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THE 
 
 - ORIGIN OF THE CHINESE 
 
 
 AX ATTEMPT TO TRACE THE CONNECTION OF THE CHINESE 
 WITH WESTERN NATIONS IN THEIR 
 RELIGION, SUPERSTITIONS, ARTS, LANGUAGE, AND TRADITIONS. 
 
 JOHN. 
 
 BV 
 
 / 
 
 CHAI.MERS, 
 
 A.M. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 rilUBNER & CO., GO, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1868. 
 
Digitized by the Internet.Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://archive.org/details/originofchineseaOOchal 
 

 The following chapters are intended to be sugges- 
 tive merely, and do not in any case exhaust the sub- 
 jects on which they touch. If they are useful in 
 exciting, and in any measure directing further inves- 
 tigation, my object will be accomplished. 
 
 The student of Chinese may soon find many exam- 
 ples not included in the list given in the Illrd 
 Chapter : as — nip, to nip ; tai, a tie ; pai, to worship, 
 Lat. pio ; sz’, self, Lat. se^ &c. 
 
 The statement made on the first page regarding 
 the theory of ^ natural selection ’ is not invalidated 
 by the fact that some have totally misunderstood that 
 theory. Darwin’s investigations all lead to the deriva- 
 tion of present variety from previous uniformity, as in 
 the case of the tame pigeons now presenting so many 
 striking varieties, yet all derived from the rock-pigeon. 
 A writer in the Saturday Review for Feb. 11th, 1865, 
 speaks of Datest investigations’ leading to the ^deriva- 
 tion of mankind from the various twigs of that tree 
 so rich in branches which we surround with the or- 
 der of primates or apes.’ In other words, the human 
 species is to be derived not only from all the species 
 of a genus, but from all the genera of an order of 
 apes! A detailed account of these Tatest investiga- 
 tions ’ would be curious. 
 
 Canton, December 26th, 1866. 
 
H E 
 
 mm OF THE CHINESE. 
 
 CH^VPTEK I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The descent of all existing races of men from a 
 single original stock, or the doctrine of the Bible that 
 ‘‘God hath made of one blood all nations of men for 
 to dwell on all the face of the earth,” is in a fair way 
 to be proved on purely scientific grounds. If the 
 theory of “ natural selection ” seems at present to 
 prove too much for the theologian, those who em- 
 brace it will at least agree with him as to the unity 
 of the human race. And the philologist is doing for 
 languages what the zoologist is doing for living 
 beings. Both are in search of a primeval unity ; 
 but the former is not tempted as the latter is to 
 overstep the bounds of moderation, and shock human 
 prejudices by hinting at a common ancestry of men 
 and beasts ; for, as Professor Muller says, “Speech 
 is a specific faculty of man. It distinguishes man 
 from all other creatures.” 
 
 If ethnology does not distinctly point to the deri- 
 vation of all nations from one, it is in part owing to 
 the imperfection of ancient records, and to the spirit 
 of rivalry and pride which led each separate race to 
 imagine for itself an independent origin, but also in 
 
part to the fact that hitherto men of science have not 
 been agreed as to the nature of the truth to be looked 
 for, underlying the mass of traditional fables accu- 
 mulated in every ancient nation. Divines have 
 eagerly sought for proofs of the unity of the race, 
 and points of agreement with the inspired record ; 
 and in doing so have often laid themselves open to 
 the charge of prejudice from the men of science, who 
 have nevertheless been divided among themselves, 
 some of them giving such exhibitions of credulity on 
 the one hand and of scepticism on the other, that their 
 censures have fallen but lightly. At the same time 
 a painful suspicion has not unfrequently obtruded it- 
 self on the minds of good people, that, after all, the 
 African, or the Chinese, or the American Indian may 
 belong to a distinct creation from ourselves, and 
 therefore have but a distant and uncertain title to our 
 sympathy, or to the common hope of Cliristians. 
 Let us hail then the happy change whicli promises 
 to unite together men of all religious creeds and- those 
 of none in the search for a common ancestry for all 
 nations. 
 
 The explorers of the source of the Nile might be 
 perplexed by finding that it had more than one; but 
 we need fear no such result. The first specimens of 
 creatures possessing the specific faculty of speech be- 
 longed all to one family, and occupied one particular 
 spot on the face of the earth and no more. 
 
 Comparative Philology leads to the conclusion that 
 the primeval speech must have been of the simplest 
 kind consisting of what are called immitive roots ; as 
 
 to go ; adj to eat; da^ to give (Mliller, Science of 
 Language, p. 267). At this stage, however, language 
 must have been extremely flexible; and liable, in 
 the absence of writing to continual change, both in 
 the monosvllabic roots themselves, and in the order 
 
[ 3 ] 
 
 in which they were placed in sentences. The ten^ 
 dency of the roots to run into each other and form 
 secondary ones as tiid^ to strike; and again tertiary 
 oneSj as,jt?/w, ard^ spas^ spand\ or to unite permanent- 
 ly and form dissyllables, would, if not checked by 
 writing, soon alter the entire aspect of the language, 
 as has been found among the tribes of Africa and 
 America, where the speech of one generation was 
 unintelligible to the next. 
 
 The above observations, which are fully illustrated 
 in Professor Miiller’s lectures on the Science of 
 Language, have an important bearing on the ques- 
 tion of the antiquity of man, or perhaps I should 
 of speaking man ^ for with speechless apes who 
 resembled men and had ingenuity enough to make 
 flint implements, if they ever existed, we have 
 nothing to do. If we can point to a time in the history 
 of human speech when it was still made up of dis- 
 tinct monosyllabic roots, or was easily resolved into 
 such, while as yet there existed no mode of writing 
 to fix it in that primitive state, it would seem that 
 the origin of speech cannot have preceded this by 
 very many generations. Nay more, if the mode of 
 writing was alphabetic, and not such as that which 
 has been practised by the Chinese for between three 
 and four thousand years, it could not have served to 
 bind down language to its primitive monosyllabic 
 state. Hence it is that Chinese is as singular in its 
 monosyllabic character as in its mode of writing. 
 The former would disappear in a thousand years, in 
 all probability, if the latter were abolished, and 
 alphabetic writing substituted in its place. Or, if 
 
 * Burmese is said to* retain to a great extent a monosyllabio 
 character, but we find in the mythology of Burmah such words as 
 “ Barasinmendraghipra,” who was the lord of many white 
 elephants ” (S a, n germane, p. 45). 
 
the force of habit, which is confirmed in races as in 
 individuals, should perpetuate the peculiarity, there 
 is no assignable reason why it should have been per- 
 petuated for several thousand years after the separa- 
 tion of the Chinese from other races but their writing. 
 
 Let us suppose for the sake of illustration, that the 
 language spoken by Noah and his family was still 
 in the Radical Stage, as it would seem it must have 
 been, if all existing families of speech are derived 
 from it ; are we not on this supposition obliged to 
 admit that he cannot have been very far removed 
 from the fountainhead of human speech ? or else to 
 choose the alternative of an antediluvian system of 
 writing similar to the Chinese, by which roots became, 
 as it were, stereotyped and handed down entire and 
 distinct from age to age ? 
 
 It will be time enough to adopt this improbable 
 hypothesis, when we are pressed to do so by unmis- 
 takable proof that man is much older than the Bible 
 seems to make him to be. 
 
 From a careful examination of all the available 
 evidence in the case. Dr. Legge has come to the con- 
 clusion (Shoo-king, Prolegomena, p. 90), that the 
 Chinese nation had no existence before 2,000 b.c.; 
 and a large part of what relates to the period from 
 2,000 to 1,600 B.C., recorded in the oldest and most 
 authentic History which the Chinese possess, is no 
 more worthy of credit than the Arabian Nights. Its 
 Ti-yaou and Ti-shun — God Lofty, and God Com- 
 pliant — are the counterparts of the hero-gods of 
 Greece and Rome, the Hercules whose arms burst 
 asunder mountains, those Lycurguses and Romuluses 
 (“Deus Deo natus,” Livy), swift legislators, who 
 in the space of one man’s life accomplished the 
 tardy work of ages (Vico, 1725, quoted by Michelet. 
 Confucius (born 551 b.c.), who was a zealous student 
 
of antiquity, was not able to write a continuous and 
 connected history of more than two centuries and a 
 half before his own time. Of previous dynasties he 
 complained that the records were insufficient. About 
 the age of Confucius, the first written documents, which 
 have come down to us — the Poetry and the History — 
 were compiled. The manner of writing then differed 
 from what it has been since the second century b.c., 
 in having the hieroglyphic element more marked, 
 and the characters used phonetically often without 
 the adjuncts called radicals, which now determine 
 their meaning. 
 
 The sources of information regarding the early 
 growth of the written language are few and inade- 
 quate ; but we shall see that, such as they are, they 
 point back to a time not very remote, say 1,600 b.c., 
 when it was little more than a set of rude pictures of 
 common objects in nature. Of course we do not 
 know how many thousand years it might have remain- 
 ed at this stage ; but there is nothing in the authentic 
 monuments of Cliina to oblige us to suppose that 
 writing, or rather the representation of ideas by rude 
 pictures, was not a new invention in the 16th or 17th 
 century b.c. The formation of the written language 
 of Confucius’ age would indeed be the work of many 
 generations ; but we make allowance for that of more 
 than a thousand years. Moreover, while the relics 
 of hieroglyphic writing are so scarce that they barely 
 suffice to prove that it was ever practiced in China 
 at all ; there is on the other hand a tradition recorded 
 by the followers of Confucius (not by Confucius 
 himself as is vulgarly supposed) in the classic of 
 Changes, that knotted cords were used in the admi- 
 nistration of government before the sages invented 
 writing ; and this tradition can hardly be called 
 in question, seeing the same practice was found 
 
actually existing among the Peruvians. And finally, 
 the supposition that writing was introduced into 
 China by the founders of the Shang dynasty is 
 confirmed bv the name of the fabulous ancestor of that 
 dynasty, which is written, though not. pronounced, 
 precisely the same as the second character used for 
 writing in the Yih-Jcing or classic of Changes above 
 referred to. The truth in the tradition is the in- 
 vention of writing ( SJniJcH). The man named 
 
 Sieh^ or See^ the Minister of Instruction to the 
 hero-ffod Shun in the Shoo-kins: is a myth. 
 
 On the whole it seems highly probable that less 
 than four thousand years ago, the ancestors of the 
 Chinese were without any system of writing, and 
 spoke at that time a language made up, as a rule, 
 of distinct monosyllabic roots, — without inflection^ 
 without agglutination ^ — showing in fact but few of 
 the changes, which time works on human speech, as 
 has been proved in all nations but China during the 
 subsequent period. Of course we must allow time 
 for the formation of secondary roots from primary^ 
 and to some extent of tertiary from secondary, in 
 order to bring language to the state in which we find 
 it was in China ; and of the length of time required 
 for this we can only judge from analogy. Consi- 
 derations arising from the probable modification ot 
 the organs of speech from age to age might also great- 
 ly affect our conclusions. If, agreeably to the 
 tkeory of development, or of natural selection, we 
 sujDpose that the power of aidiculation was imperfect 
 in primeval man, we may task our imagination to 
 any extent to determine how or in what length of 
 time his descendants might acquire the powers which 
 he had not. Following the reasoning of Darwin, we 
 might suppose that among a number of children 
 inheriting from their parents the power of pronoun- 
 
cing only such primitive sounds as fu (Lat. fugio^ 
 Greek to flee, and Lat. volo^ to fly, Chinese, 
 
 fi\ and lu (Greek luo^ mo and reo^ Chinese liu^ 
 to flow), one might appear with some variation in his 
 organs of utterance, which caused him to say flu 
 instead fu-lu^ to express the idea of flee away.” 
 This might be considered an accomplishment by his 
 companions, as being shorter than/w-^M, and more ex- 
 pressive than either of the primitive syllables alone. 
 Some might be able with an effort to imitate this new 
 style of speaking and others not; but those who could 
 would be selected as wives and husbands, and the 
 other left, or exterminated. The next generation 
 would thus contain more children able to say flu^ 
 and the next more again, till the inability to say it 
 would form the exception and not the rule. This is 
 just possible. The organs or the faculty of speech 
 may be modified to some extent by habit, and the 
 modification may be inherited. At the same time, 
 Chinese children find no difficulty in pronouncing a 
 foreign language, and can say flu^ plu^ or hlu ; spruce 
 or spruceness ^ as easily as w^e can, though no such 
 sounds occur in their language, or as far as we know 
 were ever in it. It is different of course with grown 
 up children, who, if they have learnt only Chinese, 
 — which all children learn very easily — will find it 
 all but impossible to acquire any other language. So 
 then, as far as facts are concerned, the organs of speech 
 in men of all races are pretty much the same, and 
 for aught we know to the contrary, they have been so 
 from the beginning. I have assumed this to be the 
 case in making the foregoing observations. 
 
 I will only add that, whatever proofs may be found 
 in other quarters of an antiquity of man far exceeding 
 what has hitherto been supposed, I can not find the 
 slightest evidence of it in the early history of China. 
 
CH.VPTKK II. 
 
 China and Otheii Ancient Nations 
 Co^rPAEED. 
 
 1 INTEND in this Chapter to discuss some of tlie prin- 
 cipal cases of agreement or resemblance between the 
 most ancient Chinese and other nations, in religion, 
 superstition, arts, arbitrary classification of objects in 
 nature, &c., which seem to point to a common origin. 
 The first and most valuable source of information 
 on Cliinese antiquities is the Shi-Jcing^ or Poetry. 
 The next, to be used with more caution, is the 
 ^hoo-Mng^ or History. 
 
 After these come the Classical writings generally, 
 none of which can, with any confidence, be assigned 
 to an earlier period than Confucius, while some are 
 several centuries later. 
 
 Religion. — I. Objects of Worship. 
 
 1. — ’Monotheism. The ancient creed of the Persians, 
 in the Avesta, was probably not philosopical Dualism; 
 but a form of monotheism resembling that of the 
 Hebrews. Ahura-mazda was God, the Creator of 
 evervthing good. Angro-mainyus was the devil. 
 
F^hilosopliical dualism was of later origin. It con- 
 nected itself with the ancient creeds and myths, but 
 was not contained in them except as a latent germ. 
 Though in the Rigveda of the Indians there are two* 
 principal Deities, Indraf and Agni, these are 
 but ditferent personifications of one. The same 
 absolute perfection and supremacy are ascribed now 
 to the one and now to the other in different 
 Hymns. Agni is DIU, the sun, or Heaven, 
 viewed under the aspect of fire. Indra is DIV the 
 permeant Spirit of the firmament ; — one of his titles 
 is Permeant Indra ” (Rigveda, 80). Here we have 
 indeed the germ of dualism in another form ; but this 
 is later than the monotheism which appears in Varunah^ 
 and in the root DIU or DIV, — Heaven, the Sun. 
 From this comes Deva^ a word which appears in 
 the first instance to have been applied to the sun, 
 moon, stars, &c., regarded as beings of a superhuman 
 nature” (Mr. Wenger, quoted by Dr. Legge, Notions 
 of the Chinese^ p. 118). The root, however, denotes 
 Heaven ; from it come the Greek Theos and the Latin 
 Deus^ and in all probability it is related to the 
 
 * They are worshipped sometimes as one, and even the names are 
 united into one word Indr agni. See this view strong-ly maintain- 
 ed in the Rev. S. C. Malan’s work, Who is God in China^ p. 106. 
 
 t Indra is probably from indi, to rain. He is on the whole 
 very much like Jupiter, the thunderer, and like Saturn, the son of 
 Heaven and Earth. But in the same Hymn (121) which seems 
 to make Indra the son of Heaven and Earth, he is said to up- 
 hold heaven (^Sustentat sane coelum ille. — Rosen’s Translation). 
 There is evidently a mixture of two different classes of ideas. 
 With regard to the derivation oiTheoSy &c., from a root which means 
 Heaven, there is perhaps still a choice for those who think that 
 it imperils the doctrine of a primitive revelation, of supposing 
 either that the primitive name of God has perished in the Aryan 
 family of languages, or that DIV meant God before it meant 
 Heaven. 
 
[ 10 ] 
 
 Tibetan cUn^ day, as well as to the Chinese V'ien^ ^ 
 Heaven, and Ti (in Hainan Di)^ God. The Chinese, 
 themselves, reasoning against polytheism, strictly so 
 called, have said, “ THen (Heaven) is only one, how 
 can there be more than one 7^/ (God)?” The reasoning 
 is just, on the supposition that God is Heaven 
 personified, — or rather that the same radical terra 
 denotes in one form the visible Heaven, and in 
 another the God of Heaven. 
 
 It is not my object to investigate the earliest forms 
 of religion in ancient nations, further than to indicate 
 the traces of monotheism which others have found. 
 Macaulay says: The first inhabitants of Greece, 
 
 there is reason to believe, worshipped one invisible 
 Deity.” Herodotus tells us that ‘ the Persians 
 worshipped the whole circle of Heaven as God. 
 The Phoenicians in their polytheism had one God 
 called Elion or the Highest; ‘That one, ” says Alford, 
 “may have been the true God, whose worship still lin- 
 gered up and down in heathen countries. This Elion 
 or the Most High — this God of Heaven, who was 
 acknowledged by Cyrus and Artaxerxes, kings of 
 Persia (see Ezra), who was spoken of continually by 
 Daniel in his conversations with the Chaldean mo- 
 narchs, as the Most High, and the God of Heaven, and 
 who was acknowledged also by Nebuchadnezzar as the 
 “ King of Heaven,” — is found to have been revered 
 by the Chinese sovereign T‘ang (b.c. 1600), just in 
 that part of the Slioo-king, where, according to Dr. 
 
 * This character was probably road T‘in when the Poetry 
 was made, as it always rhymes with jin, man. — Compare 
 ^ tan, originally tien, the light, dawn. 
 
 t The North American Indians worship only one God whom 
 they term the Good Spirit, They ascend to the top of high moun- 
 tains to pray to the Great Spirit. American Fresh. A Theol. Review r 
 >1"an. 1863. The Aztecs named this Spirit TEO. 
 
[ 11 ] 
 
 Legge, we begin to feel contidence in the liI>tory. 
 The religions character of T^ang, as there recorded, 
 is such as could hardly have been invented. “ As 1 
 fear God,” and ^‘Our goodandevil are recorded in the 
 mind of God,” are phrases which certainly wou]d 
 not have been used by Confucius or his disciples.^. 
 
