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ºilº HISTORY || ||
China, Corea, Japan. |
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THE
OHA UTAUQUA:
TEXT-B00 KS.
“And these from the land of Sinim."-Isa. 49. I2.
No. THIRTY-FOUR.
ASIATIC HISTORY.
CHINA, COREA, JAPAN.
By REV, WM. ELLIOT gRIFFIS
Formerly of the Imperial University of Tokio, Japan.
-
-º-º-
NEW YORK :
PH I L L I P S & H U N T .
CINCINNATI :
W.A. L.D E N & S T O W E.
I882.

Copyright, 1881, by
P H 1 L L 1 P s & H U N T.
New York.
g
K,
º
{
23
P R E F A C E .
3.
“SINIM,” “Kathay,” “China ’’—these
words, even in this century of commerce
and exploration, suggest isolation and
mystery. It seems impossible for our
American people and newspapers to bring
the Chinese land and people into the
light of common day, and speak of them.
with Sympathy and without exaggeration.
The youngest and the oldest peoples are
now looking into each other's faces in
each other's streets, yet know not each
other.
It may seem presumptuous to attempt
to sketch in a few tiny pages the develop-
ment of the only nation in the world
whose history is as ancient as the oldest
and as fresh as the latest. Yet one grain
of the salt of truth may be good leaven in
the meal of public opinion. China, unlike
Africa, or aboriginal America, or even
India, is not a collection of diverse tribes
or races, but is one great nation, worthy
2004] 3
4 PREFACE.
of our respect, and even emulation. Our
free republic, now beginning her second
century, may profitably study the political
system of the freest people in Asia, and
inquire into that secret of their marvelous
longevity. China's government is the bal-
ance between local forms of liberty and
centralized authority, lacking the great
middle term of 2ndºvzduality, which in
western lands has been so fruitful of his—
tory and progress. China has survived
the wrecks of the ancient, mediaeval, and
modern world. The true elixir of life for
nations, quaffed alike by the Israelites and
the Chinese, may be distilled from the Si-
nai commandment which promises length
of life upon the land in which parents are
honored. Filial piety is the basis and
conserver Óf Chinese civilization. Vary-
ing influences of climate, environment of
life, diet, dress, habits, religion, foreign
ideas, profound changes in the national
character, the absorption of alien races—
have all yielded to that universal solvent,
educatzon, which during forty centuries
has operated to produce a unique type of
character.
Yet China has suffered from Agnosti-
PREFACE. 5
cism, (I Cor. I 5. 34,) and hence from
lack of true progress. Had Confucius
chosen to retain closely and reverently
Shang Ti (God) in his knowledge, the story
of China would have been different. In-
stead of love, he practiced etiquette to—
ward Heaven and Heaven's occupant.
He honored God, but kept Him far from
him. An arrested development and stunt-
ed civilization; low morals, not higher
than Proverbs, but loftier than Franklin's,
yet vastly below the Sermon on the Mount,
are China's heritage from her greatest
sage. Yet, pagans though the Chinese
be, their morals are no lower than those
of the ancient pagans of Europe from
whom we are descended.
The parable of the Sower has been well
illustrated in the sporadic introduction of
the various forms of Christianity in China.
It may be that the wayside, the thorns,
the rocks, typify the forms of missionary
labor which are not based upon the word
of God. That which is to bear rich har-
vest must be founded on the Scriptures,
and not on tradition or outward array.
The failure of mediaeval Christian missions
in China teach rather the unwisdom of
6 PREFACE.
their method, than any discouragement
to the present or future. In the final glo-
rious success of that form of the religion
of Christ which puts his blessed Gospel
in the homes and hearts of the Chinese,
we fully believe.
In compiling this little outline of China's
thistory we have avoided many strange
names, and have dwelt upon the links of
common origin and historic connection
with western nations. Modern research
is yearly adding new proofs of the unity
of the Chinese and Euphratean nations,
pointing to the vicinity, if not to the iden-
tity, of their ancestral seats in Central or
Western Asia. The results, often the
very words, of Legge, Klaproth, Mayers,
Williams, Martin, Douglas, Yule, Rich-
thofen, Bretschneider, Palladius, and oth-
ers, have been freely used and set forth
in the following volume. Little has been
written on Corea in any European lan-
guage, except by the French missionaries.
Qn Japanese subjects, Satow, Aston, and
the members of the Asiatic Society of
Japan, have, within the last decade,
poured a flood of light, so that we are
able to read the story of the Sunrise
FREEACE. 7
Country with some of the clearness which
the name suggests.
Corea and Japan having received much
of their civilization from China, we have
added a sketch of their history. Each
are distinct and independent nations. No
series of events in modern times has at-
tracted more attention than the recent
profound changes in the national life of
Japan. There are signs of the times now
pointing to the opening of Corea also to
the world. In all these lands the leaven
of Christianity is also working, which
gives their history an added interest.
W.M. ELLIOT GRIFFIS.
ScHENECTADY, N. Y., June, 1881.
INTRODUCTORY.
A GLANCE AT THE MAP.
ON a good map of China, locate the
following:
Trace from source to sea the HOANG,
YANG-TSE, and SE, AEzang, or rivers.
The GREAT WALL, with SU-CHOW at
the west end, “the door of the empire,”
and TIEN-TSIN near the east end.
SINGAN (fu) in SHEN-SE province, the
capital of China for 200 years.
Locate PEKING, NANKING, FU-CHOW,
SHANGHAI, CANTON, HONG KONG.
AMOY, NING-PO, KAI-FUNG.
Trace the Grand Canal from HANG-
CHOW to the Yellow River.
Provinces, KAN-SU, SHEN-SE, SHAN-
SE, CHI - LI, SHAN - TUNG, HO - NAN,
KWANG-TUNG, YUN-NAN, SZE-CHUEN.
Find the AMOOR, USURI, and YALU
Rivers.
Note along the 40th parallel the great
INTRODUCTORY. 9
highway of Asia. Near, or on it, lie Pe-
king, Kashgar, Constantinople, Philadel-
phia, St. Louis, and San Francisco.
THE CHINESE EMPIRE.
GEOGRAPHY. — The Chinese Empire
comprises one third of the Asian continent
and one ninth of the dry land of the globe.
Of the five great landed governments of
the world, China, in area, ranks third ;
the British and Russian exceeding, and
the United States and Brazil falling short-
The area of the Middle Kingdom includes
between four and five millions square
miles of territory. So great is the popu-
lation, that if all the inhabitants of China
were scattered throughout the world,
every third or fourth man met in going
round it would be a Chinaman.
BOUNDARIES.—Its boundaries are, on.
the north, the Altai Mountains, and the
Amoor River, which separate it from Si-
beria; on the east, the Usuri and Yalu
Rivers, which separate it from the Russian
possessions and from Corea, and by the
Yellow, Eastern, and China Seas ; on the
south, by Annam, Burmah, and the Him-
alaya Mountains, which divide it from
TIO INTRODUCTORY,
Hindustan; and on the west by Siberia,
Turkestan, and the Himalayas.
The natural boundaries which have so
long isolated the Chinese from the rest of
Imankind are mountains, rivers, and seas.
Her political neighbors are now Russia,
“Great Britain, and France. The sea has
become a highway. Japan has adopted
Tmodern civilization. China lies between
Siberia and India, between the rival Rus-
sian and British Empires. The struggle
for the “balance of power" has been
transferred to Asia, and is going on around
*China. Russia, since 1860, has obtained
Annooria from China and Saghalin from
Japan. England, since 1842, has held
Hong Kong. France, since 1867, has ob-
tained lower Cochin China, and is extend-
ing her empire in the peninsula.
- CHINA PROPER is a vast, fertile, undu-
flating plain, the most densely populated
in the world. It is two million square
miles in area, with little or no desert or
waste land. It is richly watered by the
three great rivers, HoANG, YANG-TSE,
and HANG, or SE-KIANG. The first two
have their sources in Tibet, and rush down
sloping channels to the sea. Three great
INTRODUCTORY. I 1
valleys are thus drained. The variegated
surface and the interacting influences of
mountains and ocean that encircle China
secure for the soil a constant and regular
rainfall, and consequent food supplies.
Over four hundred millions of people in-
habit China proper. Local famines, which
sometimes rage, arise from lack of good
roads and proper means of transportation.
Railroads will, in time, cure this inter-
mittent evil,
THE RIVERS OF CHINA.—The YEL-
Low River (Hoang-ho) in its northern
bend contains the ancestral seats of the
Chinese people, and its course has been
their path of early migration and empire.
Yet, by reason of the frequent floods
caused by its turbulent and erratic chan-
mel, it has been called “China's sorrow.”
It now flows in the shape of the letter S,
emptying into the Gulf of Pechili. Pre-
vious to 1853 it debouched into the sea,
south of the promontory of Shan-tung.
