 35-6, 137; Nomadic society structure, 75 Novels, 254 ff. , 280 Oil, 294 Oirat, Mongol tribes, 260 Okinawa (_see_ Ryukyu) Ölöt, Mongol tribes, 277 Opera, 242, 255-6 Opium, 276, 286; Opium War, 286 Oracle bones, 22, 24 Ordos, area, 9, 17, 20, 67, 86, 125, 129, 133, 148, 170, 225 Orenburg, city, 282 Organizations, 58 (_see hui-kuan_ Guilds, _hong_, Secret Societies) Orphanages, 218 Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, 293 Ou-yang Hsiu, writer, 254 Outer Mongolia, 310-11, 330 Pagoda, 243 Pai-chi (Paikche), state in Korea, 141 Pai-lien-hui (_see_ White Lotos) 239 Painting, 56, 105, 183, 220 ff. , 243, 255, 281 Palaeolithicum, 8 ff. Pan Ch'ao, general, 99, 100 _pao-chia_, security system, 173 Paper, 105, 183, 251; Paper money, 202, 228, 237 (_see_ Money) Parliament, 300-1 Party (_see_ Kuo-min-tang, Communists) Pearl Harbour, 319 Peasant rebellions, 238 ff. (_see_ Rebellions) Peking, city, 169, 184, 197, 207, 208, 221, 223, 235, 239, 246, 256, 257, 262, 264, 265, 266, 268, 269, 272, 278, 283, 287, 290, 291, 297, 299, 305, 307, 308, 309, 311, 312, 313, 318; Peking Man, 8 Pensions, 217, 247 People's Democracy, 294 Persecution, religious, 147, 188, 207 Persia (Iran), 256, 258, 259; Persian language, 234 Peruz, ruler, 178 Philippines, state, 295, 323, 325 Philosophy, 44, 217 ff. , 263 ff. (_see_ Confucius, Lao Tzŭ, Chuang Tzŭ, Huai-nan Tzŭ, Hsün Tzŭ, Mencius, Hui Tzŭ, Mo Ti, Kung-sun Lung, Shang Tzŭ, Han Fei Tzŭ, Tsou Yen, Legalists, Chung-ch'ang, T'ung, Yüan Chi, Liu Ling, Chu Hsi, Ch'eng Hao, Lu Hsiang-shan, Wang Yang-ming, etc. ) _pi-chi_, literary form, 220 _pieh-yeh (see_ Manor), 154 Pien-liang, city (_see_ K'ai-feng), 230 _pien-wen_, literary form, 253 Pig, 54, 199 Pilgrims, 245 P'ing-ch'eng, city, 122 Pirates, 245, 263 Plantation economy, 154 Plough, 54 Po Chü-i, poet, 182, 220 Po-hai, state, 171, 222, 229 Poetry, 48, 163, 175, 182 ff. , 227, 241, 255; Court Poetry, 105; Northern Poetry, 133 Poets, 219 ff. (_see_ T'ao Ch'ien, Po Chü-i, Li T'ai-po, Tu Fu, etc. ) Politicians, migratory, 52 Pontic migration, 16 Population changes, 21, 55, 62, 78, 108, 236, 238, 273-4; Population decrease, 107 (_see_ Census, Fertility) Porcelain, 20, 183, 201, 221, 251, 256, 281 Port Arthur, city, 296 Portsmouth, treaty, 296 Portuguese 262, 263 (_see_ Fu-lan-chi, Macao) Potter, 32; Pottery, 14, 15 ff. , 20; black pottery, 16 (_see_ Porcelain) Price controls, 212 Priests, 24, 34 (_see_ Shamans, Ju, Monks) Primogeniture, 54 Princes, 115, 120, 123 Printing, 201-2 (_see_ Colour, Book) Privileges of gentry, 173 Proletariate, 305, 320 (_see_ Labour) Propaganda, 93 Property relations, 31, 54, 196 (_see_ Laws, Inheritance, Primogeniture) Protectorate, 82 Provinces, administration, 85 _pu-ch'ü, _ bondsmen, 143, 174 Pu-ku Huai-en, general, 185, 186 P'u Sung-lin, writer, 280 P'u Yi, Manchu ruler, 300, 312 Puppet plays, 255 Railways, 301, 324; Manchurian Railway, 296 Rebellions, 95-6, 156, 158, 184 ff. , 189 ff. , 238 ff. , 261 ff. , 267 ff. , 284, 289 ff. , 291 ff. , 299, 301 (_see_ Peasants, Secret Societies, Revolutions) Red Eyebrows, peasant