 In the two oldest documents which the Chinese 
 possess, the Poetry and the History, Shangti and Ti 
 occur more than eighty times with the meaning of 
 God, that is, of One Supreme Deity. The words 
 occur in the Poetry in no other sense ; although once 
 Shangti is applied ironically to a haughty emperor 
 [Compare Psalm LXXXIL, I have said, Ye are 
 gods”). In the mythical parts of the History (to 
 which there is not the slightest allusion in the more 
 authentic Book of Poetry, ) where Ti is applied to the 
 hero-gods Yaou and Shun, it ought to be translated 
 by “god” or “ divine.” Uiuang-ti was originally 
 equivalent to “Augustus Divus.” It was in this sense 
 that the founder of the Tshn dynasty first assumed the 
 titlet (b.c. 220). Shangti was not only th? highest 
 object of worship, but he was unique; — other 
 objects of worship were essentially subordinate 
 and not co-ordinate. He had no pedigree, no 
 brothers, no family, no rivals as Jupiter had; and 
 
 * See how even the materialistic pantheist Cha Hi becomes 
 a Theist in explaining Twang’s words (Dr. Legge’s Shoo-king 
 IV. iii. 8.) 
 
 t See the g T‘ung-kien-kang-muh, under B.c. 220 
 
 and under b.c. 287, when the grandfather of Ts‘in-ch‘i made an 
 abortive attempt to appropriate to himself the title of Ti, “ for the 
 purpose,” the historian says, “of making himself greater than the 
 Emperor” who was already styled T’ien-wafig, “Heavenly 
 
 king,” And compare the explanation of Ti, in Hoh-kwan-tsze 
 
 Ti is the title of Heaven. Wang is a tide of men, 
 
no image was ever made of him. hhe name remains 
 to this day with the same meaning ; but it has also 
 in modern times, since the commencement of the 
 Christian era or thereabout, been used in what may 
 be called a generic ” sense. Chu Hi tells us that in 
 the later classic, called the Rites of Chow, Shangti 
 is a general ( generic ”) name for Tis (gods). And 
 again the term has been restricted by the vulgar to 
 a particular favourite idol, sometimes one and some- 
 times another, — The god.” It is the strongest pos- 
 sible recommendation of the term Shangti^ to those 
 who wish to teach monotheism to the Chinese, that 
 it is usually to bo taken in the singular, and desig- 
 nates, as Bishop Boone said, “a definite individual.” 
 For Chinese nouns are more frequently determined 
 to be singular or plural by their common usage 
 than by any other means, having no inflections. 
 The same word, stands for “man,” “men,” and 
 “mankind.” '^o Shangti stands for “God,” 
 “gods,” or “the god,” but in common usage it is singu- 
 lar. Though occurring in the plural, it is not so com- 
 prehensive or so usual as our word “ gods.” 
 
 The peculiar nature of Chinese written language 
 has served to perpetuate many other things besides 
 monosyllabic speech ; and in this instance it has done 
 good service in stereotyping, so to speak, the primitive 
 belief in One Supreme Ti ^ who is ^ great, over | 
 ruling heaven, and FI earth. For this reason Ti 
 could never be degraded to such low uses as the Indian 
 (leva or even the Greek theos. The native historians 
 have denounced the blasphemy of the first emperor 
 who applied it to himself; and every Chinese scholar 
 is easily convinced of the absurdity of applying 
 it even to the principal idols. Ti and THen (Heaven) 
 are and must always be correlatives. Heaven in the 
 laro;est sense is iniiniiude , — and Ti is the God of 
 
Heaven, — not Ruler, or “ merely ruler,” as a mission- 
 ary Bishop cleverly expressed it, thereby suggest- 
 ing its possible application to any petty magistrate, 
 or to the ruler of the synagogue. True it has been 
 for two thousand years misapplied to the emperor of 
 China ; but a passage in the Memoir of Dr. Morrison 
 (1816) will sufficiently explain this: — “An officer 
 of considerable rank with whom I often conversed 
 said of the Emperor, ^ He is Heaven to us,’ which 
 is as strong in their apprehension as if it were 
 expressed in our phraseology, ^He is God Almighty’.” 
 
 2nd. — Sabeism. The worship of the sun, moon, and 
 stars seems to have been the earliest form of super- 
 stition in every ancient nation from Egypt to China. 
 
 The sacred bull, we are informed, was worshipped 
 as the constellation Taurus, before he was adored as 
 an image, or as a living brute. The practice of doing 
 obeisance to the sun and moon was referred to by 
 Job as an evil existing in his day (XXXI. 26 — 28) ; 
 and it was made the subject of express prohibitive 
 statute by Moses, — “Lest thou lift up thine eyes unto 
 heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon 
 and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest 
 be driven to worship them, and serve them” (Deut. 
 IV. 19). The natural distinction of sun and ?noo7i 
 and states gave rise at an early period to the numeri- 
 cal generalization of “ the three lights.” AVe have it 
 in the Rigveda (Hymn 102) in the adoration of 
 Indra, — “ A threefold cord in strength, thou art able, 
 0 keeper of men, to uphold the three worlds, and the 
 three lights , and this universe.” Accordingly we find 
 that in China, when letters were first invented, “ the 
 three lights ” corresponded to the devas as described 
 by Mr. Wenger. The radical Tfi shi, or k^i^ made up 
 of sha?ig above, and three descending lines, — the 
 three lights according to Chine.se etymologists, — is 
 
[14] 
 
 used to indicate any beings or things of a superb arnau 
 nature. 
 
 Originally, doubtless, the character referred to the 
 sun, moon, and stars, and to their mmiifestation^ hence 
 it still retains the predicative meaning of reveal, ma- 
 nifest, &c. In the Poetry these upper lights are 
 adored as ming shirty the bright spirits.” Shin jfij, 
 the generic character for spirits, is of course a deriva. 
 tive of 7J^ shi. 
 
 '6rd. — Practical Dualism. The antithesis of Father 
 Heaven” and ‘‘Mother Earth,” or more generally of 
 Yang and Yin (originally light and no doubt ap- 
 
 pears very early in Chinese literature ; thougli it is 
 less distinct in the Poetry than in the History. In 
 the former we do not find the dual expressions 
 T^ien-ti^ Heaven and Earth, — Shin-kH^ celestial and ter- 
 restial spirits, — Kwei-shin^ ghosts and spirits, — Ym 
 and Yang^ &c., which abound in the latter ; and it is 
 in the latter only that we are told that Heaven and 
 Earth are the father and mother of all things ( Shoc- 
 king, V.I.Pt.i. 3) But there is in the Poetry a re- 
 ference to “upper and lower libations,” which are ex- 
 plained to mean offerings to Heaven above and to 
 Earth beneath. And what is still more decisive is 
 the occurrence in the Poetry of the character t 
 shie^ made up of shi^ superhuman, and 
 earth, and denoting an earthly deity or deities, to 
 whom sacrifice was offered. These were supposed 
 to be concerned in the production of hoarfrost, dew, 
 wind, and rain, as well as in vegetation and the ma- 
 turing of the fruits of the earth. In opposition to 
 
 ♦ In the Poetry, Heaven alone is both father and mother 
 of mankind 
 
 t Compare made np of ± and the other part of the 
 submissive earth of the Yih-king. 
 
[ 15 ] 
 
 tlie good earthly spirits again there were evil dispos- 
 ed demons, one of whom is mentioned in the Poetrv 
 as the Poll fPuchJ of drought, who was doing 
 mischief.” 
 
 It is supposed that efforts were made to propitiate 
 both kinds, — the han-shin or spirit of drought,” 
 as well as those who had the power of bringing rain. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to observe that the above 
 is nothing more than a repetition of what has been 
 found in ancient India, Persia, Greece, &c. There is 
 in all probability a more than accidental resemblance 
 in sound and sense between the Greek Demeter and 
 the Chinese Te-mo (Mother Earth). 
 
 In the Rigveda Hymn 89, we have, maid Pritkivi^ 
 pita Dyauh^ i.e.j mother Earth, father Heaven. In- 
 dra has his attendant Maruts who make the wind 
 and the rain. All the deities appear in pairs, — Indra 
 and Agni;* Mitra and Varuna; the twin sons of 
 Aswini, &c. And the great enemy of Indra and of 
 the friendly spirits, who cause rain, is Vritra, the 
 counterpart of the Chinese Puck of drought. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that the power to make 
 rain was the ideal of spiritual virtue among the 
 Chinese, a fact which is still apparent in the character 
 ^ lingj ‘‘spiritual efficacy,” which is made up of 
 rain, three mouths, and a sorcerer (rain-maker). 
 
 iith. — The tvorship of ancestors. The practice of 
 
 * We have already said that there is the germ of Dualism in 
 Indra and Agni. Indra has most to do with water, rain, clouds, 
 Ac., hence his epithet “Pluvious and Agni with fire, sunshine, 
 &c. The antithesis of fire and water is found playing an im- 
 portant part in the speculations of nearly all ancient nations and 
 in none more than in the Chinese. The northern part of the 
 heavens belongs to water and the southern to fire. The god of the 
 north pole is the god of water, and the god of the south pole is the 
 god of fire. Fire in China is the grandson of water and the sou 
 of trees. Such is also the doctrine of the Vedas concerning Agni 
 
worshipping and sacrilicing to the dead may be said 
 to have been universal in China, at least since the 
 arrival of the race of Shang from the west, and the 
 establishment of their rule about 1,600 b.c. There is 
 a tradition, attributed to Confucius, in the Book of 
 Rites, that, before that time, the people of Hea did 
 not sacrifice to the dead, but merely made unfinished 
 implements for them, of bamboo, earthenware, and 
 wood ; harps unstrung, organs untuned, and bells 
 unhung; — an innocent practice, similar to that com- 
 mon among ourselves of placing a broken pillar over 
 a grave. 
 
 In the Poetry the worship of ancestors near and 
 remote holds a very important place. Some of the 
 remoteones, as the father of grain cultivation fTsciliJ ^ 
 and the father of the field (B3)jti,) (THcn-tsiiJ 
 imaginary personages, and ought perhaps to form a 
 class by themselves. But the Chinese evidently 
 think of them all as real liuman beings, and the wor- 
 ship of them along with the gods celestial and ter- 
 restrial is regarded as a duty of filial pietij. That 
 they are not singular in this respect will ap])ear from 
 the following quotations from the Sama-veda: — 
 
 ‘^Come close to us, 0 Indra, bringing with thee the 
 aids resulting from sacrifices to the spirits of the 
 departed. . .Gome ^ O great Father, along ivith the spirits 
 
 of our fathers Indra the lord of the food offered 
 
 to the manes The beloved f manes of our ancestors) 
 
 which before were trembling through hunger have 
 now eaten and are satisfied — they shine by unborrow- 
 ed light We call on the mighty hero (Indra) — as 
 
 sons call on a father to receive the food offered to the 
 
 manes As the departed father received the portion 
 
 offered by the son We welcome thee (Indra) with 
 
 invitations as we wmuld the manes of a father 
 
 We bog Avcallh ol’ thee as manes beg their allotted 
 
[17] 
 
 portion’’ (The Rev. Dr. J. Stevenson’s Translation). 
 
 The future existence of the soul is of course pre> 
 supposed in this practice wherever it exists. 
 
 The personification and worship of the elements 
 does riot appear in the Poetry, or History; and as it 
 stands intimately connected with other matters to be 
 treated hereafter, we shall defer the consideration of 
 it for the present. 
 
 II. Religious Rites. 
 
 \st.— Bloody Sacrifices. Though the shedding of 
 blood in sacrifice fell into disuse among various 
 eastern sects, for reasons which we need not inquire 
 into, there are evident references to the ancient prac- 
 tice 1) in the Vedas, where the sacrifice of a hundred 
 horses is supposed to be sufficient to obtain heaven, 
 and 2) in the A vesta, where he who commits certain 
 unclean acts is directed to kill a thousand small 
 cattle, and bring them as an offering to the Fire, 
 with purity and goodness” (Fargard XVIII.). Flesh 
 formed a part of the offering to Ahura Mazda (Vis- 
 pered XII.). It is important to note this, because the 
 English translator informs us that ‘ffhe Parsees have 
 no sacrifice in the Jewish sense of that term.” 
 
 According to the doctrine of the Bible, the propriety 
 of bloody sacrifice is founded in man’s consciousness 
 of guilt ; and the practice commenced immediately 
 after the fall. Now, explain it as we may, the fact is 
 undisputed, that the Chinese have from the earliest 
 times sought to propitiate Shangtij and the Powers 
 above, by the shedding of the blood of bulls and goats. 
 The proper sacrifice offered annually to Shangti was 
 a bull specially fatted. And the importance of the 
 blood in this and other similar ceremonies, is 
 seen in the character J^, that which is contained in 
 a sacrificial vessel, i.e. blood (compare the ceremony 
 of ratifying treaties, described in Mencius, VI. hi. 7 ; 
 and the character mang. to vow). 
 
[18] 
 
 The Ts4nites from the west (b.c. 769) sacrificed to 
 Shangti, contrary to rule, three red colts with black 
 manes, three brown oxen, and three rams. Wolves 
 also and deer are mentioned among their sacrifices. 
 A practice similar to the Indian suttee, happily 
 unknown in China before and since, was also intro- 
 duced by the Tsfinites ; namely, the immolation of 
 retainers at the funeral of a chief. We read of this 
 in the Poetry of Tsfin (b.c. 620). Tradition says 
 that as many as 177 human lives were sacrificed. 
 Afterwards the whole harem of Tsfin Chfi Hwang-ti 
 were buried along with him. The only other instan- 
 ces of human sacrifice are those mentioned by Con- 
 fucius (b.c. 640, and 530), where chiefs sacrificed 
 hostile chiefs to the gods of the ground. Confucius 
 mentions these facts in his usual laconic way without 
 expressing any opinion. Doubtless human sacrifice 
 was contrary to his principles ; and yet what we are 
 told of these chiefs differs but little from what the 
 Shoo-king intimates was the practice more than 1,000 
 years before: — “ You who disobey my orders shall be 
 put to death before the spirit of the land’"'' (II. hi. 5). 
 
 2nd, — Fire, The Chinese offered burnt offerings, 
 as the Jews did, in which the entire animals were 
 consumed in a pile of fire-wood (see Bhoo-ldng^ II. i. 8). 
 The prevalence of similar practices in other heathen 
 countries is well-known. Fire was thought to be the 
 best medium of communication with the gods, before 
 any of them were identified with fire, just as the 
 strong spirit made from the Soma plant (Sarcostemma 
 brevistigma) was supposed to be the best drink for the 
 gods, before the Soma itself was deified, in India 
 and in Persia. 
 
 The Chinese also procured fire for ceremonial and 
 purifying purposes by ^boring’ wood {Confucian 
 Analects^ XVII. 21), after the manner described by 
 
[ 19 ] 
 
 Dr. Stevenson (Preface to the Samaveda). He says, 
 “ The process by which fire is obtained from wood is 
 called churning, as it resembles that by which butter 
 in India is separated from milk. The New Hollan- 
 ders obtain fire from wood by a similar process. It 
 consists in drilling one piece of arani-wood into 
 another by pulling a string tied to it with a jerk 
 with the one hand, while the other is slackened, and 
 so on alternately till the wood takes fire.” In nations 
 where the use of steel or iron was unknown, the fric- 
 tion of wood would be perhaps the readiest way of 
 procuring fire ; hence arose in India and China the 
 fanciful relationship between these two elements, — 
 “ wood produces fire.” ^‘0 Agni, son of fuel, and 
 great-grandson of sacrificial food” {Samaveda^ P. II. 
 XV. 6). If the Vedic literature be, as there is reason 
 to believe, older than the Chinese, we must give the 
 Indians the credit of this fanciful cosmogony. 
 However this may be, the coincidence is too striking 
 to be altogether the result of accident. In China the 
 realisations of the autumn” are si~ching^ western 
 completion {Shoo-Jcing^ I. 6). The west became after- 
 wards the quarter of metal (gold, wealth). From the 
 western element was produced water, the northern ; 
 from water were produced trees, the eastern; and from 
 trees was produced fire, the southern element. The 
 Indians also have their southern fire, Dakshina Agni*. 
 
 • The Vishnu Parana say that Brahma created the Rigvedafrom 
 his eastern mouth, the Vajurveda from his southern, the Samaveda 
 from his western, and the Atharvaveda from his northern mouth. 
 
 Compare also the passage in the Yih-king, God comes forth in 
 Chin (i.e. the thunder of early spring, the East) &c.,” with the 
 Book of Enoch (LXXVI 1), The first wind is called the east 
 because it is the first. The second wind is called the south, because 
 the Most High there descends, &c.” In Hebrew east and first are 
 the same. 
 
In the A vesta also trees contain the germ of fire ” 
 (Fargard VIII. 304-5). But more })rominent and 
 curious is the doctrine that fire is the son of Ahura- 
 Mazda, taken in connection with a note of Spiegel, 
 that Ahura (in Ya^na I. 34) signifies the planet 
 Jupiter, which was called by the Armenians Ahura 
 Mazda. The knowledge of the five planets came into 
 China from the west some time before the Christian 
 era, and at the same time probably some notions about 
 a Western King-mother, and an Eastern King-sire” 
 who resemble the gods J upiter and Venus. Tliey 
 were also called Father Wood (or Sire Wood), and 
 Mother Metal. In harmony with this the planet 
 Jupiter was called Wood Star ; and the planet Venus, 
 Metal Star ; and Mars, the son of Jupiter, observe, 
 was called Fire Star. These coincidences do not of 
 course prove the common origin of the Chinese and 
 other nations ; but they will be useful in establishing 
 another point of importance to a right understanding 
 of their civilisation, that they were never for any 
 great length of time entirely isolated from their 
 western neighbours. 
 
 3rJ . — Fermented liquors. The Indians believed 
 that the fermented juice of the Soma plant, barley, 
 &c., “ whose smell is most fragrant when purified,” 
 attracted the spirits of their deities. “ 0 pure Soma, 
 send, in order to procure for us wealth, the spirit of 
 Indra ” {Sama-veda II. xi.). At the same time a hymn 
 was recited inviting the spirits to come. 0 Agni, I 
 wish to bring down thy spirit from the lofty shining 
 heavens by a soul-delighting song” [Ibid. II. viii.). 
 
 The Chinese also used a liquor produced from grain 
 and a certain fragrant plant called ("^ ) ch'ang for 
 
 bringing down the spirits,” and had hymns appro- 
 priated to this and the succeeding parts of religious 
 worship. The character cUang seems to have denot- 
 
ed also the liquor Itself; its upper part represents 
 the vessel with its contents, and the lower part the 
 ladle with which the libation was made. The plant 
 used is said to be the same which is called in the 
 Chinese Materia Medica (^:^) yuh-Mn. It is re- 
 presented with a large root like ginger, and is said to 
 cure depression of spirits. 
 
 Of old, however, it afforded drink for the gods; and 
 the manes of ancestors at least seem to have drunk 
 freely through the ^‘spiritual medium” (jjl|}l^), who 
 was some junior member of the family, chosen for 
 the occasion. We read in the Poetry of the spirits 
 arriving,” tlie ^ spirits enjoying the feast,” the 
 spirits being inebriated,” &c.* 
 
 No such things however are said of Shangti. But 
 in India, even Indra was exhilarated by the Soma, 
 which furnished him with that might without which 
 he could not have subdued the enemies of the gods.” 
 This reminds us of a sentiment which has become 
 very prevalent in these eastern nations, that the 
 objects of worship are dependent on the worshippers, 
 who support and feed them, so to speak; or, stranger 
 still, who create them. ChuHisays, “The spiritu- 
 ality of a shin is the result of the accumulated earnest- 
 ness of the people — there is really no shin. When 
 one turns his back upon it, the spiritual efficacy is 
 immediately 'dispersed. ”t 
 
 * The gods of Greece also feasted with their worshippers, re- 
 clining at the same table in the days of Homer (Odyss. Wl. 203). 
 Potter mentions also that the ancient Greeks never indulged 
 themselves with any dainties, nor drank any quantity of wine, but 
 at such times.” Compare the Shoo-king — V. x. 4. “King Wan re- 
 quired that spirits should be drunk only on occasion of sacrifices.” 
 t So also, “according to the Parsee mythology, the Genii stand 
 in as much need of the assistance of mankind as mankind of the 
 Genii’s ; and if the latter do not receive the offerings due to them, 
 they become powerless and unable to perform their duties aright, 
 unless Ahura-Mazda intervenes and assists them in supernatural 
 ways.” Note to Avesta, English Translation. 
 