The oscillations of its course, north and
south, or its division into two streams,
which have occurred several times within
the historic era, make this river one of
the wonders of China. It has created an
I 2 INTRODUCTORY.
immense delta plain, and, by its frequent
floods, is a constant source of danger. It
awaits the genius and science of some
western engineer to be controlled as the
Mississippi has been controlled.
The YANG-TSE, (Spreading Son of the
Sea,) unlike the Yellow River, is naviga-
ble for over twelve hundred miles by
steamers, and three hundred miles farther
by junks. Its mouth is only about one
hundred miles south of the old ambouchure
of the Hoang-ho.
MANCHURIA consists of a series of
grassy plains thinly inhabited, drained
chiefly by the Sungari River, with an area
of 492,OOO square miles, over ten times
the size of New York State, and a popu-
lation of one and three quarter millions.
MONGOLIA is a series of Sandy plains,
very cold and dry. Its area is one and a
half million square miles, or one third the
size of Europe. It is inhabited by a pop-
ulation of about three millions.
ILI, or EASTERN TURKESTAN, con-
tains within it the routes of commerce
between Eastern and Western Asia. It
lapsed into rebellion in 1873, and the prov-
ince of KULDJA was claimed by Russia:
INTRODUCTORY. 13
but in 1878 the Chinese reconquered their
lost territory, and in 1881 Kuldja was
formally retroceded to China. The area
of Ili is 600,000 square miles, and the
population numbers one million.
These three divisions, Manchuria, Mon-
golia, and Ili, all lie on a belt of desert
plateau which was very probably once a
great inland Sea, or Asiatic Mediterra-
nean, which, by some upheaval of the
earth's crust, has become dry, thus chang-
ing the climate of this early home of man
from a genial constant character, tending
to longevity and suggesting the biblical
antediluvian standard of life, to the ex-
tremes of heat in summer and of cold in
winter. The meaning of GOBI, the great
Sahara of Mongolia, is “dried-up sea.”
The buried cities of these plains, the great
bridges of heavy masonry, and the marks
of erosion by water seen in the northern
parts of the Chinese Empire, where water
is now rarely noticed, seem to prove the
existence of a more genial climate and of
streams of water having an outlet south
of the great mountains on the north of
China.
This line of desert plateaus and the
14 INTRODUCTORY.
land north of it, now so sparsely inhab-
ited, has in times past nourished the vast
hordes which, under various dynastic
names, (HUN, TURK, TATAR,+ MONGOL,
MAN CHIU, etc.,) have rushed forth to
conquer and destroy empires, (ROMAN,
PERSIAN, INDIAN, CHINESE.) They have
furnished to China a periodic infusion of
fresh blood and vigor, and several dynas-
ties of emperors. This ebb and flow of
population seems a distinctly marked law
in North-eastern Asia.
TIBET is the highest plateau in the
world, surrounded by mountains, snows,
and glaciers, which are the cradles of the
mighty rivers that irrigate India, Turkes-
tan, Burmah, and China. It is as large as
Mexico, its area being over 700,000 square
miles. Population, 8,000,000.
ORIGIN OF THE CHINESE.-The na-
tive literature gives no account of the ori-
* Tatar is the generic Chinese term for vassal or
tribute-payer. Hence the “Kin Tatars,” “Mongol
Tatars,” etc. When the latter, penetrating Russia,
threatened to overwhelm Christendom, the monks,
struck with the resemblance of their name to Tartar,
or Tartarus, (hell, or the infernal regions,) and quite
willing to locate the origin of the scourge, introduced
the incorrect spelling of Tartar.
INTRODUCTORY. 15,
gin of the Chinese people. Fabulists and
myth-makers later than CONFUCIUS in-
vented long lines of dynasties to fill the
gap between the period when Heaven and
Earth united to produce man, and the
birth of Confucius. The sage himself be-
gins the history of China with the reign
of YAO, (2356 B.C.,) and none of the native
historians accept the accounts of antiquity
prior to 2852 B.C. All epochs previous
to this are purely imaginary.
The LEGENDARY period extends from
2356 to II 22 B.C.
The SEMI-HISTORICAL period extends
from I 122 to 770 B.C.
The HISTORIC period (770 B.C.–1881
A.D.) may be subdivided as follows:
The FEUDAL period, 770–209 B.C.
The HAN dynasties, 209 B.C. — 190,
A.D.
Fifteen minor dynasties, 190—618 A.D.
The TANG dynasties, 618–905 A.D.
The FIVE Posterior dynasties, 905–960.
A.D.
The SUNG dynasties, 960–1278 A.D.
The MONGOL, or YUAN dynasty, 1280–
I333 A.D.
The MING dynasty, 1333–1628 A.D.
I 6 INTRODUCTORY.
The TA-TSING dynasty, 1628 – 1881
A.D.
CONNECTION WITH BIBLICAL AND
WESTERN HISTORY. — The point at
which CONFUCIUS begins the history of
China is contemporaneous with that of
NOAH, (according to Usher.) During the
time from NOAH to SOLOMON, while the
INDO-GERMANIC nations were moving
into Europe, the CHINESE were migrating
eastward from some point in Central or
Western Asia, making their highway along
the 40th parallel. The movement toward
the East began several centuries before
ABRAHAM set out from the Chaldees.
Passing by the hypotheses that make
Moah and Aºuk-/.2 identical, that find the
name JEHOVAH in Lao Tsze's I-HI-WEI,
and others as unsustained, modern re-
search finds Chinese mathematics and as-
tronomy based on that of Chaldaea; their
divisions of time are identical with those
of the brick tablets of Nineveh of the
ante-Abrahamic age, (the unit of division
being sixty.) One exception to their deci-
mal system occurs in the Azm or “pound,”
which is divided into sixteen “ounces" or
parts. Recent scholars claim to have es-
INTRODUCTORY. 17
tablished a close correspondence between
the ancient pronunciation of the Chinese
characters and the Accadian hieroglyphs,
out of which the arrow-headed characters
grew, while the system of formation is
largely the same. -
ORIGIN of THE NAME CHINA.—The
terms China and Chinese are Anglicized
forms of the ancient native word “Tsin,”
“Chin,” or “Sin,” used long before the
TSIN dynasty, (255–109 B.C.,) and found
in the Sanskrit, Persian, and Hebrew.
The laws of Menu speak of “the Chinas;”
Isaiah, (49. 12) of “SINIM;” and Clau-
dius Ptolemy of “the SINAE.” The root-
idea lies, probably, in the word žsan, (silk-
worm.) China is the home of the silk-
worm and the land of silk. The Egyp-
tians, Greeks, and Romans spoke fre-
quently of the Chinese as the SERES, and
the term serižos (whence our word silk)
occurs in Rev. 18. I2.
The Chinese call their country “The
Middle Kingdom,” “Central Flowery
Land,” or from the various dynasties—the
latest being “Ta-Tsing,” (Great Pure,)
after the ruling house. The old idea of a
central civilized empire, surrounded by
2
18 INTRODUCTORY.
barbarians, is very slowly passing out of
the Chinese mind. For ages China was
as a giant among pigmies. Many of the
So-called inventions of the Chinese, when
examined, are seen to be of Western origin-
Many of the legends and ideas current in
China since the Christian era are transpa-
rent imitations of Hindu and Persian
Originals.
Yet from very ancient times, and for
centuries, the Chinese alone had tea, silk,
paper, jade, porcelain, clocks, printing, the
magnetic needle, and gunpowder, antici-
pating modern civilization in many im-
portant discoveries. Appointment to pub-
lic office on the basis of merit has existed
in China for sixteen centuries.
The GREAT HIGHWAY of Asia lies
along the 40th parallel. From the Cas-
pian Sea it passes through Turkestan and
Kashgar, along the bases of Thian-shan
Mountains, in the valley of the Kashgar
Daria, and over the desert to the west end
of the Great Wall, which the Chinese have
built to the Kea-yu gate, (long. 176° E.
from Washington,) which is “the door of
the empire.” Thence the road leads to
SINGAN, the national capital during two
INTROID U CTORY. 19.
thousand years; thence to Peking and to
the other great cities. Along this road,
which is the natural railway route of the:
future, came the first settlers of China—
the India Buddhists, the Romans, Nestor-
ians, Genoese, Franciscans, and Russians,
in ancient, mediaeval, or modern times.
In this age of steam the route to China is
now mainly by water; but the locomotive,
built from the iron and fed by the coal of
Shan-se, will doubtless yet bring the tea.
of Amoy and the silk of Honan to Samar-
cand, Vienna, and Paris. One great cause
of Chinese lack of progress has been their
isolation from the rest of mankind. Where:
nature has not raised barriers China has
built them. The road into Central Asia.
was for centuries the only loop-hole
through which she looked out upon the
world. In the early and middle centuries
of the Christian era it was lined with cities
and fortifications. In some known in-
stances, envoys from Europe, Egypt, and
India, even in ancient times, reached
China through, or by Sea around, Cochin.