movement, 95 ff. Red Guards, 333 Reforms, 298, 299; Reform of language, 307-9 (_see_ Land reform) Regents, 89 Religion, 8, 22-4, 37, 42, 44, 48, 135-6; popular religion, 101 (_see_ Bon, Shintoism, Persecution, Sacrifice, Ancestor cult, Fertility cults, Deities, Temples, Monasteries, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Mazdaism, Manichaeism, Messianic religions, Secret societies, Soul, Shamanism, State religion) Republic, 303 ff. Revolutions, 244; legitimization of revolution, 57 (_see_ Rebellions) Ricci, Matteo, missionary, 266 Rice, 12, 155, 219, 235, 249 Rifles, 263 Ritualism, 34, 42 Roads, 30, 56, 65 Roman Empire, 31, 51, 107, 144, 210 Roosevelt, F. D. , president, 322 Russia, 246, 259, 278, 282, 283, 284, 293, 294, 296, 298, 300, 310, 311, 313-14, 315, 317, 320, 321, 322, 323, 328-29, 330, 333, 334 (_see_ Soviet Republics) Ryukyu (Liu-ch'iu), islands, 295 Sacrifices, 19, 23, 26 Sages, 47 Sakhalin (Karafuto), island, 295, 296 Salar, ethnic group, 292 Salary, 213, 227 Salt, 40; Salt merchants, 189, 238, 248-9, 262; Salt trade, 200-1 Samarkand, city, 45, 183, 241 _San-min chu-i, _ book, 305 Sang Hung-yang, economist, 91 Sassanids, Iranian dynasty, 178 Scholars (_Ju_), 34, 41, 52, 59, 60, 100 (_see_ Literati, Scribes, Intellectuals, Confucianists) Schools, 79, 196, 324-25 (_see_ Education) Science, 60-1, 104-5, 219, 281 (_see_ Mathematics, Astronomy, Nature) Scribes, 34 Script, Chinese, 22, 29, 65, 225, 308 Sculpture, 19-20, 106, 147, 183, 243; Buddhist sculptures, 146 _sê-mu_ (auxiliary troops), 233 Seal, imperial, 92-3 Secret societies, 61, 95 ff. , 289 (_see_ Red Eyebrows, Yellow Turbans, White Lotos, Boxer, Rebellions) Sects, 135; Buddhist sects, 188 Seng-ko-lin-ch'in, general, 291 Serfs, 21, 26, 31, 32, 33, 53-4, 72, 143, 197, 216 (_see_ Slaves, Servants, Bondsmen) Servants, 32 Settlement, of foreigners, 177; military, 248 (_see_ Colonization) Sha-t'o, tribal federation, 187, 190, 203, 204, 206, 207, 222, 230 Shadow theatre, 255 Shahruk, ruler, 258 Shamans, 160, 184; Shamanism, 34, 242, 135 ff. , 146 Shan tribes of South East Asia, 12 _Shan-hai-ching_, book, 103 Shan-yü, title of nomadic ruler, 88, 89, 90, 95, 103, 119, 125, 151 Shang dynasty, 19 ff. , 41 Shang Ti, deity, 23, 24, 25 Shang Tzŭ, philosopher (Shang Yang), 59 Shanghai, city 246, 250, 287, 288, 301, 305, 308, 314-15, 316, 318 Shao Yung, philosopher, 220 Sheep, 54, 118 Shen Nung, mythical figure, 52 Shen Tsung, Sung ruler, 196; Manchu ruler, 265, 267 Sheng Tsu, Manchu ruler, 272 _Shih-chi_, book, 103 Shih Ching-t'ang, ruler, 204, 222 Shih Ch'ung, writer, 49 Shih Hêng, soldier, 260 Shih Hu, ruler, 125 ff. Shih Huang-ti, ruler, 63 ff. , 78 Shih Lo, ruler, 123, 124, 125, 126 Shih-pi, ruler, 170 Shih Ssŭ-ming, 185 Shih Tsung, Manchu ruler, 264, 282 Shih-wei, Mongol tribes, 141 Shintoism, Japanese religion, 44 Ships, 168 (_see_ Navy) Short stories, 255 Shoulder axes, 10 Shu (Szechwan), area and/or state, 219 Shu-Han dynasty, 108, 110, 111, 115 Shun, dynasty, 268; mythical ruler, 17 Shun-chih, reign period, 270 Sian (Hsi-an, Ch'ang-an), city, 31, 33, 35, 