It is probable that the Chinese invented the simple 
 method of distilling spirits, which they still use, at a 
 very early period. The apparatus used is a kettle 
 with a flat perforated lid over which a convex cover 
 is placed to condense the spirit, which flows out 
 through a tube at its base. The manufacture of spirits 
 from grain was unknown to the ancient Greeks and 
 Romans, but Tacitus tells us that the Germans had 
 ‘‘ for drink a liquor (humorj corrupted from barley 
 or wheat into a certain similitude of wine.” Did the 
 Indians or the Germans distil their spirits ? 
 
 ^ith. — Fasting and bathing. Fasting and bathing are 
 mentioned by Mencius as a proper preparation for 
 ‘ sacrificing to God,’ which is according to the Jewish 
 law. 
 
 Various Superstitions. 
 
 What Olympus was to the Greeks, and Alborj to 
 the Arians, Kwan-lun was to the Chinese. To this 
 mountain the Herculean labours of the Great Yu, 
 the assuager of the flood, extended (Shoo-king^ III. 
 i. 83). The Han writers say that he compassed 
 Kwan-lun,” and that he made a journey in a 
 cliariot to this mountain to sacrifice to Shang^ti^ when 
 his labours were over.” Here also the emperor Muh, 
 in the 10th century b.c., when he made an incursion 
 into the country of the western barbarians, held inter- 
 course with the Western King-mother* (Venus), whose 
 immortal peaches ripen once in 3,000 years. Compare 
 with this period the Persian 12,000 years, divided into 
 four ages of 3,000 years each. The west was always 
 the region of mystery and wonder to the Chinese. 
 Lau-tsze made a journey to the west when he wrote 
 his Tau-teh King the first classic of the Tauist sect, 
 
 * According to the Bamboo Books this personage paid a visit 
 to the hero-god Shun. 
 
[23] 
 
 written about the time of Confucius, and containing 
 metaphysical speculations resembling those of the 
 Brahmans and Buddhists. Lee-tsze, who followed 
 him, makes Confucius say, after declining to pronounce 
 any of the ancient emperors of China ‘ holy,’ that 
 there are real “ holy men ” fsages) in the far west. It 
 is hinted in the Shwoh-wan, an old Etymological 
 Dictionary, under the character :j(j north, that the 
 first inventor of writing must have lived on the south 
 of Kwan-lun, since the character denotes a mountain 
 with a lake on its summit, referring probably to 
 some mountain-lake of Tibet. 
 
 In the Poetry we find the Chinese complaining in 
 time of drought that the spirits do not bring down 
 the waters from the Cloudy River,” i. e. the 
 Milky Way. In the Avesta in like manner Ahura 
 Mazda, and in later passages, Tistrya and Satevis 
 are supposed to bring down the rain from the sea 
 Vouru-kasha. 
 
 The Dog Star is in Cliinese the celestial Wolf. They 
 have also a celestial Dog, who is very mischievous, 
 — a wicked Cerberus who inflicts punishment and 
 death, not an orderly beast like that which led the 
 souls of the Arians over the bridge Chin vat to Para- 
 dise. 
 
 Among the 28 zodiacal mansions of the Chinese 
 there are a ^‘taurus,” a ^^virgo,” a Sagittarius,” and 
 a libra,” though they do not coincide with ours. 
 The belt of Orion is like a balance ” (See ^ in 
 KanghC 8 Dictionary). The septem Triones ” of 
 the Latins are represented as seven stars making three 
 triangles^ which is probably the Latin idea. They 
 are the seven Directors” of the Shoo-king (II. i. 5) 
 according to the oldest interpreters. 
 
 Since the Han dynasty the seven planets ” have 
 taken the place of the Triones in the interpreta- 
 
[24] 
 
 tiou of the above passage ; but the seven planets 
 were as little known to the ancient Chinese as the 
 seven ^ days of the week, the seven Kahirim of the 
 Phoenicians, or the seven Amesha-spentas of the Arians. 
 If the question be asked, what nation first discover- 
 ed the five planets,” and, classing them together 
 with the sun and moon, made up the seven”? 
 we need not hesitate to yield the priority to the 
 Chaldeans, if the conclusions of Sir H. Pawlinson may 
 be relied upon. A cuneiform inscription was found 
 buried in the ruins of the Birs Nimroud at Babylon, 
 which states, that this building, the Temple of the 
 Seven S[)hercSj which was built 504 years before (about 
 1,100 B.C.), having become ruinous owing to the 
 neglect of the drainage, the god Merodack had put 
 it into the heart of tlie great king Nebuchadnezzar 
 to rebuild it all but the platform which had not been 
 injured. The seven stories of the building were. Sir 
 Henry believes, dedicated to the seven planets, and 
 coloured with the colours attributed to them by the 
 Sabsean astrologers. The lowest platform was panel- 
 led and painted black, the colour emblematic of 
 Saturn; the second orange, the colour of Jupiter; the 
 third red, Mars ; the fourth gold, as dedicated to the 
 sun; the fifth green, for Venus; the sixth blue. Mer- 
 cury ; and the highest wdiite, as tlie colour of the 
 moon, wliose place was the highest in the Chaldsean 
 system” {Eng. Cyclopedia^ Art. Nineveh). There is no 
 trace of anything of this kind in China at so early a 
 date even as Nebuchadnezzar ; but they had much 
 of the same afterwards, wdth variations in the colours,* 
 none of which agree but that of Mars, red. The 
 
 * It is curious that the days of the week arrange themselves 
 .symmetrically according to Rawlinson’s colours of the planets, 
 and also according to the Chinese, beginning with the Jewish Sab- 
 
Chinese recognize only five colours and these they at- 
 tribute to the planets properly so called. Colours how- 
 ever are very likely to have been changed in the trans- 
 mission of the theory of the planets from one country 
 to another. Thus we find our countryman Lilly, who 
 wrote on astrology about 1644, giving both the 
 Chaldee and Chinese colour of Jupiter. Jupiter 
 governeth all infirmities of the liver; of colours sea- 
 green or blue, a mixt yellow or green.'^'^ But what is 
 singular is that Lilly agrees with the Chinese not 
 only as to the colour, but even the taste (!) of the 
 planets, and their influence on the liver ^ spleen^ &c. 
 
 Saturn is cold and dry, melancholic^ earthly ^^Mars, 
 in nature hot and dry, he delighteth in red colour, 
 and in those savours which are hitter^ sharp, and 
 burn the tongue.” Venus, in colours she is white?'* 
 
 Mercury in the elements he is the water?'* ("Quoted 
 by Sir J. F. Davis — The Chinese^ Vol. II. p. 264). 
 Now it is hardly credible that Lilly got his astrology 
 either directly or indirectly from the Chinese, but if 
 we do not admit this we must suppose a common 
 source, — a convenient centre from which ideas radiat- 
 ed east and west. 
 
 Intimately connected with the planets is the sub- 
 
 bath. 
 
 Days of Week. 
 Rawlinson. Chinese. 
 
 White Moon 3 Venus 7 
 
 Blue Mercury 5 (Moon) 3 
 
 Green Venus 7 Jupiter 6 
 
 Gold Sun 2 (Sun) 2 
 
 Red Mars 4 Mars 4 
 
 Orange Jupiter 6 Saturn 1 
 
 Black Saturn 1 Mercury5 
 
 The Chinese would not object to gold (metal= white) as the 
 colour of the Sun, or to blue (dark blue=black) for the moon. The 
 moon is connected with water, as in the Rigveda (Hymn 105), 
 whoso colour is black or azure. 
 
[26] 
 
 ject of the elements. In the west they were but four, 
 namely, fire, air, earth, and water ; while in Cliina 
 they were always at least five, air also being left out, 
 — water, fire, wood, metal, and earth (Shoo-king, V. 
 iv. 5). Here there seems to be just such an amount 
 of disagreement as we should have expected in the 
 case if there had been no communication. If there 
 had been perfect agreement in a classification so ar- 
 bitrary we should have at once suspected a common 
 origin. When, for instance, one sees for the first time 
 in a Qiinese book the four characters tijiing^ ho^ shwui; 
 earth, wind, fire, water ; it is like meeting an old 
 acquaintance. • And such indeed is the case, for the 
 Buddhists brought our four with them from the west. 
 The Indians however seem to have wavered between 
 four and five; and in Hodgson’s account of the earliest 
 Buddhist doctrines in Nepaul there is mention made 
 of a Creator, duality, m^five heings ivho j'^roduced the 
 five elements (Eng. Cyc., Article Buddha). Not having 
 access to Hodgson’s Work I cannot tell whether 
 these five are the same as the Cliinese, or include 
 air and ether (or space) as is the case in other parts 
 of India. But the Chinese are found in quite as res- 
 pectable fellowship here as that of either Buddhists 
 or Brahmans. Their Shoo-king and the Arian Avesta 
 are at one in regard to the elements. They both 
 began with six. There are,” say the Counsels of 
 of the Great Yu, water, fire, metal, wood (trees), 
 earth, and grain ” (or life. See Dictionary under 
 ^). There were also in aftertimes spirits or genii 
 for each of these ; even the last though excludedjre- 
 minds us of the (^f J by some explained as 
 Kuh-shin^ life-spirit,” in Lau-tsze. The Amesha- 
 spentas or genii subordinate to Ahura-Mazda preside 
 respectively over life^ fire^ metals,^ earth,, vjater^ and 
 h'ees (Bleeck’s Avesta, note to Ya^na L). We have 
 
[27] 
 
 here therefore a perfect agreement ; and as to the 
 five ( life ” having dr opt out of the list) if we only 
 invert two, we- have them in the order which the 
 Chinese prefer, as being that in which they are sup- 
 posed to produce one another in a continuous circle; 
 — fire, earth, metal, water, trees, fire, &c. 
 
 Prichard has called Ahura-Mazda and his six sub- 
 ordinate genii the seven planets, following Rhode, 
 who also makes Taschter the star that rules in the 
 East to be J upiter ; Sate vis that rules in the west to be 
 Saturn; Venant that rules in the south to be Mercury; 
 and Ilaftorang that rules in the north to be Mars ; 
 while Mithra is Venus who presides over all. If 
 we make Venus to change places with Saturn and 
 Mercury with Mars, this would agree exactly with 
 the Chinese idea ( Sze-ma TsHen^ b.c. 103). But 
 Spiegel says, Tistrya (i.e. Taschter) is Sirius” ; 
 and “ Mithra is probably the sun ” ; so that we must 
 wait for further information on this point.* Mean- 
 time let us mark the partial agreement in sound 
 between these names, and those foreign ones applied 
 to the cardinal points of Jupiter’s cycle by Sze-ma 
 Tsfien (see Dr. Legge’s Shoo-king, Astronomy) . 
 
 Zend Sze-ma Ts^ien 
 
 (Ti) strya (Taschter) E shUilcih, 1st j^’car 
 
 (Hap) toiringa (Haftorang) N tawangloli, 4<tli year 
 
 Satavaesa (Satevis) W ChHhfiwjo, 7th year 
 
 Variant (Venant) S (Ta) yuenliien, 10th year. 
 
 Ta-shi-ti would certainly have been explained by 
 Sze-ma to be the Great Year-star,” Jupiter. 
 
 The Six Honoured ones ” mentioned in the 
 Shoo-king (II. i. 6) after Shcmgti^ which the Chinese 
 cannot explain, may have some connection with 
 
 * A passage in the Tistar Yasht seems in favour of the view 
 that Tistrya is Jupiter. “ The Star Tistrya, the shining, majestic, 
 we praise, who brings hither the circling years of men, reckoned 
 after the will of Ahura, &c.” 
 
Ahura-mazda and the six amosha-spentas ; and with 
 the six Adityas of Hindu mythology. 
 
 In addition to the natural divisions of time into 
 days, moons, and years, the Chinese seem to have 
 had from the earliest period of their national existence 
 the decade of days, which is also found in the Tistar 
 Yasht of the Avesta. This may be considered a na- 
 tural result of decimal notation. But it must be re- 
 membered that the denary scale is in itself no more 
 natural than the duodenary, or any other. Arithme- 
 ticians tell us that it would have been more con- 
 venient if mankind had agreed from the first to count 
 by tivelves instead of by tens. The fact that all na- 
 tions count by tens is therefore a proof of the unity 
 of the race. 
 
 Such also is the fact that the right hand and left* 
 are the same among the Chinese as among all other 
 nations ; the fact that they call father Pa and 
 mother Ma^ and not vice versa ; the fact that they 
 consider bowing and kneeling as equivalent to wor- 
 ship ; and many other things which w^e think natural 
 only from habit. I know of no theory of the origin 
 of language which accounts for a child, when it first 
 begins to speak, addressing its mother as mama rather 
 
 * If anatomical reasons can be assigned for this, their discussion 
 would carry us beyond our present subject. But the grounds for 
 making the right hand the place of honour are not without inter- 
 est. Among the Hebrews East was the front, South was the right 
 hand, and North the left. Among the Greeks the North was 
 the front, the East the right, and the West the left. Among the 
 Romans the South was the front, the West the right, and the 
 East the left. All regarded the East and South as the most 
 honourable or fortunate quarters; and hence with the Romans the 
 left hand was lucky. Originally the Chinese held the right hand 
 to be the place of honour, but afterwards, following the same idea 
 of the quarters of heaven with the Romans, they changed their 
 views and made the left hand the more honourable, as they still 
 do. 
 
than as 'papa. And yet this is what w^e must insist 
 upon if the common origin is denied. M is the 
 mother’s property all the world over: — Chinese, 3fu 
 and 3fa ; Tibetan, Ma ; Sanskrit, Matar ; Hebrew, 
 Em; &c. So also P, F, or V is the father’s perquisite : 
 — Chinese, Pa and Fu; Tibetan, Pha; Corean, Ahadi; 
 Sanskrit, Hebrew, Avj Abba ; &c. 
 
 The universal partiality for odd numbers is another 
 thing which it would be hard to account for on any 
 other supposition but that of a common origin. It is 
 very manifest in China, and equally so in tlie Avesta. 
 Virgil tells us that the Deity delights in an odd 
 number.” It is mentioned as an old prejudice in our 
 own country, by Smith in the Berkeley MSS., that 
 the number six is fatal to women, and the number 
 seven to men ; ” and again it is said, Each seventh 
 year is remarkable with men as the sixth is with 
 women.” Hence women were afraid of the year 66. 
 Hence also the grand climacteric 9 X 7=63. The 
 critical periods were supposed by some persons to be 
 the years produced by multiplying 7 into the odd 
 number 3, 5, 7, and 9, to which others added the 
 81st year. Now all this seems very like a develope- 
 ment of the Chinese Yin^ female, even ; and Yang., 
 male, odd, &c. We may think the principles of the 
 Yih-king very absurd, but we should remember that 
 we have only recently cast them off. Our fathers 
 were bound by these fetters. The complicated 
 system of the Yik-king, began most probably from 
 the innocent practice of casting lots, as the Chinese 
 themselves say, ^^dmnation is used to settle doubts.” 
 The land of Canaan w’^as divided among the children 
 of Israel by casting lots. The Chinese used for their 
 purpose of deciding cases of doubt, 1) a certain sort of 
 grass or straws .the manner of using wdiich is very 
 obvious, and 2) the back of a tortoise, which we can 
 
scarcely conceive to have been convenient for the 
 mere casting of lots ; and was therefore probably 
 employed only as an instrument of superstition. We 
 may remember, in connection mth this, that the 
 tortoise was sacred to Hermes, the interpreter of the 
 gods, who according to Homer made a lyre of its shell; 
 and also to Aphrodite. There is also the Indian fable 
 of the world being supported on the back of a tortoise. 
 The marks on this creature’s back were supposed by 
 the Chinese to have a mysterious significance. In fact, 
 their whole system of cosmogony is founded upon 
 these marks, — combinations of whole and broken 
 lines. The primary object however was a practical 
 one, — to determine the future, to distinguish between 
 lucky and unlucky days, and to aid in the selection 
 of sites of houses, and towns, and such like, so that 
 all events might turn out propitiously. This and 
 the cyclical characters of days seem to have been the 
 only means the Chinese employed to determine future 
 events, till they got some hints from the astrolo- 
 gers, the star-gazers, and the monthly prognosticators” 
 of the West, towards the be^innino: of the Chris- 
 tian era. We may infer from the silence of the 
 Poetry and History, and of Confucius and Mencius, 
 that astrology, and alchemy, and the doctrine of 
 genii (fll| sieiij i.e. men who make their bodies as well 
 as their souls immortal) were equally unknown in 
 their time. Even Lau-tsze, the founder of the Tauist 
 sect, has not a word to say on any of these subjects, 
 much as they came to be studied by his followers. 
 
 The distinction of lucky and unlucky days they 
 had however in common with the Indians, the Romans 
 {dies atri and dies alhi)^ and ourselves, from the earliest 
 times. Our own almanacs were as full of these 
 matters two centuries ago as the Clrinese almanacs 
 are to this dav ; and the idea of the horoscope is 
 
substantially the same in China and in Birmah as it 
 was in England. The year, the month, the day, and 
 the hour of every child’s birth are carefully noted as 
 affecting its whole destiny. 
 
 Two yearly festivals must not be passed over 
 without remark, as their associations are peculiarly 
 interesting to ourselves, namely. Yule, and St. Va- 
 lentine’s day. These were both observed by the 
 Chinese 3000 years ago *. Their idea of Yule, 
 which is a festive occasion with them as with us, I have 
 seen expressed with great exactness in a quotation 
 from the Gentlemari s Magazine for 1784, p. 97. The 
 night of the winter solstice was called by our ances- 
 tors, ^Mother night,’ as they reckoned the beginning 
 of their years from thence.” And of the ivooing 
 time Shakespere has given with equal accuracy the 
 Chinese idea : — 
 
 “ St. Valentine is past; 
 
 Besfin these wood birds but to couple now r ” 
 
 O 1 
 
 Or take this old rhyme — 
 
 This month bright Phoebus enters Pisces, 
 
 The maids will have good store oi’ kisses.” 
 
 The Chinese Poet however makes 
 
 “ The deleful maids afield at work, 
 
 On spring’s slow length’ning day. 
 
 Expect with pain the parting time 
 When swains take them away.” 
 
 The cause of sadness we are told is filial affection, 
 which will not let them part from their parents 
 without a pang. 
 
 Useful Arts. 
 