China.
ASIATIC HISTORY.
CHINA.
THE NATIVE HISTORY.
LET us now glance at Chinese history
as told by themselves.
In the graylight of native tradition we be-
hold a small body of immigrants, who are
rude savages, following the course of the
Yellow River eastward. They are semi-
nomads, without fire, woven clothing, or
houses, yet with a tendency to fixed habits
of labor. Under a chief whose name sig-
nifies “Having a nest,” they are taught
to build huts, and settle in villages in the
province of SHEN-SE, which lies in the
great bend of the Yellow River. Under
their next leader, (the Fire-producer,)
they learn the use of fire, are taught to
look up to and worship Heaven, and to
register time by knotted cords.
FUH-HI was the founder of social order.
$2.2 ASIATIC HISTORY.
IHe established the laws of marriage, gave
the rudiments of the Chinese political
system, taught arts and sciences, and in-
troduced written characters. Silk was
soon after discovered, and the plow in-
vented and put to use.
Under the reign of TAO, (at which Con-
fucius begins his history,) 2356 B.C., the
empire had extended to the sea, and
southward below the YANG-TSE River.
Great marts and fairs were established,
flooded lands drained, and the golden
age, described and set forth as a model to
succeeding ages by Confucius, was ushered
in. The later successors of Tao were de-
generate, the last being dethroned in a
popular uprising.
In the SHANG dynasty, (1766–1154
B.C.,) which succeeded, there were twen-
ty-eight rulers, most of them vicious and
cruel.
In the time of the CHow dynasty
(II22–255 B.C.) all traces of nomadic life
had disappeared, agriculture was univers-
ally established, great public works were
constructed, and arts and sciences flour-
ished.
WU-WANG, or King Wu, was the
CHINA. 23
founder of the Chow dynasty. He com-
mitted the mistake of “dividing the em-
pire into a family estate.” He broke up
his realm into seventy-two principalities,
in order to reward his relatives and mili-
tary vassals, and to conciliate the relatives
of former emperors. Thus began the
FEUDAL SYSTEM under which China was
governed for over NINE HUNDRED years.
At first, with the blessings of peace, liter-
ature and gentle arts flourished. The
Chow dynasty covers the period of CLAS-
SICAL CHINA. The picture of the times
as given by Confucius in his narratives,
doctrinal teachings, and in the ancient
odes, which he edited and preserved for
Tosterity, is that of the FEUDAL PERIOD.
Ičings, dukes, and marquises, lords and
ladies, steeds and chariots, feasts and
ceremonies, palaces and castles, fill the
scene, and present the bright side of feud-
alism. Luxury, misrule, and internecine
war soon, however, brought the nation to
the deepest distress, in the midst of which
CONFUCIUS was born, 551 B.C.
China’s three greatest sages flourished
within about a century or two of each
other, at about the time of the captivity
24 ASIATIC HISTORY.
of the Jews in Babylon. They were LAO
TSZE, KUNG FU TSZE, and MENG KO.
The names of the two latter have been
Latinized” into CONFUCIUS and MEN-
CIU S.
LAO TSZE, (604–515 B.C.,) the contem-
porary of Daniel, and who may have de-
rived his ideas from India, taught doctrines
which resemble the theories of the Brah-
mins: Creation from a vast, intangible,
impersonal first principle, self-existing and
self-developing, the mother of all things;
man must fulfill this principle in himself
by freedom from mental distraction. Lao
Tsze's teachings paved the way for the
metaphysics of India and for Buddhism,
because they satisfied a mental craving
not provided for in the simple materialism
of Confucius. They issued in Tao-ism,
and degenerated into the pursuit after the
elixir of life, the philosopher's stone, the
transmutation of metals, corporeal immor-
tality, the fountain of youth, the multipli-
* If the Jesuits in Peking during the seventeenth.
century had Latinized a few more ſamous Chinese
words, they would now be as familiarly known in
Christendom as are certain less worthy names in west-
ern history.
CHINA. 25s
cation of amulets, rituals, charms, and
festivals, polytheism, idol worship, geo-
mancy, and the ſeng-Shuey (wind and wa-
ter) superstitions.
CONFUCIUS taught nothing new. He
simply collected, preserved, expounded,
and emphasized the traditions and teach-
ings of the ancients. The PRIMEVAL
RELIGION consisted of the double wor-
ship of GOD and of ancestors. It was.
monotheism with an inferior worship of
spirits. Dr. Legge and many scholars.
translate the term SHANG TI by “JEHO-
VAH,” or “GOD.” FILIAL PIETY is the
basis of ethics. All duties are compre-
hended within “THE FIVE RELATIONS:”
between ruler and subject, parent and
child, husband and wife, elder brother
and younger brother, friend and friend.
The sixth, or first, relation between
God and man, Confucius neglected. The
emperor worships God or Heaven, the
higher magistrates worship the spirits,
the people worship their ancestors. By
setting before the Chinese a visible, attain-
able ideal of life, China’s civilization was
destined to be durable but stationary.
The sage cut the tap-root of all progress
$26 ASIATEC EIISTORY.
by discouraging any aspiration after the
infinite. He did his country and people
immense good, and incalculable harm.
China, the oldest of nations, has survived
all other ancient peoples, and is to-day
the living witness to the promised truth
contained in the fourth commandment:
“Honor thy father and thy mother, that
zhy days amay be long upon the Zand which
the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Yet filial
piety and the worship of ancestors have
displaced true religion and the worship of
'God.
The writings of Confucius, which in-
fluence one third of the human race, are
the basis of the Chinese social, political,
moral, and educational systems, and form
the national bible. The only hereditary
nobles in China are the descendants of
Confucius.
MENCIUS, (372–289 B.C.,) who studied
Tunder a disciple of Confucius, elaborated
and made popular the ethics of the sage,
and is reverenced next to his great mas-
ter. His writings, with those of Confu-
cius, form “the Chinese classics.” Among
the reforms wrought by the sages was the
abolition of the custom of slaying servants
CHINA. 27
to accompany the master in his death.
Earthen images were substituted in place
of the living victims. Later, straw images
were used, and the custom still survives
in burning figures of paper at the grave.
CHINA AND THE WEST DURING THIS
EPOCH.—China was known to the nations
of the west during the Chow dynasty.
The inscriptions on vases and bottles found
in ancient tombs in EGYPT, and recently
deciphered by native scholars, point to
active commerce with the Chinese during
this epoch. ISAIAH prophecies of those
who should come from the far east, “the
land of Sinim.” Isa. 49. I2. Silk import-
ed from China was woven in the island of
Cos, and sold in Europe 300 B.C.
CYRUS, DARIUS HYSTASPES, ALEX-
ANDER, and their empires, flourished dur-
ing the Chow dynasty. The PERSIANS
became the common carriers of silk and
other Chinese products to the western
nations. ARISTOTLE was the first to de-
scribe Chinese silk and the silk-worm cor-
rectly. It is not at all impossible that
SOLOMON's fleets visited China. The Chi-
nese have passed through many forms and
several radical changes of government,
28 ASIATIC HISTORY.
perhaps through as many as the French :
the patriarchal, regal, feudal, centralized
forms with a varying balance of power be-
tween sovereign and people, of imperial-
ism and democracy. As the Romańs had
their kings, consuls, and emperors, so the
Chinese have had their Ti, Wang, and
Whang Ti.
These sages, however, were unable dur-
ing their life-time to check the progress
of vice and anarchy, and in 255 B.C. the
Chow dynasty came to an end.
The TSIN DYNASTY (255–209 B.C.)
gave five rulers to the nation, one of whom
was Prince Cheng, who took the title of
First Universal Emperor, (SHH WHANG-
TI.) He abolished the feudal system,
maintained order, drove back the HUN
TATAR hordes into the desert, built the
GREAT WALL,” and extended the empire.
* The “Long Wall of Ten Thousand Li,” as the
Chinese call the Great Wall, is the most stupendous.
monument of human industry in existence. It is 1,255.
miles long in a straight line. In its windings it is fully
1,500 miles long, and would stretch from Delaware
Bay to Kansas. It bridges many rivers, crosses high.
mountains, is doubled at important passes, and has
brick towers at regular intervals. It is on an average 25
feet high and 20 feet thick, and was constructed by
CHINA. 29
to the limits of modern China. He was
unpopular with the men of letters, who
admired feudalism. To break with the
past, he ordered all literature to be de-
stroyed, while hundreds of the literazz
were beheaded. After his death rebellion
broke out, and the HAN dynasties, 206
B.C.–190 A.D., were established.
Henceforth no line of rulers occupied
the throne for as long a period as three
centuries, most of them lasting a much
shorter time.