97 Siao Ho (Hsiao Ho), jurist, 80 Silk, 20-1, 56, 90-1, 105, 116, 143, 185, 186, 209, 214, 276, 289, 303; Silk road, 86 Silver, 211, 251-2, 276 Sin-lo (Hsin-lo, Silla), state of Korea, 141 Sinanthropos, 8 Sinkiang (Hsin-Chiang, Turkestan), 14, 248, 294, 329, 330 Slash and burn agriculture (denshiring), 12 Slaves, 26, 32, 79, 94, 123, 137-8, 143; Slave society, 26; Temple slaves, 146 Social mobility, 73-4, 196, 197, 218-19; Social structure of tribes, 117 Socialism, 93 ff. , 291 (_see_ Marxism, Communism) Sogdiana, country in Central Asia, 45, 60, 134-5, 163, 174, 184 Soul, concept of soul, 32 South-East Asia, 9, 10, 14, 198, 201 250, 275, 324 (_see_ Burma, Champa, Cambodia, Annam, Laos, Vietnam, Tonking, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Mon-Khmer) Soviet Republics, 294, 312, 328 (_see_ Russia) Speculations, financial, 227 Ssŭ-ma, clan, 113-14 Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien, historian, 103-4 Ssŭ-ma Kuang, historian, 220 Ssŭ-ma Yen, ruler, 114, 115 Standardization, 64 ff. States, territorial and national, 37, 51; State religion, 145-6, 180 Statistics, 83 (_see_ Population) Steel, 56, 198 Steppe, 9 Stone age, 8 ff. Stratification, social, 29 (_see_ Classes, Social mobility) Strikes, 198 Students, 304-5, 306, 320 Su Chün, rebel, 156 Su Tsung, T'ang ruler, 185 Su Tung-p'o, poet, 219 _su-wang_ (uncrowned king), 43 Sui, dynasty, 151 Sun Ts'ê, ruler, 100, 101Sun Yat-sen (Sun I-hsien), revolutionary leader, president, 280, 299, 300, 302, 305, 309, 311, 312, 313, 315, 318, 321 Sung, dynasty, 207, 208 ff. , 238; Liu-Sung dynasty, 159 ff. Szechwan (Ssŭ-ch'uan), province, 101, 139, 156, 157, 159, 185, 190, 199, 200, 202, 207, 214, 215, 219, 262, 301 (_see_ Shu) Ta-tan (Tatars), tribal federation, 233 Tada, Japanese militarist, 295 Tai, tribes, 17, 19, 21, 111, 152 (_see_ Thailand) Tai Chen, philosopher, 279 Tai Ch'ing dynasty (Manchu), 267 T'ai P'ing, state, 274, 289 ff. , 333 T'ai Tsu, Sung ruler, 209; Manchu ruler, 257 T'ai Tsung, T'ang ruler 174, 178 (_see_ Li Shih-min) Taiwan (T'ai-wan, _see_ Formosa), 323 ff, 334 T'an-yao, priest, 146 Tanaka, Japanese militarist, 295 T'ang, dynasty, 83-4, 144, 147, 172 ff. ; Later T'ang dynasty, 204 ff. T'ang Hsien-tsu, writer, 255 T'ang Yin, painter, 255 Tanguts, Tibetan tribal federation and/or state, 99, 102, 118, 224-5, 233 (_see_ Ch'iang) Tao, philosophical term, 42, 46, 47 Tao-kuang, reign period, 285 ff. , 288 _Tao-tê-ching, _ book, 46 T'ao-t'ieh, mythical emblem, 22 Tao-yen, monk, 264 Taoism, religion, 101-2, 133, 136, 150, 183, 188, 236, 266; Taoists, 46, 61, 104, 241, 263-4 (_see_ Lao Tzŭ, Chuang Tzŭ, Chang Ling, etc. ) Tarim basin, 89, 179 Tatars (Ta-tan) Mongolian tribal federation, 190, 230, 233 Taxation, 33, 55, 65, 78, 143, 154, 173, 175, 178, 210, 211, 212, 213, 247, 252; Tax collectors, 55, 74, 116; Tax evasion, 214, 226, 246; Tax exemptions, 188, 213, 236; Taxes for monks, 208; Tax reform, 187 Tê Tsung, Manchu ruler, 295, 299 Tea, 276; Tea trade, 200; Tea house (_see_ Brothel), 182 Teachers, 74 (_see_ Schools) Technology, 219 Tell, archaeological