 We have by no means exhausted the former heads 
 of our subject, and a wide and interesting field still 
 
 * Poetry, 
 
[ 32 ] 
 
 lies before us. The history of inventions in the west 
 has been long a subject of critical investigation, and 
 the claims of rival countries to particular inventions 
 have been either finally adjudicated, or are still under 
 examination; but China, respecting no rival claimant, 
 has arrogated all to herself, and Europeans have 
 seemed to feel it a kind of relief to assign anything 
 to China the origin of which was obscure. 
 
 China has got the credit of the independent inven- 
 tion of writing, paper, printing, gunpowder, the ma- 
 riner’s compass, and other things, sometimes for no 
 better reason than because some author, weary of the 
 search for their origin in places nearer home, has 
 been glad to rest in the vague statement, not liable 
 to be questioned, that they have been known to the 
 Chinese from time immemorial. But independent 
 inventions and discoveries are not so common as we 
 are apt to think. Even implements — stones for 
 arrow-heads” (Shoo-king, III. i. 52) — and bows for 
 shooting them may yet be found to have been only 
 invented once, and to indicate the common origin 
 of the race. Many implements, and arts have indeed 
 existed in China from the earliest historic times, but 
 they are for the most part such as are common to all 
 nations, — pottery, brick-making, archery, swords, 
 spears, shields ploughs, carriages, harps, wind-in- 
 struments, drums, bells, spinning, weaving, embroide- 
 ry, mail-armour, standards, flags. Nothing can be 
 more unscientific than to imagine that all these are 
 so natural and easy that each nation might have 
 fallen upon them, had it been isolated from its neigh- 
 bours. Wliat would the English nation have been 
 to-day had it been isolated from its neighbours for 
 the last two thousand years ? Great is the inventive 
 genius of the Anglo-Saxons, and yet how small a 
 proportion of our modern civilization is strictly 
 
speaking our own ! All is ours only as it belongs to 
 the common stock of humanity. To return to the 
 Chinese, the use of iron is one of those simple 
 thin STS which seem to us essential to most of the arts 
 above referred to, and yet they tell us themselves that 
 ‘Cxnciently only brass (or copper) was used in making 
 arms, and it was not till the time of Tsdn when war 
 became prevalent, that, copper being found insuffici- 
 ent, iron was used instead.” This is equivalent to 
 saying that till then the superiority of iron over 
 copper, as a material for making sharp implements — 
 in short, the use of iron — was unknown. Again, 
 *^The ancients made mail of leather. Only since 
 Tsdn and Han has iron been employed.” Now the 
 race of Tshn first appeared threatening China on the 
 West about the eighth century before Clmst. They 
 brought with them iron armour, superior breeds of 
 horses, war carriages, round metal coins, perhaps 
 also finger-rings, seals, &c. 
 
 The Chinese doubtless invented the printing of 
 books, but the seal or signet ” used by the sons of 
 Jacob was a printing instrument, and printing of 
 books was only sealing on a large scale. 
 
 The Chinese may have discovered the use of silk, 
 but if so they could not keep it to themselves. The 
 Greeks derived the art from Central Asia as early 
 as the fourth century b.c. (Smith’s Die. of Antiq.). 
 The Parthians, we are told, had silk flags attached to 
 gilt standards (b.c. 54)'; and also mailed horses and 
 men, like the Tsdnites mentioned above. The Per- 
 sians and their northern neighbours used the corytos 
 or bow-case which the Chinese had, but which was 
 rare among the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 A statement of Sir George Staunton would greatly 
 fhrther the object of this chapter if it could be sub- 
 stantiated. It is quoted in the English Cyclopaedia, 
 
[ 34 1 
 
 He observes that the knowledge of gunpowder in 
 China and India seems coeval with the most distant 
 historic events. Among the Chinese it has at all 
 times been applied to useful purposes, as blasting 
 rocks, &c., and in the making of fire works ; although 
 it has not been directed through strong metalic tubes, 
 as the Europeans did soon after they had discovered 
 it.” But after all did the Chinese really invent gun- 
 powder ? The first maker of gunpowder according 
 to the Chinese themselves was* WeiShing (a.d. 1160 ); 
 and what they had before, which was called a 
 gun, was a halista for throwing stones like what the 
 ancient Romans had ; not gunpowder for blasting 
 rocks. 
 
 Two more facts shall conclude this chapter. We 
 are accustomed to speak of the four quarters of the 
 heavens, or the eight ; but the Chinese have long had 
 five and nine^ including the middle, or the station of 
 the observer as one ; so had the Indians (Sama Veda 
 II. 6). We might in Great Britian speak with pro- 
 priety of the four seas N., S., E., and W., by which 
 our country is surrounded, but not so the Indians 
 and the (]!hinese, neither of whom have a North Sea ; 
 yet both peoples fancied that there were four such 
 seas (Sama Veda II. IV., and Shoo-king, passim). It 
 is more probable that the two races shared their pre- 
 judices together, than that they had any knowledge 
 of the real North Sea. 
 
 ^ see Morrison’s View of China. 
 
CHAl^TEJR 111. 
 
 The Chinese spoken Language. 
 
 If it be true that nothing necessitates the admis- 
 sion of different independent beginnings for the mcxterial 
 elements of the Turanian, Semitic, and Aryan branches 
 of speech,” and that ^Ct is possible even now to point 
 out radicals, which, under various changes and dis- 
 guises, have been current in these three branches 
 ever since their first separation” (Muller’s Lectures 
 on the Science of Language, p. 346, 3rd Ed.) ; why 
 should we not try to discover and point out” 
 such roots even inChinese? If we cannot find demon- 
 strative evidence in the shape of identical forms of 
 grammar and inflection, let us not give up the search 
 for circumstantial evidence in the identity of roots. 
 In Webster'' s Dictionary the English word is connect- 
 
 ed with a word for from New Guinea, — a more distant 
 relation, as far as the nations are concerned, than the 
 Chinese fo would be. True, the final r is wanting, 
 but the Chinese have no final r. They do their best, 
 however, in this case to make up for the natural 
 defect of their language by pronouncing the o as if an 
 r followed it, so that the New Guineans would pro- 
 bably understand them perfectly well*. 
 
 * If, as has been suggested, (first by Bryant, a rather fanciful 
 etymologist), Onranos, heaven, be connected with the Plebrevv, 
 our-ain, “ fountain of light and In^at, ” this our appears 
 
I must bespeak the indulgence of learned readers, 
 if they find, as they are sure to do, in the long list 
 subjoined, cases in which there cannot be more than 
 an accidental resemblance. The few words given 
 from the most nearly allied languages, — Tibetan, 
 Ladakee, Cashmeree, Burmese, and Siamese, as well 
 as the Sanscrit and Zend roots, have been collected 
 in the course of general reading without the aid of 
 dictionaries ; but the coincidences are so numerous 
 as greatly to encourage any one who may hereafter 
 pursue the subject with the necessary apparatus and 
 knowledge. If the Chinese came into this land, from 
 the original home of the human race, by the direct 
 route, over the passes about Hindu-Cush, and through 
 Tibet, and if, as is highly probable, they kept up 
 communication from the earliest times immediately 
 with a Tibetan nation ; and through them with civi- 
 lised peoples more remote ; we ought to seek among 
 the Himalayan languages, including Burmese and 
 Siamese, rather than among the Tungusic or Mongo- 
 lic classes, for affinities with the Cliinese. The 
 Huns or Turks would probably be separated for ages 
 from their Southern brethren by the Kwanlun moun- 
 tains and the Desert of Gobi, till they met again 
 about the northern bend of the Yellow River ; whereas 
 the Siamese, the Birmans, and the Assamese with 
 
 as xar in the Sanscrit varunah; which leads to a further 
 suggestion that the same our, var, or “ fire,” may be the Chinese 
 for (r) ; and that ouranos, varunah, literally translated into 
 Chinese, would he for(y)ngan in the Canton dialect, and ho(v) 
 yen in the Court dialect. In the transcription of Sanscrit words 
 into Chinese, ( ) the character for fire represents hva. The 
 
 phonetic n. read hdn ( ) means root, origin, and read yen 
 
 Cleans an eye. Yuen (and ts^yuen, djueii) is a fountain ; 
 so that ) Hva-yiien would be a still nearer approach to 
 
 Vanm. This originally rhymed with lean, root, — jun, hun, gun. 
 
the Northern and Southern Chinese would be one 
 people till they separated with the five great rivers 
 that take their rise in the table land of Tibet. Having 
 thus traced the Chinese races as far as Tibet, we 
 must next mark the proximity of the Aryans and 
 Hindus ; or those who were the ancestors of both ; 
 and from whom the former got the primitive root ri 
 to go, whence ar^ to plough, and Aryan. Why should 
 not the Chinese to plough, and the Chinese 
 
 people, be from the same root? Li in Chinese means 
 also to go, and the characters for plough, and for ^^tlie 
 Chinese people ” are nearly alike (^^). The 
 former, has ^ a cow, substituted for the lower part of 
 the latter to mark the difference of meaning, but no 
 doubt they were primarily the same. The Chinese 
 have called themselves li-min since the commence- 
 ment of the Chow^ dynasty at least ; and the Chow- 
 ites were farmers ; every man’s duty, from the chief 
 downwards, was to hold the plough. They explain 
 li-min to mean the black-haired people,” which 
 may have come to be its secondary meaning, as dis- 
 tinguishing them from nomadic tribes of a lighter 
 complexion. It is wellknown that there are races 
 with light hair in Northern Asia, and even in the 
 neighbourhood of the Himalayas, at the present day. 
 But the character has etymologically nothing to do 
 with black ; on the contrary it is intimately connect- 
 ed with agriculture, especially with the cultivation of 
 
 ^ shu^ millet, and with ploughing, through to 
 
 plough. 
 
 In order to pronounce judgment upon all the in- 
 dividual cases adduced in the following list, an ex- 
 tensive knowledge of languages, and of the principles 
 of Comparative Philology would be necessary, to 
 which I make no pretensions. It is given as raw 
 material, from which some one better qualified may 
 
[381 
 
 extract the grains of gold. But as it stands, it at 
 least suggests something more than a mere casual 
 resemblance. It is true that, according to the doc- 
 trine of probabilities, a certain number of syllables 
 may be found in any two languages alike or similar 
 in sound and sense ; but it is equally true that there 
 is a limit to such coincidences if casual, — a point 
 from which the presumption of a common origin 
 begins to prevail over that of accidental resemblance, 
 and after which every additional example strengthens 
 the presumption, till it becomes a practical certainty. 
 
 A few words of explanation are necessary in regard 
 to peculiar affinities of Chinese initial consonants. 
 Those most nearly allied to one another are, y, /, ch^ 
 
 ts^ sh, /, k, and h ; f and p ; and, which is 
 
 rather anomalous, k and L The relations of the first 
 and the only large group may be represented thus: — 
 
 The two central ones, ch and ts, are continually 
 interchanged, and for our purpose may be regarded as 
 the same. Both are intimately related to y, which 
 must, in many cases, have been originally a strong 
 j. This is inferred from the phonetic characters, 
 many of which represent at least four of this group 
 including y ; as, ( ^) chang^ shang^ fang. It 
 
 appears evident that the primary initial in such cases 
 must have been a stronger consonant than y ; per- 
 haps ay approaching to ch. So also with such charac- 
 ters as read yi fij , , and tsi ( tsz' J ; what is now 
 
 read i must have been ji. It is easy to say that the 
 
[ 39 ] 
 
 initials may have been added or taken away arbitra- 
 rily ; but then the question arises why do we not find 
 the same connection between fi and li and &c.? 
 — Why do we find this connection between y and 
 ch more frequent in the phonetics than that between 
 any other two initials in the language, if we except 
 sh^ chj tSj t ; and h, which are manifestly allied ? 
 
 In the dialects, w and ?n, hw and /, k and /, I and n, 
 are often confounded ; ng often dropt or added in 
 certain words ; and so also h before w. 
 
 In comparing the Chinese with other languages, it 
 must be remembered that the Chinese I stands for I 
 and r ; t for, t and d ; p for, p and h and perhaps 
 for k and g. But in the last, as in some other cases, 
 it might be worth while to consider the phonetic 
 relations of the individual characters ; for example 
 kang would seem to be allied to gang from its 
 phonetic power in 5^ ngang^ while ^ ki is allied to 
 ^ chi. For an illustration of these remarks see 
 Julien’s Method of transcribing Sanscrit names into 
 Chinese; where ti (*t) stands for te and de ; li 
 (W’) stands for li^ ri, &c. Observe also how ch^ ts, 
 and y are indiscriminately used for dj^ and even for 
 t and d. That the Cantonese mo and mat are 
 
 more true to the ancient pronunciation than the wu 
 and wuh of the Mandarin or Court dialect, may be also 
 seen from Julien’s work. 
 
 In the Court dialect there are only two final con- 
 sonants n and besides the h which sometimes marks 
 the abrupt or closing tone. But no doubt m and n 
 were anciently distinguished, and most of the syllables 
 in the closing tone had a final consonant either k, jt?, 
 or t. The distinctions are still kept up in rhyming 
 Dictionaries, which, for the most part, agree with the 
 Cantonese and other southern dialects. We must 
 
[ 40 ] 
 
 therefore admit these lirial consonants in all questions 
 of etymology. 
 
 Among the Ladakee words we have mi for mau^ 
 ki for kau^ ti for to [tn/u\ and mi for fo; which seem 
 to follow a rule with regard to the vowels. Compare 
 also mi for/o, with the Tibetan mung for Chinese 
 Many of the Tibetan words are taken from a 
 Chinese work and require verification. It is right 
 also to state that the Siamese words are derived from 
 Bangkok, where the language may be mixed with 
 Chinese. The agreement of the numerals with those 
 of the Cantonese is certainly very close after the 
 first two. 
 
 Chinese. 
 
 yat 
 
 i, leung 
 
 Siamese. 
 
 nang 
 
 one 
 
 song 
 
 two 
 
 sam 
 
 sam 
 
 three 
 
 sz’ 
 
 si 
 
 four 
 
 ‘ng 
 
 ha 
 
 five 
 
 luk 
 
 huk 
 
 six 
 
 tsat 
 
 chet 
 
 seven 
 
 pat 
 
 pat 
 
 eight 
 
 kau 
 
 kau 
 
 nine 
 
 shap 
 
 sib 
 
 ten 
 
 shap-yat 
 
 sib-et 
 
 eleven 
 
 i-shap 
 
 i-sib 
 
 tiventy 
 
 At the same time, with so much similarity of indi- 
 vidual words, we mark considerable opposition in 
 the way of putting them together. The adjective is 
 put before the noun in Chinese, but after it in Sia- 
 mese. Even the Chinese “ two myriads ” is in 
 Siamese myriads two,” though the word for 
 myriads ” is the same — mdn^ miin. 
 
 The Siamese say me-kan^ mother-jar,” for a 
 water jar, me-hek^ “ mother-iron,” for loadstone ; and 
 lanhfa^ ^bson-enclosure,” for a small enclosure: 
 
[41] 
 
 whereas the Chinese idiom would require hun-mo^ it- 
 7iiOj lan-tsz^ jar-mother,” ^^iron-mother,” ^^enclo- 
 sure-son.” Lmik is probably the Chinese long flang) ^ 
 a young man, a son. Kan also coincides with kwi 
 (kivanj ^ a jar. 
 
 In comparing Chinese and foreign sounds together 
 the tones must not be regarded except in the more 
 closely allied languages, as Siamese, where a corres- 
 ponding distinction exists. The aspirates marked by 
 an inverted comma are of small account. And as 
 for the written language we must keep in mind that 
 our investigation relates to a time when it did not 
 exist. It can be useful only as indicating etymolo- 
 gical connections between Chinese words, and their 
 primitive meanings ; and this only as far back as 
 writing extends. 
 
 Dialectic differences wore probably greater during 
 the time of the invention of writing than they are at 
 present, hence the confused use of phonetic characters. 
 
 There is a work on Dialects by Yang-tsze (or by 
 some one else in the Han Dynasty) which contains 
 much valuable information. It is frequently quoted 
 in Kanghi^s Dictionary. We learn from Yang-tsze, 
 for instance, that pottery, (^) t^au^ was in some parts 
 of the country called (^) ycm fiuj. From which we 
 may infer that the mythical personage T^au-t^ang, i.e. 
 the hero-god Yau (Shooking III. hi. 7), was original- 
 ly a Potter ([^ in one district ; and that Kau- 
 yfiu Shun’s minister of Crime whose name is written 
 with the same character ([^ yaii) was a Potter in 
 another district, where a different dialect was spoken; 
 just as we should infer that a man, whose name was 
 Tdpfer, was of German extraction, while Potier would 
 be a Frenchman, and Potter a Briton. The locality 
 of dialects would be subject to change through the 
 
[ 42 ] 
 
 displacement and migration of races ; but in this case 
 Yang-tsze refers the pronunciation yau to the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Yu and Hwai rivers, not far from 
 the eastern State of Loo. Tradition for some reason 
 or another, says, that Kau-yau was born in the state 
 of Loo ; and that his surname was (‘fp) Yen^ the 
 same as that of a tribe occupying Hwai-nan in the 
 Oiow dynasty. To speak of surnames before the 
 Chow dynasty is an anachronism ; but the general 
 idea which we thus obtain, that the real Kau-yau 
 belonged to the eastern part of China, is confirmed 
 by the single reference to him in the authentic Book 
 of Poetry. It is in a festive song of Loo, and runs 
 thus — 
 
 May the martial generals, like tigers bold, 
 To our moated hall bring the rebels ears. 
 !May the judges just, as Kau-yau of old, 
 
 To our moated hall bring the j)risoners. 
 
 This is all that we really know of Kau-yau, — a 
 barbaric chieftain, who perhaps in times of peace 
 practised pottery, and whose fame for justice descend- 
 ing through the mist of ages was the subject of song 
 in the native State of Confucius. 
 
 The Chinese words and their meanings in the fol- 
 lowing pages are for the most part copied from 
 Williams’s Tonic Dictionary. English words which 
 resemble the Chinese in sound and sense are given 
 in Italics. The English examples are more numerous 
 than those of any other language, not because the 
 Chinese and English have any special affinity, but 
 simply because the English came readiest to hand ; 
 and for brevity’s sake the corresponding terms in 
 cognate languages are as a rule omitted, because 
 they can be found in English dictionaries and phi- 
 lological works. 
 
A Comparison of 300 words in the Chinese ivith those 
 
 of other languages, 
 
 S. Mandarin. Cantonese. 
 
 1 NGEII 
 
 2 kang 
 
 3 ngoh 
 
 AK 
 
 ang 
 
 ok 
 
 1) to cramp, to strain 5 a yoke^ 
 
 2) a stoppage in the throat,-' 
 
 3) evil, sin. 
 
 ' Sans.AH, ANH,to press 
 together ; to choke, 
 to throttle; AN HAS, 
 Greek, AGOS, sin ; 
 Arab. AK, to com- 
 press ; Heb. AK, 
 ^ only, hardly. 
 
 NGOH 
 
 yah 
 
 AT 
 
 (allied to the above) to press 
 
 fHeb. GATH, bruising; 
 L wine press. 
 