THE JEWS IN CHINA.—At some time
during the reign of the Han, a colony of
JEWS entered China, and settled in Ho-
nan province. Synagogues were estab-
lished at Ningpo, Kai-fung, and other
places. These CHINESE JEWS still re-
main, though unable to read their Script-
ures. They are known as “the sect that
plucks out the sinew.” In the heart of
China their memorial stones remain to-
day bearing witness to JEHOVAH and
uniting together several walls already built by the
feudal States, the object being as much for impression
as for strength. It failed of its purpose, as we shall
see. Though dilapidated in places, it is still guarded
and occasionally repaired.
30 ASIATIC HISTORY-
Moses. They knew not, until ſately, of
the destruction of Jerusalem nor of the
atonement of Christ. In the desert of
paganism the stream of Israel's truth,
though flowing for centuries, has been al-
most utterly lost. Several very ancient
rolls of portions of the Old Testament in
Hebrew have been obtained from these
Chinese Jews. Christian missionaries now
instruct their children.
LITERATURE AND WAR.—Under the
(Western) HANS (206 B.C.–23 A.D.) lit-
erature was revived, the ancient texts were
recovered and engraved on stone. The
invention of ink and paper replaced the
iron stylus and bamboo slats or tablets
on which the classics had been inscribed.
Many new scholars arose, and libraries
were established. Beyond the frontier
Chinese generals drove the Tatar hordes
as far west as Turkestan, and added
Mongolia to the empire. A line of cities
stretched across Asia from Singan to
Khiva. So brilliant was this era that the
Chinese proudly call themselves, “The
sons of Han.”
CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS.—
About the commencement of the Chris-
CHINA. 3 ||
tian era a democratic element was intro-
duced into the constitution of the empire,
by virtue of which appointments to office
were not left to the caprice of the sover–
eign or his favorites. The system of
COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION of candi–
dates was founded, and “CIVIL SERVICE.
REFORM " became thus early an accom-
plished fact. The plan was found to work
so well that it was adopted, and greatly
improved, by succeeding dynasties. It
continues in force to the present day, and
is prized by the Chinese as the ballot-box.
is cherished by the Americans. (Martin.)
Public office is the reward of scholarship,
and every man may rise by his own exer–
tions. The poorest lad may become the:
governor of a province or the counselor
of the emperor. China is the most per-
manent democracy in the world, though.
presided over by a patriarchal emperor.
Yet henceforth China was destined to
change dynasties with a frequency that
suggests any thing but stagnation. From
the first historical line of rulers, more than
thirty dynasties have occupied the throne.
of China. Few endure longer than two
centuries.
32 ASIATIC HISTORY.
The EASTERN HAN dynasty (25–190
A.D.) was so-called from its capital in
Honan. Buddhism was introduced in
A.D. 68, by two Hindu missionaries who
rode on white horses from Cabul. Thir-
teen years before, Christianity crossed the
AEgean Sea and entered Europe. “Bud-
dhism covered China with monasteries and
images; Christianity covered Europe with
churches and charitable institutions. Just
as Christianity conquered the Western
world, so Buddhism the Eastern ; and this
it was able to do because it rejected caste,
and taught the brotherhood of humanity.”
(Edkins.) The form of Buddhism preva-
lent in China is known as the “Northern.”
It required many centuries to propagate
it throughout the empire, whence it was
carried to Corea and Japan. Its general
acceptance in China has demonstrated the
capacity and willingness of the nation to
receive a new and “foreign " religion. A
Roman embassy came partly by land and
partly by sea, in the year 166 A.D., to
China.
The epoch from 190 to 265 A.D. was
one of war and misrule, called “THE
EPOCH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS.”
CHINA, 33
Under the TSIN dynasties—WESTERN,
(265 – 313 A.D.,) EASTERN, (317 – 419
A.D.)—an embassy from Constantinople,
sent by Theodosius, arrived at the Chinese
capital. The Tatars of the North con-
tinued their attacks on the border prov-
inces of the Chinese and the Roman
Empires, and set up an independent
kingdom.
Fifteen minor dynasties filled out the
troubled period between 419 and 618 A.D.
During this time two Nestorian monks,
stimulated by the promises of the Roman
Emperor Justinian, penetrated Central
Asia, into China, and obtained some silk-
worms' eggs, which they hid in their staves
and brought to Constantinople, and pre-
sented to Justinian. These silk-worms
became the parent stock of the silk indus-
try of Southern Europe.
The ever-threatening danger from the
Tatars beyond the Great Wall was
averted for a time, by these marauding
nomads turning aside from China to over-
run and ravage the Roman Empire, which
they did under ATTILA. The Tatars of
this period were called by the Chinese
Hun-nu ; by the Romans, Huns. The
3
34 ASIATIC HISTORY.
Chinese name for the Roman Empire was
Ta Tsin.
THE GREAT TANG DYNASTY.—The
great TANG dynasty, one of the longest
in the annals of historic China, began its
course in 618, lasting until 905 A.D. TAI-
TSUNG opened his brilliant era, first by
bribing, and then by conquering the Ta-
tars, now called Turks. The empire of
China was extended from the Caspian Sea.
to the Pacific Ocean. Embassies from
Rome, Nipal, Persia, Japan, and from
tributary nations, as Corea and Tibet,
arrived, and often met at the court of
China. Christianity was preached at the
capital, Singan, by Olopen, a Nestorian
priest, who founded Churches and met with
fair success. This form of Christianity
flourished in a limited number of places
during two centuries, until extirpated by
persecution. The EMPRESS WU, the
most vigorous woman in Chinese history,
usurped the throne for twenty years, (684-
704 A.D.) The Chinese armies won many
victories over the Arabs, Tibetans, North-
ern Tatars, and Coreans. The HAN LIN
YUAN, (Forest of Pencils,) or the IMPE-
RIAL ACADEMY, was founded. The art
CHINA. 35
of printing by blocks imparted a power-
ful stimulus to the intellectual activity of
the age, immense libraries were founded,
and the GOLDEN AGE OF LITERATURE
began with the use of the printing-press.
Under the later sovereigns of the house
of Tang, Christianity, Buddhism, and
Magianism were abolished, and their
teachers exiled. Buddhism revived under
a subsequent reign. The only relic of
Nestorian Christianity in China is the in-
scription at Singan, dated 781, and dis-
covered in 1625. The words “China,”
and the “Chinese,” now began to be
heard in Europe, instead of the former
“Seres” and “Serices.” Tea and porce-
lain began to be known among the Arabs.
The Japanese, who had hitherto received
Buddhism and the Chinese literature and
arts by way of Corea, now began direct
communications with China.
Vice and effeminacy in the palace, aided
by eunuchs' plots, rapidly brought the
later sovereigns of the great Tang line to
their graves, and this brilliant dynasty
ended ingloriously.
During the Tang dynasty, while the
conquests of Mohammed's followers went
36 ASIATIC HISTORY.
on and the empire of the Khalifs flour-
ished, Chinese commerce with the Arabs
was vigorously carried on by sea and land.
Arab merchants established mercantile
houses in several Chinese ports, and ex-
ported goods even from Corea. Moham-
medanism took root, and mosques were
built in various cities. China now num-
bers many millions of Mussulman subjects.
The curious custom of binding the feet
of female children, in order to have tiny-
footed women, originated in the ninth
century. The Chinese call these hoof-
like deformities “Golden Lilies.” The
second emperor of the present dynasty
proposed, in the seventeenth century, to
abolish the custom, but desisted on being
assured of the opposition which his de-
cree would create—chiefly from the wom-
en themselves | Fashion conquered and
still reigns.
FIVE DYNASTIES held feeble sway be-
tween 907 and 960, when the SUNG dy-
nasty obtained the scepter, holding it un-
til displaced by the Mongols in 1278. A
fresh burst of LITERARY SPLENDOR
marked the era of the SUNGS, which is
the Augustan age of China. Comment-
CHINA. 37
aries, dictionaries, histories, cyclopedias,
and whole libraries on ethics, philosophy,
philology, geography, poetry, romance,
and other subjects, most of which are still
classic and readable, attest the extraordi-
nary mental fertility of this age. Yet,
while the nation was absorbed in literary
dalliance, the Mongols were rising in
power, like a flood.
Toward the end of the twelfth century
the Nestorian Christians were active in
Middle and Eastern Asia, and converted
the royal family of a Tatar tribe near
Lake Baikal, in Mongolia. They trans-
lated the name of the chief or king, Owang
Khan, into PRESTER JOHN, (after the sim-
ilarity in sound to the Hebrew Kahma –
priest; and Johann—John.) He issued
letters to the Pope and Kings of France
and Portugal. In I2O2 he became a vas-
sal of Génghis Khan, but long survived
in Western poetry as the priestly ruler of
an earthly paradise. (Gieseler.)