term, 16 Temples, 101, 183 (_see_ Monasteries) Tengri khan, ruler, 186 Textile industry, 198 (_see_ Silk, Cotton) Thailand, state, 12, 248, 265 (_see_ Tai tribes) Theatre, 182-3, 242 (_see_ Shadow, Puppet, Opera) Throne, accession to, 150 (_see_ Abdication, Legitimacy) Ti, Tibetan tribes, 21, 118 Tibet, 12, 15, 19, 29, 30, 35, 102, 110, 116, 118-19, 120, 121, 126, 127, 130, 131, 132, 135, 139, 145, 169, 174, 177, 179, 181, 186, 187, 200, 224-5, 242, 273, 278, 283, 284, 293, 310, 329 (_see_ Ch'iang, Ti, T'u-fan, T'u-yü-hun, Lhasa Tanguts) T'ien, deity, 32 Tientsin (T'ien-chin), city, 287, 290, 299 Timur, ruler, 258 Tin, 17 Ting-ling, tribal federation, 89, 102 T'o-pa (_see_ Toba) T'o-t'o, writer, 241-2 Toba, Turkish tribal federation, 76, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 123, 126, 127, 132, 136 ff. , 159, 160, 161, 168, 169, 172, 173, 174, 177, 214, 222, 224 Tocharians, Central Asian ethnic group, 150 Tokto (_see_ T'o-t'o) Tölös, Turkish tribal group, 169, 178, 185 Tombs, 19, 34 Tonking, state, 10, 54, 295, 330 Tortoise, 22, 47-8 Totalitarianism, 80 (_see_ Dictatorship, Fascism, Communism) Tou Ku, general, 99 T'ou-man, ruler, 67 Towns (_see_ City) Trade, 88-9, 90, 99, 127; barter trade, 57; international trade, 60, 62, 86, 127-8, 139, 178, 179, 198, 209, 223, 245, 258, 264-5, 276, 286 (_see_ Merchants, Commerce, Caravans, Silk road) Translations, 135, 182, 280, 307 Transportation, 56, 168, 235, 247, 283 (_see_ Roads, Canals, Ships, Post, Caravans, Horses) Travels of emperors, 66 Treasury, 84, 206 Treaty, international, 77, 226, 278, 286, 290-1, 293, 295, 296 Tribal organization, 76, 223, 224 (_see_ Banner, Army, Nomads) Tribes, disappearance of, 133, 151-2; social organization, 117; military organization, 149 Tribute (_kung_), 33, 88, 209, 214, 226, 230, 248 _tsa-hu, _ social class, 144 Tsai T'ien, prince, 295 Ts'ai Yüan-p'ei, scholar, 307 Ts'ao Chih, poet, 48 Ts'ao Hsüeh-ch'in, writer, 280 Ts'ao K'un, politician, 312 Ts'ao P'ei, ruler, 102, 109, 113 Ts'ao Ts'ao, general, 100, 101, 102 Tsewang Rabdan, general, 277 Tseng Kuo-fan, general, 291 Tso Tsung-t'ang, general, 293 Tsou Yen, philosopher, 60-1 Ts'ui, clan, 113, 147, 181 T'u-chüeh, Gök Turk tribes, 149 (_see_ Turks) Tu Fu, poet, 182 T'u-fan, Tibetan tribal group, 171, 177, 205 Tu-ku, Turkish tribe, 124, 151 _T'u-shu chi-ch'eng_, encyclopaedia, 279 _tu-tu_, title, 174 T'u-yü-hun, Tibetan tribal federation, 130, 141, 169, 177 Tuan Ch'i-jui, president, 312 Tümet, Mongol tribal group, 265 Tung Ch'i-ch'ang, painter, 255 T'ung-chien kang-mu, historical encyclopaedia, 43 T'ung-chih, reign period, 294 Tung Chung-shu, thinker, 80, 104 Tung Fu-hsiang, politician, 298 Tung-lin academy, 267 Tungus tribes, 11, 19, 117, 222, 229, 265 (_see_ Ju-chen, Po-hai, Manchu) Tunhuang (Tun-huang), city, 85, 324 Turfan, city state, 245 Turgut, Mongol tribal federation, 283 Turkestan, 45, 60, 62, 85, 86 ff. , 88, 95, 97, 99, 113, 114, 125, 127, 130, 132, 134, 135, 139, 141, 142, 146, 147, 159, 163, 176, 177, 178, 187, 220, 224, 241, 245, 259, 273, 277, 278, 282, 289, 293, 294 (_see_ Central Asia, Tarim, Turfan, Sinkiang, Khotan, Ferghana, Samarkand, Khotcho, Tocharians, Yüeh-chih, Sogdians, etc. ) Turkey, 259 Turks, 11, 15, 17, 25, 29, 30, 32, 35, 53, 57, 108, 109, 117, 119, 122, 127, 133, 135, 137, 140, 146 ff. , 149 ff. , 169 ff. , 174, 176 ff. , 179, 180, 181, 184, 185, 203, 206, 230, 282, 294, 329 (_see_ Gök Turks, T'u-chüeh, Toba, Tölös, Ting-ling, Uighur, Sha-t'o, etc. ) Tzŭ Hsi, empress, 294 ff. , 296 ff. Uighurs, Turkish federation, 171, 174, 176, 177, 178, 181, 185, 186 ff. , 190, 233, 234, 278 United States, 287, 304, 309, 313, 322, 342 (_see_ America) Ungern-Sternberg, general, 311 Urbanization, 31, 250 (_see_ City) Urga, city, 310 University, 304-5, 306, 307, 318, 320 Usury, 94 Vagrants (_liu-min_), 198, 213 Vietnam, 330, 334 (_see_ Annam) Village, 23; Village commons, 94, 154 Vinaya Buddhism, 188 Voltaire, writer, 242 Walls, 57; Great Wall, 57, 67, 256 Wan-li, reign period, 265, 266 _Wang (king), 38_ Wang An-shih, statesman, 215 ff. , 217-18, 254 Wang Chen, eunuch, 260 Wang Ching-wei, collaborator, 315, 318 Wang Ch'ung, philosopher 104-5 Wang Hsien-chih, peasant leader, 189-90 Wang Kung, general, 158 Wang Mang, ruler, 92 ff. , 97, 100, 101 Wang Shih-chen, writer, 255 Wang Shih-fu, writer, 242 Wang Tao-k'un, writer, 254 Wang Tun, rebel, 156-7 Wang Yang-ming, general and philosopher, 261 ff. War, 82; size of wars, 21, 53; War-chariot, 25, 29, 30, 53; cost of wars, 90; War lords, 309 ff. ; Warrior-nomads, 36 (_see_ Army, World War, Opium War, Lorcha War, Fire-Arms) Washington, conference, 313 Wei, dynasty, 102, 113 ff. ; small state, 40; empress, 180 Wei Chung-hsien, eunuch, 267-8 Wei T'o, ruler in South China, 77 Welfare state, 215 ff. Well-field system (_ching-t'ien_), 33 Wen Ti, Han ruler, 78, 79, 80, 81, 86; Wei ruler 113; Toba ruler, 144; Sui ruler, 167 ff. Wen Tsung, Manchu ruler, 294 Whampoa, military academy, 314 Wheat, 11, 21, 32 White Lotos sect (Pai-lien), 239, 267, 284-5 Wholesalers, 200 Wine, 21 Wood-cut, 251, 256 (_see_ Colour print) Wool, 21, 33, 286 (_see_ Felt) World Wars, 295, 310, 311, 312, 317 Women rights, 280, 332 Writing, invention, 18, 22 (_see_ Script) Wu, empress, 179 ff. ; state, 38, 111-12, 115, 121 Wu-ch'ang, city, 301 (_see_ Hankow) Wu Ching-tzŭ, writer, 280 Wu-huan, tribal federation, 98, 102, 114 Wu P'ei-fu, war lord, 312 Wu San-Kui, general, 269, 271, 272, 277 Wu Shih-fan, ruler, 271 Wu-sun, tribal group, 89 Wu Tai (Five Dynasties period), 199 ff. Wu Tao-tzŭ, painter, 183 Wu(Ti), Han ruler, 86, 89, 91; Chin ruler, 115; Liang ruler, 161, 164 Wu Tsung, Manchu ruler, 261, 264 Wu Wang, Chou ruler, 30 _wu-wei, _ philosophical term, 47 Yakub beg, ruler, 293 Yamato, part of Japan, 112 Yang, clan, 119, 120 Yang Chien, ruler, 151, 163, 166 ff. (_see_ Wen Ti) Yang (Kui-fei), concubine, 184 Yang-shao, archaeological site, 12 ff. , 29 Yang Ti, Sui ruler, 168, 178 Yao, mythical ruler, 17; tribes in South China, 12, 16, 19, 21, 111, 152 Yarkand, city in Turkestan, 97, 98, 282 Yeh (K'ai-feng), city, 125, 148 Yeh-ta (_see_ Ephtalites) Yehe-Nara, tribe, 294 Yellow Turbans, secret