 1 TSEH 
 
 2 seh 
 
 CHAK 
 
 sak 
 
 1) narrow, 2) to stop up 
 
 ^ Tibet. DSAK-PA, nar- 
 row; Heb. SAKHAR 
 to cover, to shut in, 
 TSUK, to straiten, 
 and TSAR, narrow ; 
 ^ distress ; Eng. choke. 
 
 1 CH‘AN 
 
 2 shang * 
 
 3 shin 
 
 4 sien 
 
 CH‘AN 
 
 shang 
 
 shall 
 
 sin 
 
 1, 2) to produce, 2) to live, 3) to 
 expand, spirits, 3, 4.J genii , 
 
 Sans. JAN, Zend, ZAN 
 to gender ; Tibet. 
 GANEJA ; Burm. 
 ZIAN, Zend, JANYI; 
 ^ Arab. DJIN, genii. 
 
 CHIH 
 
 CHAT 
 
 a nephew 
 
 Tibet. CHA-GO. 
 
 CH‘OH 
 
 CH‘EUK 
 
 a table 
 
 Tibet. CHOK-TSA. 
 
 CH‘WANG CH‘EUNG a window 
 
 Tibet. CHANG-T‘SA. 
 
 CHI 
 
 CHI 
 
 sign of the genitive 
 
 (Sans.SYA, a sign of the 
 ' gen. 
 
 1 CHI 
 
 2 ch‘i 
 
 CHI 
 
 ch‘i 
 
 1,2) to govern, to obstruct, 2) to^ 
 delay ; a lake, sea 
 
 rSans. KSHI, to go- 
 < rern ; Burm. CHIA, 
 ( to delay. 
 
 1 CHI 
 
 2 shih 
 
 CHI 
 
 shik 
 
 1,2) to know, 1) wisdom ^ 
 
 r Tibet. SHES, Lat. 
 I SCIO, to know. Sans . 
 ; DHI, wisdom (com- 
 1 pare idmen for ismen 
 in Homer). 
 
 CHEH 
 
 CHIT 
 
 to split 
 
 Tibet, SIT, half. 
 
 SHEH 
 
 CH‘IT 
 
 to set, to appoint 
 
 Heb. SHYTH. 
 
 CHU 
 
 CHU 
 
 a hog 
 
 Zend, CHUK. 
 
 CHUNG 
 
 CHUNG 
 
 a bell 
 
 Tibet. CHUNG. 
 
 CH‘UH 
 
 ciruT 
 
 to go out 
 
 Eng. jut, jet. 
 
 * Ch^an and Shang^ comf 
 
 k^ien a\u\ hang; yen mUying; 
 
S. Mand. 
 
 FAN 
 
 pien 
 
 FAN 
 
 hwaii 
 
 p‘wau 
 
 pien 
 
 FAN 
 
 FI 
 
 p‘ei 
 
 FI 
 
 no 
 
 hwui 
 
 hwa 
 
 FU 
 
 FU 
 
 pa 
 
 FU 
 
 k’u 
 
 FUNG 
 
 HE A 
 
 HI 
 
 ya 
 
 III 
 
 K’EH 
 
 HIEN 
 
 1 HANG 
 
 2 keang 
 
 [ 44 ] 
 
 Caidon. 
 
 FAN 
 
 pin 
 
 to divide, distinguish 
 (allied to pit) 
 
 Heb. BIN, to distinguish. 
 
 FAN 
 
 wan 
 
 p‘un 
 
 pin 
 
 all) to turn about, 1) a streamer, fHeb. PAN AH ; Swe- 
 VL Fan fling is to turn the j dish, VANDA, to 
 
 Avind about, or make the wind | turn. Eng. to fan, 
 
 blOAV. vane, banner. 
 
 FAN 
 
 all, many 
 
 Greek, PAN. 
 
 FI 
 
 p‘ui 
 
 to fly 
 
 Heb. OF; Lat FUGIO. 
 
 FI 
 
 fat 
 
 Greek, P AO, to feed. Fee. 
 
 FO 
 
 fai 
 
 fa 
 
 (anciently also Incui or fai) fire 
 
 2) to shine 
 
 3) shoAv, flowers 
 
 f Siam. FAI ; Tibet. MO ; 
 1 Ladak. MI; Lat. 
 I FOCUS. Greek, 
 ■( P H A 0 , to shine, 
 ( PHOGO, to burn, tt 
 1 PHOS, light ; NeAv 
 Guinea, FOE. 
 
 FU 
 
 a AA’ife 
 a man 
 
 rSans. VADHU, a Avife, 
 3 Greek, PHOS, a man, 
 1 sometimes also a wo- 
 C. man. 
 
 FU 
 
 pa 
 
 1) a father, 2) papa 
 
 r Tibet. PHA; Sans. 
 ) PITAR, Greek PA; 
 ) Heb. AV; dial. A 
 ^ Sat. abba. 
 
 FU 
 
 to corrupt ; to rot. 
 
 f Zend, P U ; Greek, 
 1 PHAIOS, PUTHO, 
 ) PUON; Lat. F^- 
 (. DUS, PUTEO. 
 
 FUNG 
 
 wind 
 
 /Tibet.MUNG, DLUNG; 
 1 Lat. YENTUS. 
 
 HA 
 
 summer 
 
 Tib. YAR. 
 
 HAI 
 
 ya 
 
 HAI 
 
 HAK 
 
 HAM 
 
 HANG 
 
 kong 
 
 Yes ; an affirmative particle, Ay /Hindu. HY ; Sans. YA ; 
 
 1 Germ. YA. 
 
 continuity, ages 
 
 to coerce, to cut. hack 
 all 
 
 fSans. AY, AYUS, life; 
 1 Greek, AEI; Eng. aye. 
 
 Arab. GHAGA; Eng.^-a^ 
 
 (Heb. HAIMA, Greek, 
 \ HAMA. 
 
 1) to go, 2) a river 
 
 
 Eng. gang-. Sans. GAN- 
 GA, (the ‘Go-go’) the 
 Ganges: Siamese, 
 K H 0 N G - K H A . 
 
 I water ; the goddess 
 1^ Gunga. 
 
3. MancL 
 
 Canton, 
 
 
 
 K‘AU 
 
 HAU. 
 
 mouth 
 
 Tibet. KIlO. 
 
 K‘I 
 
 HI 
 
 to breathe -j 
 
 Heb. II ‘EY, breathing, 
 living. 
 
 K‘I 
 
 HI 
 
 interrogative prefix 
 
 Heb. HE-, Berber, E-. 
 
 K‘HING 
 
 HING 
 
 light, not heavy 
 
 Tib. YANGA. 
 
 no 
 
 HO 
 
 a river j 
 
 Mongol. KHOL, GOL, 
 Tibet. GO. 
 
 no 
 
 HO 
 
 who ? { 
 
 Lithuan. HOO; Greek, 
 HOS. 
 
 IIAU 
 
 no 
 
 good 
 
 Zend, HU; Greek, EU, 
 
 K‘AI 
 
 HOI 
 
 to rejoice, > 2 /, gay, *Src. 
 
 
 non 
 
 HOT 
 
 to hoot 
 
 
 1 K‘U 
 
 2 Im 
 
 3 k‘ieii 
 
 HU 
 
 him 
 
 1) to go, to let go, 2) empty, ^ 
 3) to yawn ■< 
 
 ^ Sans.su, to go; Greek, 
 t K‘AO; Lat. HIO, to 
 
 1 be empty ; Greek, 
 ^ K‘A1N0, to yaicn. 
 
 KUIi 
 
 KUK 
 
 a valley 
 
 Heb. GEY, a valley. 
 
 K‘IUEN 
 
 HUN 
 
 hound 
 
 Cashmere, H 0 0 N ; 
 ^ Greek, KUON. 
 
 ’RH 
 
 I 
 
 you 
 
 Zend, HI. 
 
 RH 
 
 I 
 
 two -1 
 
 'Siam.I-SIB (twenty) ; 
 
 Burm. NIT ; Geor- 
 1 gian, ORI; Zend. 
 . DVI. 
 
 JEH 
 
 IT 
 
 to burn, heat J 
 
 'Zend,ATERE,Pehlevi, 
 A T E S H , Greek 
 , AITHO. 
 
 1 KIA 
 
 2 kien 
 
 3 kung 
 
 4 kiai 
 
 KA 
 
 kim 
 
 kung 
 
 kai 
 
 1,2,3) to unite ; 1) to marry a 
 husband ; 1) a family ; 2, 3,^ 
 together ; 4) all, together with 
 
 'Heb. GAM, adding; 
 Sans. GA, GAM, to 
 come together;Goth. 
 GA, together; Greek 
 1 GAMEO, to marry; 
 Lat. CUM, together; 
 Rukheng, (Burm.) 
 AKUNG,sign of the 
 plural ; Greek, KAI, 
 and, also. 
 
 KIEN 
 
 KAN 
 
 a crevice, a room 
 
 IHeb. KEN, a dwelling, 
 I plu. cells. 
 
 1 KIEN 
 
 2 ban 
 
 KAN 
 
 ban 
 
 1) hardship, adultery ; 
 
 2) to hate 
 
 f Heb. KAN A, to be jea- 
 1 lous. 
 
[ 46 ] 
 
 Mantis. 
 
 1 KIAH 
 
 2 boll 
 
 3 yib 
 
 Cantos 
 
 KAP 
 
 bop 
 
 yap 
 
 f Heb.KAPHIM, fasten - 
 1,2,3, (to unite as two bands ; to | ings ; K A P H , tbe 
 
 fit; 1) to press as between-^ palms of the hands; 
 
 boards; 2) a box | Eng. Aop;Siam.HIP, 
 
 / L ^ chest. 
 
 KIU 
 
 KAU 
 
 nine 
 
 r Siam. KAU, Burm. KO, 
 Tibet.JUKU ; Hindu. 
 ^ NAU. 
 
 KAU 
 
 KAU 
 
 a dog 
 
 rTibet.K‘E, Ladak. KE, 
 ' Burm. CHOE, CE 
 t CHOE, Celtic, KU. 
 
 KI 
 
 k‘i 
 
 KI 
 
 k‘i 
 
 to mark, fix; a pronoun and j 
 interrog. particle ; self. 
 
 ^ Heb.Kl,mark; because ; 
 Sans.KI, Siam. KHI, 
 interrog. part. Turk, 
 and Uigur, KI, 3rd 
 pers. pron. Tibet. 
 KANG-KI, one’s-self. 
 
 KIH 
 
 KIK 
 
 to strike; I'icL 
 
 
 ' Heb. KUN.to establish, 
 and KEN, true, subs- 
 
 1 KIEN 
 
 2 kiun 
 
 3 kwan 
 
 KIN 
 
 kwan 
 
 kun 
 
 1) to establish; firm, 1, 2, 3) to 
 bold, 1,3) to behold; 1) to per- 
 ceive, 2^ a prince, 3) a governor- 
 (the first meanings suggest a 
 connection with chm true) 
 
 tantial; 'E.ng.hen, can, 
 lie. Burmese CHON 
 an officer ; Mongol. 
 KHAN, a chief; Siam. 
 KON, a mau (KON- 
 DI,a good man; kiun- 
 tsz') Welsh, CUN, 
 king. 
 
 1 KIAU 
 
 2 kau 
 
 3 ko 
 
 KIU 
 
 ko 
 
 ko 
 
 high; to shout; proud; 3) to sing - 
 
 ^Sans. KU, to shout, and 
 GI, to sing; Anam, 
 KAW, high; Heb. 
 GAHAH, to arise, to 
 ^ be proud. 
 
 KO 
 
 KO 
 
 a brother 
 
 (Tibet. GO ; Mongol. 
 [ AKA. 
 
 KO 
 
 KO 
 
 demons, pron. 
 
 (Burm. KU ; Sclav. KO, 
 t Greek, HO. 
 
 KAN 
 
 k‘ieu 
 
 KON 
 
 k‘in 
 
 a cane; a handle ; a basis, a rule ; ^ 
 firm, (connected with KIEN) 1 
 
 rGreek, KANNA; Heb. 
 
 KANEH, ca7ie; Greek, 
 - KANON, canon. 
 
 KOH 
 
 kiueh 
 
 KOT 
 
 kut 
 
 to cut, to decide 
 
 rHeb. GEDZ, mowing, 
 1 shearing. 
 
 KU 
 
 KU 
 
 to dwell 
 
 Heb. GUR. 
 
 KIUEN 
 
 KUN 
 
 to put away, to contribute 
 
 Tibet. KUON, to give. 
 
 KWAN 
 
 KUN 
 
 a jar, a can 
 
 Siam. KAN. 
 
03 
 
 Aland, 
 
 Canton. 
 
 [ 47 ] 
 
 K/IUN 
 
 kiun 
 
 K‘\VAN 
 
 kwan 
 
 a crowd, an army 
 
 Tibet. KWAN. 
 
 KIUEH 
 
 k‘iuli 
 
 kuh 
 
 hiueh 
 
 KAVAT 
 
 wat 
 
 fat 
 
 lit 
 
 1) to dig; to scoop out, 2 to] 
 bend down 3 4), a den j 
 
 Lat. FODIO, to dig. 
 Eng. Foss, 
 
 LAN 
 
 LAN 
 
 to divide, to rend. 
 
 Lat. LANIO. 
 
 LI 
 
 li 
 
 liii 
 
 LI 
 
 lai 
 
 loi 
 
 to go from, to go on or upon, A 
 to progress, to succeed ; to > 
 plough, a plough ; 1) sharp J 
 
 Sans. RI, to go «fe A R to 
 - plough; Greek, LEIOS 
 smooth. 
 
 LEH 
 
 LAK 
 
 to bridle, to repress ; the sides,") 
 the ribs. 
 
 Eng. rack, reach ; Tibet. 
 LAK, the arms. 
 
 T>AN 
 
 lien 
 
 LAM 
 
 lim 
 
 lin 
 
 to take, to collect, 1) to behold,'] 
 to drag, rope ; 2) a reaping- 
 hook, to reap. J 
 
 Tibet. LOOM, to drag; 
 ^ Greek, LAMBANO, 
 to take. 
 
 LAN 
 
 Heh 
 
 LAM ♦ 
 lip 
 
 1, 2) to skip, to leap 2) to hunt 
 
 AVelsh, LLAMU, skip. 
 
 LANG 
 
 LANG 
 
 cold 
 
 Tibet. KRONG. 
 
 LIU 
 
 lau 
 
 LAU 
 
 to flow, to leave behind, to 
 
 detain; to, mean i d.ssoh e;KUO, RRO, 
 
 ’ ’ h gush, to flow. 
 
 LING 
 
 LING 
 
 to cause, to act upon, to make 
 a noise, to ring; a collar: — by 
 itself 
 
 ■) Eng. Ring, Tibet, 
 k i? A N (i - K I, one’s 
 J self. 
 
 LIEU 
 
 LIT 
 
 to divide, to split ; violent (as 
 cold or heat) 
 
 jSax. LITII,a joint,a di- 
 \ vision;^ LIHT, light. 
 
 LIAU 
 
 LIU 
 
 to burn; a blaze, (Scotiee) a lowe 
 
 Germ. LOHE. 
 
 LO 
 
 lim 
 
 Iwan 
 
 luh 
 
 LO 
 
 Inn 
 
 lun 
 
 Ink 
 
 1,2,4) to rotate, round-, 3) an 
 egg. Kwan-lun, the continuous 
 circle of the sun ; 4) to rock, 
 2) Constant, near 
 
 fLat. ROTO; Heb.LUL, 
 1 a winding stair. Eng. 
 1 roll. Tibet. LO, the 
 year. Burm. LUN, 
 anything round, a.% an 
 egg. Heb. LUN, to 
 lodge. 
 
 LAU 
 
 LO 
 
 to labour, to weary 
 
 rHeb. LAH, (? Lat. LUO 
 LAVO; LABO, LA- 
 ^ BOR.) 
 
 LAU LO 
 
 old, a man 
 
 fRukheng, (Burm.) LU 
 ( a man. 
 
 * Loj lun^ compare in,# ^ p^o and p^m from one phonetic. 
 
e>j to >-* 
 
 Matid. 
 
 Canton. 
 
 [ 48 ] 
 
 LOH LOK 
 
 LUI LUI 
 
 LUH LUK 
 
 LIU EH LUT 
 
 'SI A 'SIX 
 
 31 AI 31 A I 
 
 31 IX 31 AN 
 
 wan man 
 mien min 
 
 MAX 3IAX 
 
 WAN 3IAN 
 
 1 WUH 31 AT 
 
 2 moh mut 
 
 3 mieh mit 
 
 4 wu mo 
 
 5 wu u 
 
 6 wi mi 
 
 3IIH 3IAT 
 
 to descend, to take easy; pleasure 
 
 1 
 
 Greek, LEK‘00 to lie 
 down & LEK'OS a 
 bed. (?)Lat. PLACET, 
 DELECTO, like. 
 
 rSans. RU, RUD, to cry. 
 to thunder, to drum, to weep < Heb. RU, to shout, & 
 
 ^ RAA3I, to thunder. 
 
 fSiamese, HUK; Tibet. 
 ^ \GHUK; Hindu, CHEK. 
 
 weak, incompetent 
 
 a horse or ware 
 
 ■) Cashmere, L O 0 T Z , 
 > weak, and LOOTE, 
 J slow, light. 
 
 rSiam. 3IA, 3Iongol and 
 » 3Ianchu MAR or 
 ^ 3IORI, Old Ger. 
 C 3IAR. 
 
 to secrete; to come up to; ad- fLat. 3IEO, to go, to 
 vanced in years. ( pass. 
 
 1, 2) to exert one's self, to com- 
 passionate; 2) to listen, to ask ; 
 ornament, literature, civil offi-"' 
 cers; 1) mankind, the people 
 
 Sans. 3IAX, to think, 
 Greek, 3I0X, inter- 
 rog. particle ; Burm. 
 31 EN, a mandarin. 
 Sans. MANU; Tibet. 
 3II, man. Heb. 31IN, 
 kind, family. 
 
 to despise ; spreading out; 
 sluggish. 
 
 ten thousand, mann. 
 
 1) things, matter \ 2) branches 
 refuse, foam ; to sink, to die; 2 
 .3) to perish; 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6) ne 
 gative particles 
 
 f Heb. 31 AX, to be slow ; 
 1 to refuse ; Syriac, 
 31EX, slow; Greek, 
 1 MAXOS, rare, spon- 
 C g>’, soft. 
 
 (Siam. 31 UN, 10,000, 
 s and 31 A K, Tibet. 
 ^ 31AXG-PO, many. 
 
 ^1) Phoen. 3IOT nmd, 
 matter. Heb. 31UTS 
 refuse, and 31AT, a 
 trifle; 2) Greek, 
 , 31UDAO to be moist, 
 , to rot; Lat. 31ETO, 
 -J to cut off; Semitic, 
 ] 31UTH, Hindu. 
 
 3100A, dead; Coptic, 
 } 31U.todie, Cashmere, 
 3100DE to die 3^ 
 Greek, 31E, OU, Tur- 
 kish, 31E, negative 
 particles. 
 