Who was GENGHIS KHAN ?— (1160–
1227.) Many discordant legends of his
birth and early life are given by various
authors. Recent research lends strong
color to the idea that he was none other
38 ASIATIC HISTORY.
than the Japanese general Yoshitsuné,
who fled from Japan in 1186. In 1212
GENGHIS KHAN, having defeated the
Kin Tartars, to whom he had been vassal,
divided his army into four divisions and
invaded China, establishing the Mongol
or YUAN dynasty on the dragon throne,
(1280–1333.) He extended his empire
from the Indus to Corea. Under KUBLAI
KHAN, grandson of Genghis, the Chinese
Empire reached the acme of glory. “From
the Arctic Ocean to the Straits of Ma-
lacca, from the Dnieper in Russia to the
Pacific, (except in Hindustan, Arabia, and
the extreme West of Asia,) all the rulers
of nations were his vassals and brought
tribute.” The laws were codified, litera-
ture and public works flourished, and
order was maintained over all Asia. For
half a century or more there was much
commerce with Venice and Genoa.
Princes, envoys, merchants, and priests
from Europe visited the court of the Great
Khan. Among others were Matteo and
Nicolo Polo, who made two overland jour-
neys from Italy to China ; on the second,
bearing letters from Pope Gregory X. to
the Chinese Emperor, and bringing with
CHINA. 39
them MARCO POLO, (1254–1324.) The
Polos spent many years in the service of
the Khan. Marco visited Tibet, Persia,
and Southern China, and for three years
was governor of a large city. They used
the paper money and Žassports then in
common use ; saw the GRAND CANAL
which, though dug long before, was
greatly improved by the Khan, and taught
the Mongols how to make the catapults
which were used on the mighty armada
sent, though vainly, in 1281 to conquer
Japan. After twenty years' absence the
Polos arrived in Italy in 1295, made known
the existence of Zipangu, or Japan, and
described Cathay, or China. Modern re-
search has confirmed Marco's statements,
which were at the time branded as false-
hoods.
The Franciscan friars Carpini and Ru-
louguis also visited the Chinese court.
Christian Churches were established by
Friar John of Monte Corino, Italy, and
his fellow-Franciscans, in Peking and sev-
eral other Chinese cities, (1295–1328.)
Embassies from the Popes and from the
Rhan exchanged courtesies at Avignon
and Peking, and “CATHAY " and “CAM-
40 ASIATIC HISTORY.
BALUC” (China and Peking) became well
known in Europe. While Italian mer-
chants, doctors, and priests were well
known in Chinese cities during the four-
teenth century, Chinese engineers and
physicians won fame in Persia, whither a
daughterof the Mongol Emperorwent to be
a royal bride. Intercourse with the Arabs
and Persians was continuous. As, how-
ever, the Mongols of Central Asia (called
Moguls in India) embraced Islam, bigotry
increased. The highway into Europe was
closed, and communication ceased.
Brilliant as was the Mongol rule, the
Chinese never forgot that their rulers were
foreigners, and longed for a native dy-
nasty. The degenerate descendant of
Genghis and Kublai was easily dethroned
in the fourteenth century, and the MING
or “Bright” dynasty (1368–1628) occu-
pied the throne. The Mings cultivated
friendly relations with outer nations, and
attracted students from Corea, Loo Choo,
Japan, Siam, and Burmah to their great
university at NANKING, in which the por-
celain tower was built. The fine arts were
cultivated. The porcelain of the Ming
dynasty is very famous. Yet the inevi-
CHINA. 41
table result of absorption in the arts and
luxuries of peace followed. The Japanese
ravaged the coast with their fleets, and,
having invaded Corea, (I 592 – I 597,)
worsted the Chinese army sent against
them. The MANCHIU Tatars gathered
in the north-east, and nursed the strength
which was to overthrow China.
It was during the reign of the Mings
that the awakening of modern Europe
took place. Columbus, having studied
Polo’s work, set sail across the Atlantic to
discover CATHAY and ZIPANGU, (Japan,)
but found America. Cabot meant to reach
Cathay, and sighted Newfoundland. The
North American inhabitants were called
“Indians,” or “India people,” by mistake.
The Jesuits and Franciscan missionaries
again arrived in China, and began their
labors. There they found an occasional
Latin Bible in MS., or a piece of Catholic
sculpture, and, on studying the forgotten
story of Polo, found that Cathay and
China were one. The Portuguese and
Spaniards re-opened commerce with China
once more, and Canton became the center
of foreign trade. Peking, under Ricci,
became the temporary center of Western
42 ASIATIC HISTORY.
science, and the focus of a mixed form of
Roman Christianity. The word “Deus ”
in the mouths of the natives is pronounced
“joss.”
On the fall of the Ming dynasty the
Manchiu Tatars entered the empire with
their clouds of horsemen, and gradually
succeeded in conquering the whole coun-
try. The Manchiu national head-dress
was the long queue, (pig-tail.) They com-
pelled the Chinese to wear it in token of
loyalty. The new rulers named their dy-
nasty TA TSING, (Great Pure.) They
patronized Schall and the Jesuits at Pe-
king, and their learning, conquered ILI,
or EASTERN TURKESTAN, compiled the
colossal standard dictionary, and received
embassies from Russia, Holland, and Great
Britain. KANG HI and KEEN LUNG, the
two most famous sovereigns of the line,
were also scholars and warriors. They
reigned forty-one and sixty years respect-
ively. The KING PAO, (“Peking Ga-
zette,”) in which the orders and proceed-
ings of the government are published,
though perhaps existing before their time,
was much used and enlarged by these
monarchs.
CHINA. 43
The eighteenth century is notable for
the growth of the rival British and Rus-
sian Empires in Asia, which brought
these nations into closer relations to the
Chinese world, and infused new influences
on a large scale into the ancient empire.
Tea began to be imported from Canton
and Amoy, not only into Moscow and
London, but into Boston. Chinese tea
created as much excitement then (1774)
as “Chinese immigration " caused a cent-
ury later. Ginseng from America was
largely imported to China as early as 1757.
After the Revolution the flag of the United
States was carried round the world, and
regular trade with China was established.
The Chinese demand for American furs
contributed greatly to the development
of the North-western States and the Pa-
cific coast.
One of the worst results of foreign in-
tercourse has been the introduction of
OPIUM, which began at the opening of
this century. China consumes nine tenths
of the opium raised in India. The British
revenues of this latter country are largely
raised by the traffic in opium. The Chi-
nese from the first have steadily resisted
44 ASIATIC HISTORY.
the importation of the drug, and after two
wars with Great Britain in which they
were defeated, have attempted the de-
fensive. but suicidal, policy of cultivating
the poppy at home. The abandonment
of good grain soil to this weed is the cause
of desolating famines such as afflicted
Shan-tung in 1878, and caused the loss
of millions of lives. The opium trade
is the insuperable obstacle to Christian
missions.
In the OPIUM WAR of 1841–42 the
British captured seven chief cities and ob-
tained an indemnity of $21,000,000, with
permanent possession of Hong Kong.
China entered into treaties with other Eu-
ropean nations and with the United States.
War with the British and French again
broke out in 1860, on account of “the
Arrow affair.” Peking was captured, and
the imperial summer palace destroyed.
The Chinese paid a war indemnity of
$8,000,000. The Russians, who had grad-
ually occupied Siberia to the Pacific Ocean,
claimed and received the valuable coast
country south of the Amoor and east of
the Usuri River, bordering on Corea, thus
giving them Pacific ports.
CHINA. 45
The TAI-PING REBELLION began in
1850. Seizing upon the popular longing
for a native dynasty, a disappointed young
man, who had failed in the civil service
examinations, raised the standard of re-
bellion, and for twelve years held posses-
sion of Eastern Central China. Finally,
after the imperial troops had been many
times defeated, a small body of them,
drilled and led by the American Ward
and the Englishman Gordon, succeeded
in putting down the rebellion. From the
Tai-pings China suffered twelve years of
devastating war, immense destruction of
property, and ten millions of her people by
famine and wounds.
Other rebellions in the south-west and
north-west, of Mohammedan subjects,
have greatly troubled the country of late
years, while famines have increased the
public distress. The minority of the sov-
ereign leaves the nation without a respons-
ible head in the time of serious national
danger, and when the presence of foreign-
ers and grave questions of policy, occa-
sioned by the new relations which China
has been forced to assume, demand wisdom
and experience. The present emperor,
46 ASIATIC HISTORY.
KWANG SI, was born in 1871, but is not
in the direct line of descent. Many signs
contribute to the belief that the Manchiu
conquerors of China have almost reached
the end of their power, and the near fall
of the dynasty is not unexpected. One
of the signs of disaffection is seen in the
“queue-cutting" secret societies, one of
whose objects of attack is the queue, the
sign of loyalty to the Manchiu imperial
family.