society, 101, 158 Yeh-lü Ch'u-ts'ai, politician, 241 Yen, state, 114; dynasty, 112; Earlier Yen dynasty, 126, 127; Later Yen dynasty 127, 128 ff. ; Western Yen dynasty, 129 Yen-an, city, 321-2 Yen Fu, translator, 280 Yen Hsi-shan, war lord, 315 Yen-ta (Altan), ruler, 264-5 _Yen-t'ieh-lun_ (Discourses on Salt and Iron), book, 91 Yin Chung-k'an, general, 158 Yin-ch'ü, city, 21 Yin and Yang, philosophical terms, 60 Ying Tsung, Manchu ruler, 259, 260 Yo Fei, general, 226 Yü Liang, general, 156, 157 Yü-wen, tribal group, 119, 148, 169, 172 Yüan Chen, 182 Yüan Chi, philosopher, 50 Yüan Mei, writer, 280 Yüan Shao, general, 100 Yüan Shih-k'ai, general and president, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 309, 310, 311, 312 Yüan Ti, Han ruler, 92; Chin ruler, 152, 156 Yüeh, tribal group and area, 12, 16, 38, 77, 152 Yüeh-chih, Indo-European-speaking ethnic group, 75, 88, 118, 150 Yün-kang, caves, 146-7, 344 Yünnan, (Yün-nan), province, 10, 89, 97, 110, 248, 258, 275, 292 Yung-cheng, reign period, 278, 282 Yung-lo, reign period, 257, 264 Zen Buddhism (_see_ Ch'an), 164 Zoroaster, founder of religion, 342 Transcriber's Notes Most typos/misspellings were left as in the original text. In someobvious cases they are noted here. There are cases of American and UKEnglish. There are cases of unusual hyphenation. There are more than onespelling of Chinese proper nouns. There are cases, like Marxism, whichare not capitalized. There are cases of double words, like 'had had'. These are correctly used. Additionally, the author has spelled the following words inconsistently. Those have not been changed, but are listed here: NorthwesternSouthwardsProgrammere-introducedpractiseLotosJu-Chêncooperatelife-timeman-powerfavoradvise Page 25. (conceived as a kind of celestrial court) This should becelestial court. Page 25. (the middle of the second millenium B. C. ). Normally 'millenium'is spelled 'millennium', with a double n. Page 26. (they re-settled the captured). Normally 're-settled' isspelled without a hyphen. Page 80. ("Collected Statues of the Manchu Dynasty") This is likely atypo for "Collected Statutes of the Manchu Dynasty". Page 197. (allowed to enter the state examina) This may be a typo forstate examinations. Page 209. (accounted for 25 per cent cent) I removed the duplicate cent. Page 255. ("The Peony Pavillion") Pavillion/Pavilion is spelled with one'l' in other places thoughout this work. Page 264. (Ling's church Taosim. ) This may be Taoism, but I left as wasprinted. Page 275. (could allevitate the pressure) Alleviate was probably meant. Page 278. (particulary in regard) Typo for particularly. Pages 335 and 336. The spelling of J.  G.  Andersoon/Andersson is notconsistent. Johan Gunnar Andersson appears to be associated with studiesof China. Page 342. The name W.  Eichhorn is apparently misspelled here as Eichhron. Page 323. Equipped is spelled equiped. Page 337. (and when it florished, ) Typo for flourished. Index and page 60. Machiavellism/Machiavellian is spelled with 2 'c's. Machiavelism is more common as Machiavellianism.