 1) thick close ; 
 nectar 
 
 ri) 
 
 2) honey, J 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 Cashmere, 310TE, 
 thick, close; 2) Sans. 
 31 A D H U, honey , 
 Greek, 31 E T H U ; 
 wine, — mead. 
 
[ 49 ] 
 
 Mainh 
 
 Canton. 
 
 
 
 iMAU 
 
 wu 
 
 MAU 
 
 mo 
 
 to consult, to endeavour, to' 
 desire. 
 
 \ Greek, KIAO, to desire; 
 I MOUSA, muse. 
 
 MAIT 
 
 MAU 
 
 male of quadrupeds 
 
 Ladak. MI, male. 
 
 WI 
 
 niei 
 
 MI 
 
 to taste; small, delicate, beauti- 
 ful, (to purse up the mouth,- 
 Canton.)^ the tail, the extremity 
 
 r Greek, MUO, to press 
 ) the lips together ; 
 ) MIKROS& MINUS, 
 V. small ; MIA./i one. 
 
 MIEN 
 
 MIN 
 
 to sleep, to lie down 
 
 Siam. MON, a pillow. 
 
 MING 
 
 MING 
 
 name 
 
 Lith. IMEN. 
 
 MU 
 
 ma 
 
 MO 
 
 ma 
 
 mother., mama 
 
 ("Siam. ME ; Tibet. MA; 
 J Sans. MATAR; 
 1 Greek MATER, & 
 C MA, &c. Heb. EM. 
 
 MAU 
 
 MO 
 
 a cap 
 
 Siam. MOAK. 
 
 MUH 
 
 MUK 
 
 wood, trees 
 
 ("Tungus. MU; Mongol, 
 -< MODO ; Samovedic, 
 ( MURCH. 
 
 MUII 
 
 MUK 
 
 eye 
 
 Tib. MIK. 
 
 NAI 
 
 na 
 
 NAI 
 
 na 
 
 but, yes, what? there! 
 
 /-Greek NAI & NU, yes, 
 \ indeed ! Heb. N A, 
 ) indeed! pray! Siam. 
 ^ DAI, what. 
 
 NAN 
 
 NAN 
 
 difficult, han-nan, hardship 
 
 fSiam. KAN-NGAN, 
 ( work. 
 
 WU 
 
 ‘NG CM) 
 
 1st pers. pron. 
 
 Sans. ME, — M, me. 
 
 wu 
 
 ‘NG 
 
 five 
 
 (Hungarian OT; Chudic. 
 ( WIIS; Siam. HA. 
 
 YIN 
 
 NGAN 
 
 silver, money, 
 
 Siam. NGAN. 
 
 YEN 
 
 NGAN 
 
 the eyes, the face,' — eyne. 
 
 fHeb. AY^N; Dekhan, 
 I ANK, eve; Greek, 
 i GENUS the chin, the 
 1 beard ; Lat. GENA, 
 C the eyelid, the cheek. 
 
 YEN 
 
 NGAN 
 
 a wild goose 
 
 < Greek, K‘ E N ; Eng. 
 X gander. 
 
 NIU 
 
 NGAU (ancient GAU), an ox or cow 
 
 rSiam. NGOA; Sans, 
 i GO, GA-US 
 
 YAU 
 
 ya 
 
 NGAU 
 
 nga 
 
 1) to gnaw, 2) molar 
 teeth 
 
 f Greek KNAO; Eng. 
 \ gnash, jaw. 
 
w ri) I-* 
 
 S. Mand. Canton. 
 
 YAU 
 
 NGAU 
 
 to delight in Lat. GAUDEO. 
 
 NGO 
 
 NGO 
 
 a goo?e | 
 
 Tibet. NGO NG-PA; 
 Sax. GOS. 
 
 WO 
 
 NGO 
 
 1st pers. pron. 
 
 Tibet. G 0 : Rukheng 
 (Bunn.) NGO; Zend, 
 NO: Sans. NAH; Lat. 
 NOS. 
 
 NI 
 
 NI 
 
 2nd pers. pron. 
 
 Sans. DHL 
 
 NGI 
 
 NOI 
 
 inside { 
 
 Tibet. NONG; Lad.ak. 
 NUNG. 
 
 NUN 
 
 yuen 
 
 NUN 
 
 im 
 
 juvenile, weak 
 
 Sans. YU VAN, YXN, 
 young ; Tibet. NUNG, 
 few. 
 
 NGAI 
 
 01 
 
 alas ! to grieve, to love 
 
 Greek. 01, an exclama- 
 tion of grief ; 010, to 
 think, to hope; Heb. 
 OY, alas ! \Voe. 
 
 XGAN 
 
 ON 
 
 to rest ; how ? where ? 
 
 Ileb. AN, where? when? 
 
 1 PA 
 
 2 pah 
 
 3 pih 
 
 PA 
 
 pak 
 
 pat 
 
 1) a father (see FU ) ; to usurp, ^ 
 to rule : a prince, an earl ; 3) a J 
 head minister. 2) white | 
 
 ' Sans. PA, to rule. Zend. 
 
 P E T E D A Pehlevi 
 1 PAD, a head or chief, 
 , Heb. BAR. pure. 
 
 1 PI 
 
 2 k‘wei 
 
 3 li 
 
 4 fei 
 
 PAI 
 
 li 
 
 fai 
 
 fai 
 
 to destroy, to .abolish, to cover | 
 up ; evil, hateful 3) uot ^ 
 
 rSans. PIY', tohate, to 
 ( destroy; Eng. /cHt/, 
 j foe,fy 1 
 
 P-I 
 
 PAI 
 
 to strike 
 
 Greek, PAIO. 
 
 PAN 
 
 PAN 
 
 to manage, a factor l 
 
 r Persian. PAN, a factor; 
 ' Old Ger. BAN, j ur is - 
 
 diction ; princeps. 
 
 PIH 
 
 PAT 
 
 to finish ; the but end of any- t 
 thing; a hand net, a fork, a< 
 pencil ; pads for kneeling on. 
 
 Eng. BUT. BAT, 
 French, BOUT. 
 
 PAH 
 
 pieh 
 
 PAT 
 
 pit 
 
 1 ,) eight, 1 , 2 ; to divide, ijorf J 
 
 rSiam. PAT. Hindu, AT, 
 eight. Heb. BAD, se- 
 [ parate partC^- Bether ) . 
 
 P-AU 
 
 p‘au 
 
 P‘AU 
 
 p‘au 
 
 a butcher, a slaughter house ; to f Qj-get PHAO, to slay, 
 rip open ; to fling, to plane, ( 
 
 PI 
 
 PI 
 
 the nose 
 
 Heb. APH. 
 
 Pill PIK to urge, to pres?; crowded ^ densely. 
 
 pucker, pack. •' 
 
[ 51 ] 
 
 S. Mand. 
 
 Canton. 
 
 
 PIEN 
 
 PIN 
 
 1, 2, S) anything flat; 2) a board 
 
 pan 
 
 pan 
 
 (compare FANJ 
 
 P'ien 
 
 p‘in 
 
 
 PING 
 
 PENG 
 
 sickness, disease, defeat. 
 
 PU 
 
 PO 
 
 to spread out, to assist, to till 
 up, to recompense ; 1) cotton 
 or hemp cloth. 
 
 pau 
 
 pau 
 
 P‘OH 
 
 P‘OK 
 
 wood, lumber. 
 
 PEI 
 
 PUI 
 
 the back, the roof 
 
 PUH 
 
 PUK 
 
 1, 2, 3, 4.) to rush against; 1) to 
 scorch; 2, 3, 4,) to strike. 
 
 p‘ok 
 
 p‘ok 
 
 pok 
 
 pok 
 
 pau 
 
 po 
 
 
 PUN 
 
 PUN 
 
 1) root; native, one’s own ; 1, 2) 
 
 pin 
 
 pan 
 
 nature, sort 
 
 POH 
 
 PUT 
 
 to put, to send, to scatter; to 
 
 p‘oh 
 
 p‘ut 
 
 flutter ; to bud 
 
 SIN 
 
 SAM 
 
 the heart 
 
 SAN 
 
 Sam 
 
 three 
 
 1 SAH 
 
 SAT 
 
 1, 2) to scatter; 1) to sow; 3) to 
 sprinkle; sand 
 
 2 san 
 
 san 
 
 3 sha 
 
 sha 
 
 
 SHI 
 
 SHAI 
 
 to cause, to use, to send ; ener- 
 
 sz‘ 
 
 sz‘ 
 
 gy ; to pass away, to die 
 
 Shan 
 
 SHAN 
 
 a mountain, or hill 
 
 SHIH 
 
 SHAP 
 
 ten 
 
 ^ YjX\g. panels pan^ pane 
 
 r Greek PENOMAT, to 
 < labour, to be poor; 
 ^ YjWg.pain ; pang. 
 
 linen. 
 
 Tibet. P‘OK. 
 Siam. PI, roof. 
 
 VAV^.puj}\bvffet. 
 
 SHAH SHAT 
 
 to slay, to murder ; noxious,^ 
 malign 
 
 t nature. 
 
 Tibet. SEMS. 
 
 f Siam. S A M, Tibet. 
 ^ GSUM, Birm. SON, 
 Georgian, SAMI. 
 
 flleb. SHAT AH, to 
 1 spread abroad, to 
 strew. Saxon, 
 1 SA\VAN,Ger.SAEN, 
 to sow. 
 
 Gr. SEIO, to shake (fe 
 S E U O, to drive, to 
 hurry, to pursue, to 
 put to flight. 
 
 r Tibet. SHUNS; Ar- 
 I menian. — SHAN, a 
 ■{ termination meaning 
 I a place (? Hindu, 
 L STAN,) 
 
 rSiam. SIB, Bunn. 
 ■{ SHE, Tibet. CHU ; 
 (_ Aiyan DASATI. 
 
 Heb. SHIHET, to des- 
 troy ; SHOT a whip, 
 calamity ; SATAN 
 the adversary. 
 
[ 52 ] 
 
 S. Mand. Canton. 
 
 SHAU 
 
 SHAU 
 
 a beast. 
 
 
 Bunn. CHAUX. 
 
 SHAMG SHEUXG 
 
 above. 
 
 ] 
 
 r Tibet. SDAXG, above 
 (but Siam. S 0 X G, 
 !. under). 
 
 SHI 
 
 sz’ 
 
 SHI 
 
 sz’ 
 
 1) to be; 1, 2) this 
 
 1 
 
 Sans. A S, root S, to be ; 
 
 Zend, SE, Lith. SZE, 
 , Heb. ZE, this. 
 
 SHI 
 
 SHI 
 
 to reveal, to show ; to see ; time, ^ 
 season 
 
 • 
 
 'Greek THEAOMAI, to 
 behold with wond- 
 er. Heb. SHAAH, 
 ^ to look ; an hour. 
 
 SI II 
 sih 
 soh 
 soh 
 
 SHIK 
 
 sik 
 
 sok 
 
 shok 
 
 1) to reap, to accumulate, 
 desire: 2) to spare; 3) to seek; 
 to suck; 2) to breath, to sigh^ 
 rest. — lok-sok, to extort. 
 
 . fLat. SECO, to cut; to 
 1 mow, SEQUOR, to 
 ■{ pursue; Greek, SIGE, 
 ^ i silence, quiet. Eng. 
 SOC, a suit. 
 
 SHI II 
 
 SHIK 
 
 form, fashion 
 
 
 fLat. SIC, thus, this 
 manner. 
 
 SHIH 
 
 SHIK 
 
 to eat 
 
 
 fTibet. ZAS, Ladak. 
 1 S U S , M a n c h u , 
 DSCHE-ME ; Haus- 
 L sa, CHI. 
 
 SHIH 
 
 SHEK 
 
 a stone 
 
 
 Hungarian. SZIKI^V. 
 
 SHEX 
 
 SHIM 
 
 to flash shine, sheen. 
 
 
 
 SHIXG 
 
 SHIXG 
 
 a sound ; to praise sing. 
 
 
 
 SHEH 
 
 SHIT 
 
 the tongue 
 
 
 Tibet. SHICH. 
 
 SO 
 
 SHO 
 
 that which 
 
 
 Goth. SO, this. 
 
 SHWUI 
 
 SHUI 
 
 water 
 
 ' 
 
 fTibet. CH‘U (CH‘U- 
 1 MIK a fountain, lit- 
 1 water -eve), Turk. 
 L SUW, SU. 
 
 SHUH 
 
 SHUK 
 
 ripe, skilled 
 
 
 jSiam. SUK,ripe.Hindu 
 \ SUK, to be able. 
 
 SHWOH 
 
 SHUT 
 
 to speak, to say 
 
 
 (Tibet, S E R ; Heb. 
 I SICH.ChaLSUCHA. 
 
 SIEH 
 
 hieh 
 
 SU 
 
 shu 
 
 SIT 
 
 hit 
 
 SU 
 
 sliii 
 
 to escape, to leak, to be exhaust- 
 ed; to rest, to desist; l)fragments 
 — sediment. 
 
 to unroll, to resuscitate, to ex- ^ 
 hilirate; cheerful, happy. 
 
 rSau.SAD,Lat. SEDEO, 
 t to sit. 
 
 ^Zend, SU, to profit; 
 Lat. SUSCITO, from 
 root SU or SUS up- 
 wards, Ac. Greek, 
 
 L SOOS, safe. 
 
S. Aland. Canton. 
 
 SUH SUK 
 SUN SUN 
 
 SIUEH 
 
 SUT 
 
 SZ’ 
 
 SZ’ 
 
 T^A 
 
 T‘A 
 
 1 TI 
 
 TAI 
 
 2 then 
 
 t‘in 
 
 3 tien 
 
 tin 
 
 4 tan 
 
 tan 
 
 TT 
 
 TT 
 
 TA 
 
 TAI 
 
 t‘ai 
 
 t‘ai 
 
 TEII 
 
 TAK 
 
 TAN 
 
 TAN 
 
 
 tarn 
 
 1 T‘AN 
 
 T‘AN 
 
 2 fan 
 
 tan 
 
 3 tien 
 
 tin 
 
 TAH 
 
 TAP 
 
 fall 
 
 t‘at 
 
 ta 
 
 ta 
 
 TIE 
 
 TE 
 
 TT 
 
 TI 
 
 TIH 
 
 TIK 
 
 fih 
 
 tik 
 
 TO 
 
 TO 
 
 TO 
 
 T‘0 
 
 TAU 
 
 TO 
 
 to lodge ; a lodging place 
 a grandchild, descendant. 
 
 snow 
 
 four 
 
 rlleb. SUKAII, a hut, a 
 I dwelling. 
 
 Sans. SUNU, son. 
 
 (■Turk. SZUQjCold.Man- 
 •I chu, JUCHE, Heb. 
 ^ S‘THAV, winter. 
 
 Siam. SI. 
 
 dcm. pron. 
 
 I 
 
 San. TA, Goth. T II 
 Greek, TA. 
 
 A, 
 
 1) God; 2) heaven; 3^ a law, 
 a canon ; 4) the light, dawn. 
 
 r Greek, DIS &THEOS, 
 I Lat. DEUS, God. 
 \ Sans. DIV, heaven. 
 
 I Tibet. DIN, the day. 
 
 Zend. DIN, law. 
 
 a ladder 
 
 great, 
 
 grand, excessive. 
 
 to get 
 
 (Siam. GA-DAI, a 
 \ house-ladder. 
 
 ( Gr.DA and ZA, as DA- 
 I PHOINOS, greatly 
 bloody. Sans. TAR, 
 I to go beyond. Heb. 
 1^ DAV, enough. 
 
 Tibet. TUH. 
 
 single ; simple, tasteless 
 
 Heb.TAM,plain,artless. 
 
 to stretch,- to spread out; to'| TAN, to stretch, 
 p ay on a stringed instrument ; y ^ thunder. 
 
 3) lightning. J ® ’ 
 
 to strike 
 
 A-te or Te-Te, papa, daddy 
 the earth 
 
 Sans. TUP, TUD,TUJ. 
 
 (Friesian, TATE, Sans. 
 \ TADA, Lat. TATA. 
 
 /Greek D E=G E , as 
 I DEMETER. 
 
 to^drop, a drop; to dig or scrape; (Greek THIGO,to touch; 
 to hit; exact; the least particle; < Eng. tick ; take ; 
 to lay in grain. v. Scot. thig. 
 
 many Rukheng(T3urni.)RO&DO. 
 
 earner^ burdens, aj ^ 
 
 a knife 
 
 Ladak. TI. 
 
[ 54 ] 
 
 ^(and. Canton. 
 
 TU 
 
 10 
 
 the capital; fullness; also; 
 
 up to Eng. too & to. 
 
 T‘U 
 
 TO 
 
 earth 
 
 Tibet. ZUR. 
 
 TS‘IH 
 
 TS‘AK 
 
 a thief 
 
 r Tibet. DAK -PA. Heb. 
 < TSAAH, wandering, 
 ^ plundering. 
 
 TSIH 
 
 TSAP 
 
 to flock together, to crowd 
 
 fHeb. TSABA, a multi- 
 t tude. 
 
 TSIH 
 
 TS‘AT 
 
 seven 
 
 rSiam. CHET. Hindu, 
 t SAT. 
 
 TSIE 
 
 TSE 
 
 sister 
 
 fSiam. ANITCHA. Sa- 
 < moyed ic, I D J A. 
 ^ Pehlevi, CHO. 
 
 TSIANG TSEUNG 
 
 syrup, sauce 
 
 /Tibet. TSANG, syrup, 
 t wine. 
 
 Tsm 
 
 TSIK 
 
 to collect 
 
 Sans. CHI. 
 
 sm 
 
 TSIK 
 
 evening, late 
 
 /Tibet. SHI, late (? Chi- 
 ^ nese, CHT.) 
 
 TS'TEN 
 
 TS'IN 
 
 before 
 
 Ladak. TSON. 
 
 TSAU 
 
 TSO 
 
 early 
 
 Tibet, SU. 
 
 TSOH 
 
 TSOK 
 
 to chisel, to cut. 
 
 /Cashmere, TSOT, La- 
 ^ dak. CHUKSE. 
 
 TSUH 
 
 TSUK 
 
 a frame-work 
 
 Tibet. TSUK. 
 
 TSUH 
 
 TSUK 
 
 the foot, the leg 
 
 Heb. SHOK, the leg. 
 
 SUH 
 
 TS‘UK 
 
 sudden, quick 
 
 Tibet. CHAK-PA. 
 
 TSUNG 
 
 tiling 
 
 TSUNG 
 
 t‘ung 
 
 to combine; togethe:; the same f Greek, SUN, together 
 
 t with. Syr.ZUG, to join. 
 
 TSZ’ 
 
 TSZ’ 
 
 tsai 
 
 a child 
 
 r Bohemian, TSI, a daugh- 
 ) ter.Siam. BOOTCHI, 
 1 a son and L A U - 
 ^ CHAI, a grandson. 
 
 TUH 
 
 TUK 
 
 to read, to study 
 
 /-Lat. DOCEO, to teach. 
 ^ Greek, DOKEO, to 
 ^ think. 
 