The civilization of China has grown
old, almost to decrepitude. It seems
ready to pass away. Whether this will
be by a great breaking up, as the old Ro-
man world was broken up, or whether it
will be gradually transformed, remains to
be seen. China has more than once in
the past renewed her youth, and may
adapt herself to modern life and inter-
course safely and for the better. Within
the last twenty years she has made colos-
sal strides. She has learned and prac-
ticed the principles of international law,
established schools, arsenals, navy-yards,
fleets, and an army on western models,
and consulates and legations in foreign
countries, protected her citizens in other
CHINA, 47
countries whose existence she before ig-
nored, abolished the “coolie" traffic, and
sent over two hundred young men to be: .
educated in Europe and America.
EMIGRATION.—As early as the Tang.
dynasty the Chinese began to emigrate
in small numbers from the Southern part
of their country into the East Indies.
Yet the Chinese are a home-loving race,
strongly attached to the soil, and go away
from the Flowery Land only with the ex-
pectation of coming back to enjoy life.
Very few of the people in the north, west,
or east of China ever emigrate. Nearly
all the Chinese in Australia, the East In-
dies, and the United States, come from
the one province of Kwang-Tung, in which
Canton is situated, and where foreign
commerce has flourished for over three
hundred years. Most of them are natives
of a district not larger than Connecticut.
Of a “Mongolian deluge" there are ab-
solutely no signs. Only about grºw of the
Chinese have thus far left China, and
only grºwn are in our own country.
CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA.—Although
Christian missionaries have at various
times entered China to preach the Gos-
48 ASIATIC HISTORY.
pel, they have come singly or in pairs, and
at vast intervals of time, and have plunged
into the desert of paganism unsupported.
The Gospel seed has been planted, but
almost before it bore fruit persecution or
Calamities have destroyed it. The little
rills of truth in the desert have dried up
for want of a supplying fountain. The
Bible was not known to the people in
their own tongue. Pictures, crosses,
medals, sectarian literature and ritual,
have been made use of, but not the word
of God in the vernacular.
PROTESTANT MISSIONS. — The Lon-
don Missionary Society sent out the first
Protestant missionaries to China. Rev.
Robert Morrison came to Canton in 1807.
The New Testament in Chinese appeared
in 1814, and the entire Bible in 1818.
Protestant Christianity differs from all
other forms that have been introduced in
China, in being founded on the Bible in
the vernacular. Missions from the United
States began in 1829, Canton and Macao
were the first stations. The peace of 1842
opened five new ports to the Gospel.
Bridgeman, Culbertson, Abeel, Boone,
Talmage, Gutzlaff, Brown, Hepburn, and
CHINA. 49
others, were the pioneers, some of whom
are still living. Not the least of the ben-
efits conferred upon this people by mis-
sionaries is the large body of the best
literature of Christian nations which they
have translated into the Chinese language.
Works on physical science, mathematics,
the arts of war and peace, law, religion,
morals, and government have enlightened
many minds, destroyed superstition, and
paved the way for future triumphs of
Christianity with its train of blessings.
The sending of two hundred young men
to study in the United States and Europe
is one of the indirect results of mission-
ary labor. At present the Gospel is
preached and the various means of evan-
gelization are employed by about thirty
societies, under whom are about 400 mis-
sidnaries, male and female, or about one
Christian teacher to a million heathen.
There are now about 16,000 Protestant
Church members, and a following in all
of 25,OOO nominal Christians in China.
Fifteen years ago there were but 3,000.
In 1840 there were not 500. At the same
rate of increase China will be a Christian
nation during the next century.
4
50 ASIATIC HISTORY.
CAHROMOZ OGY.
LIST OF DYNASTIES.
The Fabulous Ages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,600,ooo-Hyears.
The Legendary Period:
The Age of the Five Rulers... . . . . 2852–1818 B.C.
The Shang Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1766–1154 “
The Semi-Historical and Historical Period :
The Chow Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1122-255 “
Historical Period begins (781–719 B.C.)
The Tsin Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255-209 “
The Han (Western) Dynasty... 206 B.C.–23 A.D.
The Han (Eastern) “ . . . . . . . . 25–220 “
Epoch of the Three Kingdoms:
Minor Han Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221-263 *
The Wei “ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220–264 “
The Wu “ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222–277 “
The (Western) Tsin Dynasty. . . . . . .265–313 “
The (Eastern) Tsin “ . . . . . . .317-419
Epoch of Division between North and South:
ſ The Sung Dynasty (House of Liu). .420–477 “
The Tsi * {.
> , , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479-5or
The Liang “ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502-556 “
The Chen “ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557–587 “
The (Northern) Wei Dynasty (House
of Toba) 386–532 *
The (Western) Wei “ . . . . ."... 535–557 “
The (Eastern) Wei “. . . . . . . . . 534–543 “
The Northern Tsi “ . . . . . . . . 550–577 “
The Northern Chow “ . . . . . . . . 557-581 “
The Sin “ . . . . . . . . §34–618 “
The Tang “ . . . . . . . . 618–905 “
Epoch of the Five Dynasties:
†: Posterior Fºg Dynasty * * * * * * * go7–921 º
#; sº tº . .......; ; .
The “ Han “ . . . . . . .936–948 “
|#: { % Chow $ $ . . . .951-960 *
The Sung “ . . . . . . Öğ26 $º-
The Southern Sung “ . . . . . 1127–1341 **
The Min “. . . . . . 1368–1628. “

The Ta Tsing * ..... 1616–1881-H+
CHINA, 51
B00KS FOR FURTHER STUDY.
The best recent works on China have
been written by Americans:
The Middle Kingdom. S. Wells Will-
iams. J. Wiley & Sons, New York.
China and the Unzied States. William
Speer, D.D. R. S. Davis & Co., Pitts-
burgh, Pa.
The Chanese : thezr Education, Philoso-
phy, and Letters. W. A. P. Martin,
D.D., LL.D. Harper & Brothers, New
York.
Socia/ Life of the Chinese. Rev. Justus
Doolittle. Harper & Brothers, New
York. -
Oriental Religions—China. Rev. Sam-
uel Johnson. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
Boston.
Chinese Immigrazzon. Ex. U. S. Minis-
ter Seward. Scribner & Co., New
York.
The Foreigner in China. L. N. Wheeler,
D.D. S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago.
See also Huc, Davis, Oliphant, Mead-
ows, Medhurst, Edkins, Eitel, William-
son, Fortune, Mayers, Legge, and Rich-
thofen.
52 ASIATIC HISTORY.
COREA.
NAME AND PERIODS OF HISTORY.
THE ancient and the modern native
name of Corea is Chö-sen, (Morning
Calm.) Its mediaeval name was Korai,
(Domain of Ko, the founder,) whence our
term Corea, from the Peking Jesuits' Co-
rée. These names mark out for us three
of the four periods into which Corean his.
tory may be divided, namely:
I. Era of old Chö-sen, I I22 B.C.—
9 A.D.
II. Era of the Three Kingdoms, 9–960
A.D. -
III. United Corea, or Korai, 960–1392
A.D. -
IV. Modern Chö-sen, 1392–1881 A.D.
The natives possess many fantastic le-
gends concerning the origin of their first
ancestors. Their history is of a confused
and untrustworthy character down to the
Han dynasty, (206 B.C.,) and until after
the Christian era is drawn almost wholly
from Chinese sources. After the intro-
duction of alphabets and writing, the na-
COREA. 53
tional annals are at many points corrobo-
rated by the contemporaneous records of
China and Japan.
OLD CHö-SEN.—This little peninsular
kingdom, somewhat larger than Minne-
Sota, (90,000 square miles in area,) with a
population of Io,000,000 souls, boasts in-
dependence both of Japan and of China,
and a civilization extending back to Kishi,
(II22 B.C.,) one of the ancestors of Con-
fucius. This sage, declining to serve
King Wu, the destroyer of the Shang,
and the founder of the Chow, dynasty of
China, emigrated to the north-east, and
called the domain founded by him Chö-
sen. This was within the limits of an-
cient, but beyond the boundaries of mod- .
ern, Corea. His descendants reigned un-
til the period 221–203 B.C., when they
were dethroned by Wei-man, a Chinese
refugee from the kingdom of Ten, which
had been overthrown by the Huns. The
heirs of Wei-man reigned until 108 B.C.,
when Chö-sen was annexed to the Chinese
Empire by the Han conqueror Wu-ti. In
the year 30 B.C. the Chö-sen people re-
volted from China, though they continued
to pay tribute until 9 A.D.
*
• * > y ç
54 . ASIATIC HISTORY.
Ancient Chö-sen comprised only a small
part of modern Corea, and lay mainly
within the present Chinese province of
Shing-king. -
ERA OF THE THREE KINGDOMS.—
The historic period of the Coreans proper
begins about the opening of the Christian
era. The independent tribes of the penin-
sula form into the three States, Kokorai
in the north, Shinra in the East, and Hi-
aksai in the southern half of the west
coast. (Chinese, Kaohulz, Sznlo, and
Petsz.) Their history during ten centu-
ries is chiefly that of border wars, with
alternating invasions or succor from China
and Japan. Yet, during these experiences
of war and in the long intervals of peace,
they were diligent rivals in civilization
borrowed from China, so that they be-
came the teachers of Japan. It was
through Corea, and not from China direct,
that Japan received the letters, ethics, re-
ligion, and arts of China.
KORAI.--While this triple political di-
vision of the peninsula was forming, there
was descending from their ancestral seats,
in the upper bend of the Amoor River
and the highlands beyond, a race of men
COREA. 55
out of the old kingdom of Fuyu, who
were destined to possess and control both
the peninsula and the adjacent islands of
Japan. The forms of their social order
were FEUDAL in character. Emerging
from the glens and valleys of Manchuria,
they possessed themselves of the northern
part of the peninsula, and established
their capital at Ping-yang on the Ta-tong
River. This was the kingdom of Korai.
The Coreans of to-day are mainly derived
from this Asian highland stock, and not
from the old Chö-sen people.
SHINRA.—Shinra, the eastern kingdom,
being the most eager pupil of Chinese
civilization, and possessing the warmest
and richest part of the peninsula, rapidly
rose in wealth and power. The Bud-
dhist missionaries entered in 352 A.D.,
bringing in their train many refining in-
fluences. The India faith soon became
popular in Shinra, whence it spread into
Korai and Hiaksai, and, in 552 A.D., to
Japan, to which country frequent colonies
emigrated. In the seventh century a
Shinra statesman invented the Corean al-
phabet of fourteen consonants and eleven
vowels, classified according to the organs
56 ASIATIC HISTORY.
of speech, and perhaps the most perfect
in the world, which greatly promoted the
spread of native literature. Many students
were sent to Nanking to study, and Co-
rean pearls, gold, drugs, porcelain, and
articles of skill and art were exported to
China and by the Arabs to the west.
During the ninth and part of the tenth
centuries, Shinra's rule extended over the
entire peninsula.
HIAKSAI. — Hiaksai’s existence was
chiefly a struggle with her more powerful
neighbors. When the Tang emperor, in
alliance with Shinra, invaded Corea in 660
A.D. with an army of Ioo,000 men, the
men of Hiaksai invited the Japanese to
their assistance. After many bloody bat-
tles, and the war over, Korai was crippled,
Hiaksai blotted out, and Shinra predom-
inant. Large colonies of people from the
conquered States emigrated to Japan, as
many of their ancestors had formerly done,
introducing various useful arts. Mean-
while Shinra became weak through lux-
ury, while Korai grew in strength.
UNITED COREA — KORAI. — Political
unity was first given to the peninsula in
960 A.D., when Wu-wang, of noble blood,
COREA. 57
arose out of Korai, and by talent and
arms extinguished the rival States, and
proclaimed united Corea under the name
of Korai, fixing his capital at Sunto, a lit-
tle north of the present capital. The old
feudal forms of political life gradually
faded away, and a system of centralized
monarchy, resembling the Chinese model,
took its place. The country was divided
for administrative purposes into eight
provinces, which division still exists. Trib-
utary relations were established with the
Sung emperors of China. The first no-
tice of the use of the mariners' compass
relates to the fleet of Chinese ships from
Ningpo in I 122, bearing the Sung embas-
sador to Sunto (Edkins). During the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries Corea
was subject to the Mongols; and in 1299
the great Armada of Kublai Khan was
fitted out partly from Corean shores to
invade Japan, in which expedition myriads
of Coreans, Chinese, and Mongols per-
ished.
MODERN COREA, or new CHö-SEN.—
In 1392, on the fall of the Mongols and the
rise of the Ming dynasty in China, a rev-
olution in Corea overthrew the reigning
58 ASIATIC HISTORY.
family, when the present line of rulers and
order of things were established. The an-
cient name Chö-Sen was restored, and the
capital, or seoul, was established at Han-
yang on the Han River. The Japanese
invasion of I 592–1597, during which large
armies from China and Japan fought and
subsisted on Corean soil, greatly devas-
tated the country. In 1627 the Man-
chius, on their march to Peking, crossed
the Yalu River on the ice, put Corea un-
der tributary vassalage, and moved on to
the conquest of China.
FOREIGNERS AND CHRISTIANITY..—
Buddhism, which had been popular in all
the eight provinces until the fourteenth
century, fell into decay, and Confucian-
ism became the dominant cult, soon reach-
ing the point of bigotry and repression.
In 1777 a number of students, who had
received from Peking, through the annual
embassy, a collection of books on the
Christian religion given by the Jesuit mis-
sionaries, were converted to Roman Chris-
tianity by the study of them. In 1836
the first French missionary entered Corea
in disguise. The native Christiáns then
numbered several thousands. Rigorous
COREA. 59
and bloody persecutions broke out, but
believers increased. Up to 1864, in which
year the direct blood line of the royal
house came to an end, the king dying
childless, nineteen Frenchmen had pene-
trated the country in disguise, and in de-
fiance of the national laws. The national
policy of Corea, situated between the two
great rival nations of China and Japan,
has been almost of necessity that of iso-
lation—“Courtesy to the east, reverence
to the west, and no foreigners in Corea.”
A coast guard along the sea to patrol by
day and kindle signal fires at night, a line
of pickets and custom-houses on the front-
ier, with a neutral strip of land unoccu-
pied and devastated, seventeen leagues
wide on the Manchurian side and ten
miles in width along the Tumen River,
were some of the provisions made to carry
out this policy. The presence of a fleet
of Russian ships of war excited intense
alarm among the conservative party
headed by the regent, and joy among the
Christians and progressives, as each be-
lieved that the Russians would force the
isolation of the kingdom. On the disap-
pearance of the ships the nine living
60 ASIATIC HISTORY.
Frenchmen who had not escaped were
seized and beheaded in front of the city.
A dreadful persecution of “foreigner-Co-
reans,” or Christians, drove thousands of
the survivors beyond the borders into the
Russian settlements, where they are now
taught by Russian missionaries and school-
masters. In August, I866, the crew of
the American schooner “General Sher-
man " were murdered at Ping Yang, mis-
taken for Frenchmen, and believed to be
pirates. In October of this year the
French naval expedition, under Admiral
Roze, captured Kang Hoa city, but came
away with fruitless results after a week's
stay and some fighting. The attempt in
1867 of American, French, and German
adventurers to rob the royal mausoleum
and hold the bones to ransom deepened
the evil opinions of the Coreans concern-
ing foreigners. In 1871 the United States
naval expedition, after failure to make a
treaty, landed an attacking force, capt-
ured seven forts, killed four hundred Co-
reans, and came away. On the 27th of
February, 1876, the Japanese commander,
Kuroda, with a fleet of steamers and a
body of marines, taking Commodore M.
COREA. (5 L
C. Perry and his methods with Japan in
1854 as an exact model, Secured a treaty
of peace and commerce, under which the
ports of Fusan and Gensan on the east
coast have been opened to Japanese trade.
In 1873 the young king reached his ma-
jority, and the party in favor of a progress-
ive policy is gaining strength. Coreans
are now in Japan studying the adaptations
of the modern life of Christendom and the
Western nations which that nation has
successfully made.
Corea will soon be one of the mission-
ary fields of reformed Christianity. Chris-
tians from Japan and America stand
ready to enter the once forbidden land.
On the Manchurian side Scotch mission-
aries are instructing Coreans and bap-
tizing them in the faith of Christ, and the
New Testament has been translated into
the Corean language.
The researches of scholars during the
past decade have proved that the two lan-
guages of Japan and Corea are closely affili-
ated, that the two peoples are of one stock,
and much more nearly allied in blood and
temperament than either of them are to
the Chinese, though both have been pu-
62 ASIATIC HISTORY.
pils to the greatest nation of Asia. In
most of the elements of the civilization
borrowed by both countries from China—
religion, art, literature, science—Corea is
the Cyprus of the far East, supplying the
missing links between the Egypt and the
Greece of the Turanian, world. Ancient
Corea comprised a much larger area than
the modern kingdom. Since 1392 her
domain has been wholly within the Tumen
and the Yalu Rivers and that sea, which,
once a barrier, is now the highway of the
nations, from whose comity Corea cannot
longer hold herself a part.
| JAPAN. 63.
JAPAN.
INTRODUCTORY.
THERE is no direct logical or historical
connection between the Chinese and Jap-
anese. A great gap separates them in.
ethnology, language, history, development,
temperament, dress, manners, and cus-
toms, even as a peninsular nation and a.
space of waters divide them. Yet there
is a remote connection, and Corea fills the
gap and supplies various missing links.
It was from the peninsula, and not from
China direct, that Japan borrowed an alien
civilization and religion.