 YU 
 
 U 
 
 in, upon, at, by 
 
 r Berber, I — ; Russ, VO, 
 -j VE, in, at, by ; Y— 
 t- near. 
 
 YU 
 
 U 
 
 to take part in ; together. 
 
 Sans. YU, to mingle. 
 
Mand. Canton. 
 
 JU 
 
 U 
 
 Yoic 
 
 Sans. YU ; Tibet. KlU. 
 
 UII 
 
 UK 
 
 a house, a covering for a carriage, 
 
 Heb. GAG, the roof. 
 
 PHY A 
 
 WA 
 
 r Sans. YAK, YACH.AS, 
 . , ! whence Greek, (root 
 
 PHA) PHAO. Lat. 
 FARI,y’ame,y’«<e. 
 
 IT WO 
 
 WAK 
 
 uncertain, to deceive 
 
 rEat. VACILLO; Eng. 
 (. wag, fickle, &c. 
 
 HWAN 
 
 WAN 
 
 (a turning eitlier favourable-j 
 or unfavourable allied to FAN) > 
 visionary, delusive, vain. J 
 
 Sans. YANA, vain. 
 
 YUNG 
 
 WING 
 
 everlasting 
 
 Tibet. RING. 
 
 HWOH 
 
 WOK 
 
 a boiler 
 
 Tibet, KOK-MA. 
 
 WANG 
 
 WONG 
 
 1 to rule, 1,2^ royal, a king 
 
 fZend. WENGH, excel- 
 lent, great. 
 
 WANG 
 
 WONG 
 
 to go Wend, wander. 
 
 
 NGAN 
 
 YAN 
 
 grace Tibet.CHEN, Heb.K‘EN. 
 
 JTN 
 
 YAN 
 
 man 
 
 fTibet. YEN, Ladak. 
 1 YENE. 
 
 YIN 
 
 YAN 
 
 to lead 
 
 Ileb. ‘ANA II. 
 
 YIII 
 
 YAT 
 
 one ■< 
 
 Siam, SIB-ET, (eleven 
 i.e. ten one,) Ugric, 
 IT; Bunn. TIT; 
 Tibet. TSIK, Geor- 
 gian, ERTI ; Hindu, 
 EK; Sans. EKA; 
 dial. K‘AD. 
 
 JIH 
 
 YAT 
 
 day 
 
 Heb. ’ETH, time season. 
 
 YU 
 
 YAU 
 
 right hand 
 
 Tibet. YOR, 
 
 JOH 
 
 YEUK 
 
 if, perhaps 
 
 (Tibet. YANG-NA, 
 1 perhaps. Hindu, JO. 
 
 YANG 
 
 YEUNG 
 
 bright ; the Ocean ; vast, 
 broad 
 
 \ Tibet. YANGS, broad. 
 
 KIEN 
 
 KAM 
 
 to inspect; to cut off a part Gr. KOMEO ; KOMMA. 
 
 TIEH 
 
 TIT 
 
 alternation 
 
 Eng. tide. 
 
 TSIE 
 
 TSE 
 
 alas ! 
 
 Hindu. CH‘I, fy ! 
 
 TUN 
 
 TUN 
 
 to bump; obtuse, 
 
 Lat. TUNDO. 
 
 YUEIl 
 
 UT 
 
 the moon 
 
 Turk. AI. 
 
 YUN 
 
 WAN 
 
 clouds 
 
 Heb. ‘ANAN. 
 
 HWAN 
 
 WAN 
 
 the soul 
 
 Zend. URVAN. 
 
 KTH 
 
 yeh 
 
 YAK 
 
 it 
 
 1) to eat, 2) to choke, 
 to sob. 
 
 {San. AT, to eat. 
 
 YU 
 
 YAU 
 
 to ramble, to walk 
 
 Hindu. JAU. 
 
Ctl^PTEK IV. 
 
 The Chinese Whitten Chaeacteh. 
 
 A FEW simple forms symbolical of positions and acts, 
 and a few rude figures of natural objects, specimens 
 of which are given at tlie close of this Chapter, con- 
 stitute the foundation of the Chinese written language. 
 Upon this foundation the language was built up, 
 by slow stages, and by a variety of tribes speaking 
 different dialects, till it became a powerful bond of 
 union between them. 
 
 The symbolical forms are such as — , a horizontal 
 line denoting unity; at the base of a character, ■ de- 
 noting the ground ; at the top, heaven, roof, head, 
 &c . ; and in the middle, standing for anything indefinite. 
 
 Repeated, Zl, it is two, and again, three. 
 
 Other forms by position, repetition, and inversion 
 give an equal number of ideas. 
 
 ^ Above’ was represented thus -1-, and ^ below ’ thus 
 ‘ From top to bottom ’ was a vertical line | . 
 
 ^ Division ’ was two bent lines / \ , which also means 
 ^ eight,’ perhaps from the fact that the number eight 
 is capable of division by 2 and by 4. The idea of 
 crossing or communion was expressed by across 
 or by two ^ ; that of entering by the figure of a 
 
[ 57 ] 
 
 wedge A., and that of union (of three) by a triangle 
 A. ‘ AValking ’ was pictured by a man in two suc- 
 cessive positions: — is a man, ^ a man ^ walking.’ 
 
 So also long steps and short steps, and two men 
 walking in opposite directions — hang^ the general 
 idea of moving on, walking, acting, — were represented 
 to the eye. 
 
 The course of a bird mounting from the ground 
 was pictured thus which line is repeated in .the 
 common character for flying, with two little marks 
 attached by way of wings It appears also in the 
 character A, meaning rapid flight, in ^ a flea, and 
 in ^ wind. The central portion of the last charac- 
 ter means insects, vermin ; which suggests the idea 
 that wind was important chiefly as bringing or carry- 
 ing off swarms of annoying and destructive insects, 
 as gadflies, locusts, and the like. The line of flight 
 appears again in JcH^ which denotes the rising of 
 vapour, the air. 
 
 Some natural objects such as Q mouth, © sun, 
 [5 field, ^ child are well enough represented by a 
 few simple lines, and these being once established 
 have never essentially varied. Others, such as ele- 
 phant, require considerable art to make a likeness of 
 
 them ; and hence the original rude likeness has 
 become merely conventional. The elephant is 
 the Chinese ideal of form, and hence the last charac- 
 ter also means form or figui*e. This metaphorical 
 use of characters was by and by extended to all in- 
 visible things and abstract ideas. Rolling thunder 
 
 (a® 
 
 was originally JQ(3.. A part was sometimes used for 
 the whole ; thus, a sheep was represented by its horns 
 
[58] 
 
 ¥, and an ox in the same way which reminds 
 us of the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the an- 
 cient form of which, or is not unlike the 
 Chinese ^ gau^ ox. And why should not the pri- 
 mitive name, containing the broad «*, have been an 
 imitation of the sound of lowing? In tlie Semitic 
 languages we have not only the slightly guttural 
 aleph^ gAj but also GAAH to low ; in the Aryan fa- 
 mily we have GO or GA a cow or ox, and GOAO to 
 
 groan ; and in Chinese ngau an ox, ngaii to sing, to 
 hum, and hau^ to low. A variation of the last is 
 ^ mau^ the Greek MfJ whence MUKAOMAI, to low, 
 to bellow. But to show that even these imitations of 
 the sounds of animals are almost purely conventional, 
 we have only to mark the wide difference between G 
 and M in tlie case of the ox, or still better to compare 
 MU and mau to bellow with ^ mew,’ the Chinese mdic^ 
 
 and miu^ the cry of a cat. 
 
 In Chinese an ox, as being the most important ob- 
 ject to the husbandman, stands for one article of any 
 kind. Any part of a man’s personal property is ^ 
 kicn. 
 
 The beautiful, the good and the right are all ex- 
 pressed by means of a sheep. A fine large sheep is 
 ‘ beauty,’ a sheep’s mouth is ^goodness,’ and my sheep 
 is ‘ righteousness.’ These and a thousand other me- 
 taphoric uses of the characters for domestic animals, 
 clearly show the occupation of the first Chinese who 
 attempted writing. 
 
 The whole vocabalary of 40,000 symbols is a rich 
 mine of Chinese antiquities which has yet to be ex- 
 plored. We may take a glance at the domestic econo- 
 my of the imaginary sage who invented the charac- 
 ters. His wife was his broom holder ; each son she 
 
[59] 
 
 bore him was additional strength for the field ; * her 
 temper not always the best was greatly ameliorated 
 by the presence of the babe ; f — fact the two to- 
 gether were as^ good as lambs. Having more than 
 one woman in the house caused broils. The service 
 of a woman’s right hand was slavery. The sage sat 
 on the ground, for chairs had not been invented. 
 Offensive arms were in continual requisition, and he 
 was not himself without his halberd in hand, or his 
 bow.J All his ideas of a currency were connected 
 with coivries ; and as cowries were inadequate for 
 large transactions barter was commonly resorted to. || 
 Occupying an inland country he knew little of the 
 sea ; hence none of the primitive symbols is derived 
 from that part of nature. His principal occupations 
 were agriculture, hunting, and war. Accordingly 
 there are over 40 primary characters connected with 
 husbandry and the processes of vegetation, 15 con- 
 nected with hunting and weapons, 7 for domestic ani- 
 mals, 16 for wild beasts, and 13 for birds. As a rule 
 the figures of visible objects are the radicals and abs- 
 tract ideas are represented by means of them. The 
 symbol for an arrow ^ shi must have been familiar 
 before it became phonetic in ^ c/^^, to know ; 
 
 A woman and a child, or it may be a lass and a lad together, 
 mean ‘ good.’ Many characters derived from woman have a bad meaning 
 
 and read 
 
 yuli\ 
 
 ‘bartering,’ were before 
 
 inai mai ‘ buying and selling,’ hence the phonetic power of 
 shuh, tu]b, and not mai. 
 
 Uuli, 
 
[ 60 ] 
 
 mun^ a double door, must have been before wan, to 
 ask ; or ^ wan to hear ; and ^ hi, a sieve, before 
 ¥i, the pronoun. So also there must have been 
 the symbol for rain the symbol for mouth P , and 
 the symbol for sorcerers 3B (two men posture-mak- 
 ing,) — perhaps also the phonetic ^ ling, the drop- 
 ping of rain, — before the present complicated charac- 
 ter for spiritual activity could be made — ^ ling. 
 This is not the work of one generation or two. The 
 written language was evidently a slow natural growth, 
 as much beyond the power of any single individual 
 either to invent or materially to alter as the spoken 
 language. 
 
 We may therefore consider it certain that the sage, 
 whether he be called Fuh-hi, or Tsang-kieh, or Sieh, 
 or any other name, who suddenly introduced the 
 developed system of Chinese writing, with all the six 
 kinds of characters, is a creature of fancy. This be- 
 comes still more apparent when we attempt to find 
 out from the earliest commentators and lexicogra- 
 phers, and from old inscriptions what the nature of 
 original Chinese writing was. The inscriptions are 
 of doubtful authority ; but we must allow that, even 
 if forged, they may contain a traditional truth as to 
 the form of the characters. 
 
 The beautiful engravings of Ancient Chinese Vases 
 with inscriptions, published by Mr. P. P. Thoms, do 
 not represent realities. The inscriptions are for the 
 most part viewed with great suspicion by the Chinese 
 themselves ; and they may well be so, for it is a no- 
 torious fact that ancient curiosities are manufactured 
 to any extent, and adapted to all degrees of credulity 
 in every great city in China. The work from which 
 Mr. Thoms cof)ied is severely criticised in the Cata- 
 logue of the Imperial Library. It was compiled in 
 
[61] 
 
 the twelfth century. The figures of vases are elabo- 
 rately executed, and everyone without a flaw. 
 
 But, though scarcely any of the inscriptions pur- 
 porting to belong to the Shang Dynasty (1600 — 1048, 
 B. C.) can be relied upon as entirely genuine, we 
 may gather from them and the other sources indi- 
 cated a general idea of what Chinese writing was 
 during that period. We are evidently getting near 
 to the stage of simple hieroglyphics, as will appear 
 from the following examples. 
 
 Ancient Character. 
 
 &■ 
 
 I 
 
 T 
 
 Modern Character. 
 
 A fowl. 
 
 A rhinoceros. 
 An elephant. 
 A scorpion. 
 
 A fish. 
 
 A head. 
 
 An arrow. 
 Archery. 
 
 An axe. 
 
Ancient Character. 
 
 % 
 
 [ 62 ] 
 
 Modern Character, 
 ting^ A tripod. 
 
 midu^ A temple. 
 A flag. 
 
 hwan^ 
 
 luiy 
 
 ho^ 
 
 kien.j 
 
 tsHj 
 
 yin, 
 
 Rings. 
 
 Thunder. 
 
 Grain. 
 
 Seeing. 
 
 Adjusting. 
 
 Drinking. 
 

 State of China in the beginning of the 
 Chow Dynasty. — Teahitions of eaeliek times. 
 
 The 35th parallel of North latitude from the bor- 
 ders of Tibet to Shan-tung marks very nearly the 
 course of the earliest Chinese civilization. And a 
 parallelogram extending two degrees north and two 
 degrees south of this line, and from the western 
 border of Shen-si to within fifty miles of the coast of 
 Shan-tung, thus measuring north and south about 
 250 miles and east and west about 600, will in- 
 clude almost all that part of China where we have 
 reason to believe that letters were cultivated in the 
 beginning of the Chow dynasty, 1000 B. C. The 
 area thus indicated is not much greater than that of the 
 British Isles, and scarcely equal to three of the present 
 eighteen provinces, or one-sixth part of China Proper. 
 The civilized people of this Middle Kingdom were 
 closely hemmed in on all sides by hostile barbarians. 
 On the East the great-how~men^ ^ I, held possession 
 of the promontory of Shan-tung and the whole Coast- 
 line to the mouth of the Hwae river (Shoo-king. V. 
 xxix.), where, turiping south-westward, they occupi- 
 ed a great portion of the modern Provinces of Kiang- 
 su, and Ngan-hwui. On the South all along the 
 
[ 64 ] 
 
 Yang-tsze were the ^ Man, ungovernable vermin^ also 
 called ^ Me {Be) or Bleaters. On the West were 
 mounted warriors^ of whom came the Ts^inites. Their 
 name ^ Jung, though translated ^ western barbarians,’ 
 meant also ^weapons’ (Shoo-king V. xix. 12; iii. 
 9), and in the ancient Ballads of Ts’in ^a war-chariot.’ 
 It also meant ^ great,’ a proof of the respect in which 
 these Jung were held. And finally on the North^ 
 within and without the Northern bend of the Hwang- 
 ho, were the fiery -dogs ^ Hylces^'* distinguished 
 
 also as ^red tykes’ and ^ white tykes’ perhaps in re- 
 ference to their complexion, as contrasted with that 
 of the Li-min. 
 
 We need not suppose that there were just four out- 
 side races and no more; but the general idea may be 
 admitted that on all sides the Country was preoccupied 
 by barbarous people ; and not only so, they were 
 mixed up with the more cultivated and ruling races, 
 sometimes as servants (Shoo. V. xxii. 14.) sometimes 
 as disagreeable neighbours (Ib. xxix. 1. note)^ and 
 sometimes as allies. One Emperor resorted to the 
 expedient of marrying one of the Tih’s daughters, 
 and making her Queen, to secure their help against 
 the feudal Chief of Ching (B. C. 636). All the above 
 mentioned races were without letters, ^mean and de- 
 graded barbarians, who held no communication by 
 writing with superior States,’ — except the Tsfinites 
 on the West, whose Ballads have a place in the Book 
 of Poetry. This exception has an important bearing 
 on the question of the origin of Chinese civilization, 
 for the Ts’inites must have occupied the borders of 
 Tibet before they displaced the Chowites from 
 Shen-si. 
 
 Their 
 
 countiy was called Demon-land or Ghost-land. — 
 
[65] 
 
 On the other hand the States of Ts’oo and Woo, 
 embracing the whole of Central China watered by 
 the Yang-tsze, the Han, and the Hwae rivers, had no 
 Poetry, or literature ; and their existence w^as not so 
 much as recognized at the commencement of the 
 Chow dynasty. Woo does not appear in History till 
 B. C. 584. It embraced the modern Nan-king, and 
 Shanghae. Further South still, and further removed 
 from the paleof civilization, was Yuch, where tradition 
 gives us to understand the Great Yu htvui-k’’i) 
 
 ^ investigated ’ the principles of government on the 
 top of a mountain which he named in consequence 
 Hwui-kd ; wliere afterwards he died and was buried ; 
 where his descendant Woo-yu, the Sou of the Empe- 
 ror Shau-k^ang was appointed a chief to maintain the 
 Sacrifices at the tomb of Yu (B. C. 2066); and into 
 the neighbour! lood of which, though not so far off, 
 the last of his line, the tyrant Kee, was banished 
 (B. C. 1765, Dr. Legge’s Shoo-king III. iv. concluding 
 note). Yet tlie people of Yueh and Hwui-kd remain- 
 ed for a thousand years after without letters, and oidy 
 began to be known to the Chowites in the time of 
 Confucius. Before that the descendants of Yu, we 
 are told in the Historical Records, ‘ tattooed their 
 bodies, cut short their hair, brushed aside the tall 
 grass, and dwelt in the busli.’ The natural inference 
 from all this is that the Great Yu, making due allow- 
 ance for degeneracy, and his descendants who ruled 
 in China about 400 years, from 2000 to 1600 B. C., 
 were not very different from unlettered savages ; and 
 that they were driven towards the east and south by 
 the more cultivated races, that followed them from 
 the west. Compared with tlie Miau-tsze with whom 
 Yu fought, he and his Heaites may have been a civi- 
 lized and intelligent people ; so that though they de- 
 feated him in battle, he gained their respect by peace- 
 
[ 66 I 
 
 able means, and obtained a permanent settlement 
 in the low country, the ^liauites and other nomadic 
 tribes shepherds or ^ shepherdesses) preferring 
 the high lands and dreading the swamps, which Yu 
 on the other hand set about draining and cultivating. 
 But as for the rest of the story — the regal pomp, the 
 extensive empire, the brilliant intelligence, and di- 
 vine virtue of Yau and Shun ; their astronomy, sur- 
 veying, and legislation ; their galaxy of virtuous mi- 
 nisters, including, as the foremost among them, the 
 ancestors of the several succeeding dynasties, to 
 each of whom the empire is offered as if by anticipa- 
 tion ; their chief of the four Mountains, by whom 
 a halo of ancient glory is thrown over the powerful 
 state of Tsd, and other descendants of the moun- 
 taineers or shepherds; &c. — we may rest assured that 
 it is as purely a work of imagination, as Hesiod’s 
 Theogony, Plato’s Republic, or More’s Utopia. 
 
 We have no more reason to accept the history of 
 Yu and the Heaites as given in the Shoo-king, or as 
 Simplified by Sze-ma T^sien, than we have for believ- 
 ing the Monk of Monmouth’s history of the Britons 
 before the invasion of Julius Csesar. And yet when 
 we reflect how tenderly, even within a recent period, 
 
 the most learned ©f our countrymen handled these 
 
 «/ 
 
 fables, so flattering to their vanity, about ancient 
 British kings, and Druid sages, who ^ invented and 
 taught such philosophy and other learning as were 
 never read of nor heard of by any men before ’ — 
 when we are told that an antiquary of Oxford could 
 discern the first shadowings of the modern University 
 in ^ the universal knowledge ’ of the Druidical insti- 
 tution in ^ ethics, politics, civil law, divinity and poe- 
 try,’ * we need not wonder at the weakness of 
 
 j / 
 
 ^ See D’Israeli’s Amenities of Literature, Vol. I. p. 1, et seq. 
 
Confucius for tliose shadowy beings Yau and Shun, 
 whose ^ doctrines he handed down, as if they had 
 been his ancestors.’ f Nor need we be at a loss to 
 account for the profound reverence with which the 
 whole Chinese nation looks back still to those foun- 
 ders of the empire who instituted, as by a divine fiaf^ 
 astronomy, letters, jurisprudence, architecture, reli- 
 gion, music, and eloquence. * What matters it if their 
 writings have perished and their enchanting music is 
 heard no more ? What, if nothing equivalent to a 
 Druid-cairn remains to show of what style their ar- 
 chitecture was ? What, if their astronomical instru- 
 ments and their methods of calculation J were never 
 described even by Confucius himself? What, if there 
 be a little undesirable break of some centuries in 
 each of the genealogies by which different chieftains 
 of after times are connected with the ministers of 
 Yau and Shun? All this is no stumbling block to a 
 willing faith. The degeneracy of great men’s sons 
 has become proverl)ial ; and so it was that the des- 
 cendants of Yu, the hero of the flood, were found 
 tattooing their bodies and squatting in the bush ; 
 those of the ‘ minister of Instruction ’ w^re never heard 
 
 t Doctrine of the Mean, xxx. 
 
 ^ Shoo-king, Canons of Yau and Shun. 
 
 X I have been asked ‘what I regard as the real value of the Yau-tien 
 (Shoo-king I.) astronomy as an index of the scientific progress of the an- 
 cient Chinese, the place where they were residing, and the period when this 
 relic was written.’ As far as the astronomy is concerned the Yau-tien might 
 have been written by Confucius. The only data wanted would be the length 
 of the year in round numbers — 366 days, and the traditional opinion, still pre- 
 valent in his time, that the southing of the Pleiades in the evening marked 
 the middle of wdnter. Confucius was not a great geometrician ; but even 
 he had some notion of finding out, from ‘one corner of a subject’ given, the 
 
 other three. Given m the Pleiades to find Hydra, Scorpio, and 
 
 Aquarius. 
 
[ 68 ] 
 
 ol fur lour centuries till T‘ang arose to punish Kee ; 
 those of the ‘minister of Aoriculture ’ disappeared 
 
 for a time among the barbarians of the West, *1* till 
 the spirit ol the ancient sages revived in them and 
 they returned to claim their birth-right and rule in 
 their turn the Middle Kingdom ; and linallv the sons 
 ot the ‘Forester,’ after becoming entirely identitled 
 With the ‘ mounted warriors ’ of Ihbet, came (‘astward 
 again under the name ol d^‘sin to rival tht'.Agricultu- 
 1 ‘ists, and show bya course of conquest and tvranny,how 
 they had treasured up the lessons of Van and Shun. 
 All these W(‘re doubtless the descendants of gods, 
 though their genealogy cannot be traced. Yau and 
 Shun were themselves divine ; and they and their 
 ministers were surely second cousins, ail the sons of 
 gods, and tracing their descent from some 
 Ilwancf-ti^ great god, or ^ Ilwang-ti^ yellow-god 
 — yellow being the colour of earth, the greatest of the 
 elements. Then the elements being live in number, 
 there must have been the same number of hero-gods 
 ruling in succession ; and are not their names and 
 their mighty deeds recorded in Sze-maT‘sin’s authen- 
 tic history, — Hwang-ti, Qiuen-heQh, Ti-K‘uh, Ti- 
 yau, and Ti-shun ? Such is theChinaman’s faith; and, 
 alas ! such are his gods. Confucius, or the author of 
 the Shoo-king, gives him two such, — a duality corres- 
 ponding perhaps to Heaven and Earth, or the K'ien 
 and ICwan of the Yih-ldng ; Sze-ma adds three to 
 
 # Sze-ma Tsin indeed gives 14 generations ; and the last five names are 
 formed from five of the ten ‘ celestial stems, ’which were used in reckoning 
 days- There may be some truth in this, since it appears that the Shangites 
 had a practice of taking names from days, — Qu. birth-days ? See Bamboo 
 
 Books, i^ote on T^ang the Successfiil’s name • But allowing 14 
 
 generations from See to T*ang, these would scarcely embrace the whole of 
 the dynasty Hea, or 4 centuries and a half. 
 
 t 
 
 
l69] 
 
 these, and mates them the five elements. He 
 
 also hints that there was a Fire-god before the Yellow, 
 or Earth-god ; thus leaving room for additions to any 
 extent. Sliin-niing ^ the spirit-like husbandman, the 
 ])atron saint of ‘ a shrike-tongued barbarian of the 
 Soulli,’ * who irritated the Philosopher Mencius, was 
 the Fir e-god ; and before him Fuh-hi^ the first butcher, 
 whom some scholars have supposed to be Noah, was 
 tlie Wood-god. Then before these there were the dy- 
 nasties of the ^ three powers ’ — heaven, earth, and 
 man. Other additions and adjustments were made,’ 
 traditional fables from different quarters, such as that 
 about Skin-nung from the Ts^oo Country in the Soutli, 
 being mixed up with superstition (falsely called phi- 
 losophy) about the elements, powers, &c.; but enough 
 has been said to show that it is high time for western 
 students of Chinese history to banish from its pages 
 all the hero-gods, or jin-tis of antiquity, and assign 
 them to their only legitimate place among the Her- 
 culeses and Romuluses of western mythology. And 
 where the Tis go, their ministers must go with them. 
 If any of them had a real existence somewhere in 
 China as Kau-yau, and Yu, they weie not the con- 
 temporary ministers of a great prince, nor were they 
 in other respects at all what they are represented to 
 have been. So that in fact the existence of Yu him- 
 self is a point of as slight historical importance as the 
 existence of King Arthur. We can know nothing 
 CGrtain about him, beyond the fact that he was a chief 
 of the Heaites, and undertook the cultivation of the 
 marshy ground about the Southern bend of the 
 Hwang-ho in Shen-si. So much the Poetry intimates. 
 And though it says nothing of Yau or Shun, it speaks 
 of a flood in connection with Yu. The passage has 
 
 * Mencius, ITT. i. IV. 
 
[TO] 
 
 ail important bearing on tlie origin of the Sliang-ites, 
 and must be given entire : — 
 
 Renowned for deep wisdom was Sliang: 
 
 For long did its fortunes expand. 
 
 ’Twas after flood had laid waste, 
 
 And Yu had divided the land ; 
 
 \V’’hen, reaching to outer great states, 
 
 Yu’s kingdom had grown far and wide : 
 
 That [See] of Jung’s daughter was born, 
 
 God’s heir who in Shang did abide. 
 
 It is not said expressly that Yu did anything to 
 the flood, although taken in connection with tlie ac- 
 . count in the Shoo-king the language might seem to 
 ini})ly it. What are Ave to say of this flood ? One 
 thing is certain, that no man ever did or CA^er could 
 do anything toAvards assuaging or draining off the 
 Avaters of a flood in the ordinary sense of the term. 
 When the Yang-tsze overfloAved its banks last year, 
 Avhat could all the skill and appliances of modern 
 engineering liaA^e done to make the AA^aters subside ? 
 On the other hand, if some small portion of the coun- 
 try became permanently submerged, one cannot see 
 how the name or the description in the Classics could 
 apply to such an event ; and still less would they 
 apply to a state of things Avhich the people found 
 when they first came into the country. I am there- 
 fore inclined to think that two things perfectly dis- 
 tinct are confounded together here, (1) a serious and 
 destructive inundation, and (2) Yu’s draining and em- 
 banking operations. The latter might to some extent 
 prevent the former, but could not cure it. Just as we 
 know A^ery well the Chinese can now build up a 
 wall to keep the high water of a iWer from running 
 over their rice-fields, but cannot make the river itself 
 run low or improve matters after the waters have al- 
 ready risen and overflowed, till they subside again in 
 the course of nature. So then, the flood Yu’s la- 
 bours being disconiiected, it may have been in another 
 
[ 71 ] 
 
 part of the world and in a different age from his ; 
 and any one who identifies it with that in the Book 
 of Genesis may safely challenge those who sneer at 
 him to give a better account of the tradition. 
 
 With regard to the origin of See and the Shangites 
 three things are noticeable in the above passage from 
 the Poetry, (1) that the birth of See is represcmted as 
 taking place after the establishment of Yu’s domin- 
 ion, (2) that this event would seem to have occurred 
 beyond Yu’s kingdom in a great state called Jung, 
 and (3) that this Jung the character for ^ western 
 barbarians ’ with the addition of nii^ ^ daughter ’) 
 was according to the older traditions somewhere about 
 the Kwan-lun mountains in Tibet. * Plere then See 
 
 tvriting) was born after the time of Yu, in con- 
 sequence of his motiier, Jung’s daughter, swallowing 
 an egg that fell down from heaven, or, according to the 
 text of the Poetry, ‘ when heaven sent down the dark 
 swallow,’ the bird of ^ spring’ that comes at St. Va- 
 lentine’s. 
 
 In a similar manner was the ancestor of the Chow- 
 
 ites, Tseih grain) ^ born by miraculous conception^ 
 
 in consequence of his mother Kiang-yuen -j* 
 
 * See Clioo-Hi’s commentary in loco. He says, ‘ on 
 
 the north of the Defective mountain/ and adds that he suspects it cannot 
 have been so far off as that. We need not be partieular about tlie locality of 
 this Defective mountain, Puh-chau ; Avhich was made so by the hero-god 
 Chuen-heuh butting at it in a fit of rage (Hwai-nan-tsze), and was in the 
 wilds of the west (Shan-hai-king, XVI.) beyond the Koko-nor. 
 
 1* If we could identify Kiang Water with ttt- Kiang 
 
 ater^ the Yang-tsze ; and make Pnh-ldang or ‘the last of the 
 
 Black Water’ equivalent to ^ yx Pih-lciang , the ‘ but-end ’ (the source) 
 of the Yang-tsze, which is according to fact ; we should have a clue to the 
 
 origin of Kiang-yuen (comp. yx M), and of ‘ the spirit-like 
 
 husbandman’ mentioned above. Sec Kang-hi’s Die. under j and 
 
 Shoo-king, III. i. Ft. i. 62. 
 
L72] 
 
 a shephei'dess) treading in the great- toe-print of God, * 
 according to the Poetry. The western origin of this 
 race is everywhere apparent. 
 
 * Ti, God is supposed by some Chinese commentators to be used occa 
 sionally for ‘ great,’ as Elohim is in Hebrew. 
 
[ 73 ] 
 
 CrFt^VPTlilli 
 
 Conclusions. 
 
 At whatever time the first inliabitaiits came into 
 China from beyond Hindu-Ciish, we may be sure they 
 did not come as a single pair or family ; and did not 
 pass over the intervening space in one journey con- 
 tinued from day to day. d'he idea of a few indivi- 
 duals detaching themselves from the race and travel- 
 ling over 2000 miles of country inhabited by wild 
 beasts is out of the question. As the branches of the 
 banian naturally retain their connection with the 
 central trunk, while they make provision for acci- 
 dental isolation by striking new roots of their own ; 
 so the various families spreading out from the one 
 ])arent race of man would naturally continue to hold 
 intercourse with one another, and especially with the 
 stationary portion of the race. When isolation came 
 it would not be of choice but of necessity ; or after 
 strife and arrogance had overcome the natural ten- 
 dency to coalesce, which was exemplified in the plain 
 of Shinar. At the same time there would always be 
 wild roving spirits still venturing further and further 
 leyond the limits of the inhabited country, and such 
 we might expect to be the first to reach any given 
 place far removed from the centre of the world’s 
 
[ 74 ] 
 
 population and civilization. Their roving liabits 
 would lead to degeneracy in intellectual culture and 
 the arts of civilized life. Hence, granting that man 
 primeval was something superior to a savage or an 
 ape, we need not necessarily expect to find the first 
 iidiabitants *of any remote country equal, much less 
 superior, to their progenitors. 
 
 The comparatively inhospitable climate and soil of 
 Tibc’t would accelerate the eastward migration of such 
 hordes as first found their way into that country. 
 
 Nomadic tribes would naturally precede the more 
 settled or agricultural people ; and when the latter, 
 tempted by the report of a richer land ahead, ad- 
 vanced to colonize tlie far east, they would bring 
 with them more of the central civilization, as latest 
 arrivals bring latest news. These would by their 
 intellectual superiority be fitted to rule, while the 
 nomadic tribes Avould exceed them in strength and 
 numbers. Still the difference Avould not be so great 
 as to prevent free intercourse and intermarriage, 
 which would soon obliterate all distinctions. Wide 
 intermarriage has always been the rule in China. In 
 earliest times the farmers’ sons wooed the shepherds’ 
 dauGfliters ; and to this day a father-in-law is called 
 Yoh-fuj ' Mountain-fatlier,’ — a remembrance of the 
 ancient custom. One of the Emperors of Chow hav- 
 ing married a ^ Lady Shepherd,’ which was no un- 
 common thing with them, appointed, we are told, his 
 brother-in-law to be chief of Seay, a place about a 
 hundred miles north of Hankow, and on the occasion 
 a poem ^vas made in praise of the Shepherd family, 
 beginning thus : — 
 
 Great and lofty are the mountains, 
 Towering to the heavens blue. 
 
 Down the mountains send their spirit, 
 Giving birth to Shin and Po. 
 
 I 
 
[75J 
 
 Sliin is the brotlier-in-law ; and Po is tlio person 
 called ^ the prince of Leu ’ in the Shoo-kiiig V. xxvii. 
 
 The only race which seems to have stood out 
 against this process of amalgamation is the Miau-tsze. 
 They may he a remnant of the same people who op- 
 posed the Pleaites 4000 years ago, who were supposed 
 to be in the neighbourhood of Hankow just before 
 the Christian era, and who are still found in the south 
 of China, though little known to Europeans as yet. 
 
 It has heen suggested in a former chapter, from the 
 situation of the rivers, that the whole of south-eastern 
 Asia was probably peopled from Tibet. Now the 
 highest part of the Yang-tsze (the Black-water lies 
 west of the sources of the Hwang-ho, and would mark 
 for many miles the common route of all that portion 
 of the people who were moving towards China. They 
 would only separate near the sources of the Ho; 
 some choosing that stream ; and others the Kiang, 
 which there turns southward. Those who chose the 
 latter became the hingovernable vermin of the south.’ 
 But they also had a ^spirit-like husbandman’ among 
 them, as those of the Hwang-Ho had a Yu and a 
 Tseih. They had however no See, or independent 
 invention or writing, and were indebted to their nor- 
 thern neighbours for the art, which gradually spread 
 from the Hwang-ho north and south, till, with inter- 
 marriage and other causes, it combined to make the 
 inhabitants of China from the Great Wall to Canton, 
 and from Tibet to the Pacific Ocean, one people. 
 The idea of hieroglyphic writing was, I believe, first 
 introduced by western traders,’ (]^ means 
 
 Traders) during the supremacy of the Heaites, be- 
 tween 2000 and 1600 B. C. These Traders, the 
 Shangites, about the latter date, under T^ang the 
 
 * The modern name is Katsi-oulan or Muru-ussu. 
 
[TG] 
 
 Successful, upset the rule of Ilea, and took possession 
 of Slian-si and Honan, driving the Heaites towards 
 the coast. They ruled for about 550 years; — w^e 
 must keep to round numbers,. The current chrono- 
 logy of this period is rejected as wdthout any au- 
 thority, and because in the bare list of reigns given, 
 in two instances, a son dies more than a hundred years 
 after his father ; to wit, Thii-mau, son of Tbai-k^ang, 
 and Siau-yih, son of Tsoo-ting. For similar reasons 
 and in order to make the names of days of the moon 
 in the Shoo-king, agree with our calculations, we 
 should make the rule of the Chowites, who came in 
 their turn to drive the Shangites out of the Central 
 Land, to commence B. C. 1048. This differs only 
 by one year from the Bamboo Books. 
 
 Thus acting upon the caution of Mencius, who tells 
 us, ‘ it would be better to be without the Book of 
 History than to give entire credit to it,’ I have en- 
 deavoured to strike the due mean between credulity 
 and scepticism ; with wdiat success, I must leave my 
 readers to judge. The following are some of the 
 most important results of our analysis. 
 
 I. 
 
 It is true that there were people in China before 2000 
 B.C., or the dynasty of the Heaites. 
 
 It is not true that there w^as a great empire and di- 
 vine emperors in China before the Hea dynasty. 
 
[77] 
 
 II. 
 
 It is true that the Heaites encountered and to some 
 extent overcame the difficulty of cultivating a fiat 
 country exposed to the inundations of a great 
 river ; and that they were the ruling race in 
 China for about 400 years (2000 — 1600 B. C.). 
 
 It is not true that the founder of the Idea dynasty, 
 named Yu, assuaged a great flood whicli covered 
 the hills of China. 
 
 III. 
 
 It is true that in the time of the Ileaitcs, and perhaps 
 before, there were people in China who tilled 
 the ground and cultivated grain. 
 
 It is not true that there was a man before the Ilea 
 dynasty named ^ Spirit-husbandman,’ wdio intro- 
 duced and perfected agriculture ; or a man 
 named ‘ Grain,’ who first sowed all kinds 
 of corn. 
 
 IV. 
 
 It is true that hieroglyphic writing was practised in 
 China by the Shangites as early as 1600 B. C. 
 (Shoo-king IV. v. Pt. i. 2) 
 
 It is not true that there was a man named ^Writings,’ 
 who superintended education before 2000 B. C. 
 
 V. 
 
 It is true that the founders of fresh dynasties — Shang 
 1600, — Chow 1048, — Tshn 220 B. C. — came im- 
 mediately from the west, from the people called 
 Jung or ‘western barbarians.’ 
 
 It is not true that the remote ancestors of all the 
 founders of dynasties were in China as great 
 chiefs and ministers of hero-gods before 2000 B. C, 
 
The people and the civilization of China are deriv^ed 
 from the west, and only some important inven- 
 tions belong to the race. 
 
 And it is not true that the Chinese and their civili- 
 zation are derived from primeval Tis and Sages^ 
 ‘ Avlio invented and taught such philosophy and 
 other learning as were never read of nor heard 
 of by any men before.’ 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Dele a superfluous r after /eiii two cases iiiiiotCj page 36. 
 
 The asterisk is misplaced on page 47. 
 
 The syllable tau, is omitted under TU page 54^ and 
 hwang under WANG page 55. 
 
 The character should be next to ^ in note 
 page 59. 
 
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Date Due 
 
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