THE NAME.-‘‘Japan º' is a Chinese
word, not used by the natives, who call
their country “Sunrise "—Nihon or Nip-
pon. Nz and ja mean sun, and hon and
£an, root or rising. The first immigrants
from the West, or Asiatic mainland, com-
ing through Corea, doubtless bestowed
this name. Dai Nihon, or Great Japan,
is the official title.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS.—The empire
64 ASIATIC HISTORY.
comprises the four large islands, Hon'-do,
(main island,) Kiu'-shiu, (nine provinces,)
Shiko'-ku, (four provinces,) and Ye'-zo,
(uncivilized land) with various outlying
groups, including Riu" Kiu, (Loo Choo-
Hanging Globes,) and about 3,800 islets.
The general shape of Hondo is that of a
crescent, and that of the whole dominion,
except Yezo, a silkworm, with the thread
spun down toward Formosa. The Sur-
face, which is largely hill and valley, cov-
ers about I 50,000 square miles, equaling
the area of Great Britain and Ireland.
The population, by census of 1874, is
33,OOO,OOO. For governmental purposes,
Japan is divided into thirty-five &em, or pre-
fectures, with the three fu, or imperial
cities, Tö'-kiö, Kió'-to, and O'-zaka.”
PERIODS OF HISTORY.—Japanese his-
tory divides into three periods:
Mythical and legendary 660 B.C.–200 A.D.
Semi-historical. . . . . . . . . . . 2OO–6OO A.D.
Historical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600–1881 A.D.
* All native words and proper names are, in this
work, spelled with vowels pronounced as in Italian:
a, as in yar : o, as in bone : i, as in artach inte , e, as
in Arey, u, as in tune, ai, as 2 in bite × 6, as in roëe,
But longer.
JAPAN. 65
This may be further subdivided into—
The period of ancient feudalism, until
603 A.D.
The period of centralized monarchy,
603–1 192 A.D.
The period of the dual system of gov-
ernment, (mikado and shö'gun,) I 192—
I868 A.D.
The period of modern centralized mon-
archy, 1868–1881 A.D.
Modern feudalism extended from 1192
to 1871 A.D.
LEGENDARY ORIGIN OF THE JAPA-
NESE.-The oldest Japanese books, the
Ko'-ji-ki, (Book of Traditions, 712 A.D.,)
and the Ni-hon'-gi, (Chronicles of Japan,
720 A.D.,) form the literary basis of the
indigenous national religion—Shin'-tó, or
the “Way of the Gods.” These books
not only relate events, but give the Jap-
anese theory of creation, which is a fair
specimen of evolution. They tell us that,
of old, when heaven and earth were not
yet separated, chaos, enveloping all things,
like a fowl's egg, contained within it a
germ. The clear, light substances ex-
panded and became heaven ; the heavy
substance condensed and became earth.
5
66 ASIATIC HISTORY.
After this, deity was evolved, for out of
the land emerging from the turbid waters
appeared a rush stalk, which became a
god. From this deity other gods came
into being. Izana'gi and Izana'mi were
the first created pair. Standing on the
floating bridge of heaven, Izanagi plunged
his spear into the waters beneath, and,
withdrawing it, the drops which trickled
from it became the first island of Japan.
Thus the empire was created. Their
daughter, Amatera'su, is the “sun-god-
dess,” and her grandson, Nini'gi, de-
scended from heaven to earth in Kiushlu,
near Satsuma, bearing the sacred regalia.
of the sovereigns of Japan—Sword, mir-
ror, and ball. The grandson of Ninigi,
whose mother was a sea-dragon, was Jim'—
mu Ten'no, the first Mikado of Japan.
Advancing northward, Jimmu con-
quered the various tribes, and began his
reign near Kióto, 660 B.C. This date is
obtained by counting the years of the
reigns of the mikados, who are reputed
to have lived before the introduction of
calendars—645 A.D.
This is the chief legendary account of
the colonization of the Japanese archi-
JAPAN. 67
pelago; but the native traditions, until
the time of writing, are full of details
which are transparently mythical. They
are hence rejected as history by critics.
The weight of history and tradition point
to the north-eastern Asian highlands as
the ancestral seats of the Japanese, and
Corea as the land through which they
migrated. Notices of intercourse between
Yhe islands and peninsula during the early
Shristian centuries occur in the Japanese
\raditions; and a stream of colonists and
>ivilizing influences followed the invasion
»f Corea by Jin'gu Kögö, the Amazonian
Jueen of early Japan, A.D. 20 I. In the
year 287 A.D. Corean teachers brought
Chinese letters and literature to Japan.
These dates, however, are untrustworthy.
The time of the entrance of Buddhism
is more certain. In 552 A.D. Buddhist
missionaries, with books, images, and
pictures, arrived from Shinra. From this
time the steady light of history falls on
the Japanese, who, shut up in their island
home, work out a unique civilization,
which, except in some points, differs
vastly from that of the Chinese.
THE DAWN OF HISTORY..—The state
68 ASIATIC HISTORY.
of things first revealed by the light of
written history is this: We see the cen-
tral and south-western parts of the coun-
try inhabited by an agricultural people
dwelling in villages, and governed by
chiefs, under a rude species of feudalism.
In the central region of Yama’to, around
Kióto, these communities are in allegiance
to the royal family of the mikado. The con-
quest of neighboring tribes in every direc-
tion goes on under the Yamato chiefs,
who rule the subjugated people by nobles
connected by marriage to the central su-
zerain. The government is feudalism,
yet the allegiance is loose, and frequent
revolts occur, especially in Kiushiu, where
they are instigated by the Coreans. In
the extreme north of the main island dwell
the rude Savages called Ai'nos, who are
finally driven across the straits into the
lessening area of the Yezo, (land of the
Savages.)
THE ERA OF MONARCHY.—With the
introduction of the Chinese ethics and
literature, the imitative islanders copied
many of the political ideas of the civiliza-
tion which they began to understand. A
radical change in government was made
JAPAN. 69
in 603, when simple feudalism was ex-
changed for centralized monarchy with
boards of government. The officials
were divided into civil and military, and
new grades, titles, and costumes ap-
pointed. The duties of “the camp and
the throne " became separated. Power
gradually slipped away from the mikado,
into the hands of his ministers, and the
way was paved for that dual system of
government which lasted over 600 years.
RISE OF THE MILITARY CLASS.—
Against this imperialism, or centralizing
system, which so curtailed their freedom,
the tribes of the east and north made
especially stout resistance. To quell their
constant uprisings, the farmers were so
frequently enrolled for service that at first
an organized militia was formed, and grad-
ually a distinct military class. At Kióto
the Fujiwa'ra family of nobles became
possessed of all the civil offices at court,
and secured supreme influence by marry-
ing their daughters to the mikados, depos-
ing the latter at their pleasure, making
the office of regent hereditary in their
family, and claiming the right to open or
reject all petitions addressed to the em-
70 ASIATIC HISTORY.
peror. They thus formed a “ring” around,
the palace and the throne. The Tai'ra
family, the rivals of the Fujiwaras, were
also, with the Minamo'tos, the military
vassals of the crown. The Minamotos
generals won great fame and influence in
their conquests over the Northern tribes,
and collected around them many devoted
followers. Under them the military men
formed a distinct class, the relation of lord
and retainer was formed, and the seeds of
a new and complex form of feudalism were
planted.
THE NOBLE FAMILIES.— For five cent-
uries, from the seventh to the twelfth, the
political history of Japan may be written
in the rise and rivalries of the Fujiwara,
Taira, and Minamoto families, all of them
sprung from Scions of imperial blood.
The mikados were little more than pup-
pets. From II oš until 1 184 the eight
emperors who reigned were, at the time
of their investure with the symbols of
sovereignty—sword, mirror, and crystal
ball—six, four, four, twenty-nine, sixteen,
one, eight, and three years old respect-
ively. The real power during this time
was wielded by the Taira house, which
JAPAN. 71
had displaced the Fujiwara. Their ablest
leader was Kiyomo'ri, who, in II67, be-
came premier, (Dai Jö Dai Jin, the Great
Minister of the Great Government.)
WAR OF THE RED AND WHITE
TLAGS.—In I I 59 the rivalry of the Mina-
moto and Taira families broke out in
deadly feud, and “the war of Gen'ji and
Hei'ké,” as these clans were called, began
in earnest. The battle in Kióto was won
by the Heiké, and Kiyomori resolved to
exterminate the Minamotos. Executions,
assassinations, and banishments followed.
In I 180 Yorito'mo, one of the exiles, en-
couraged by the son of the reigning em-
peror, escaped from exile, summoned his
adherents under the white banner, against
the red. He founded the city of Kama-
kura, near Yedo, and sent his brother,
Yoshi'tsuné, against the Taira. Kióto
was taken, and the Taira, driven to the
south-west, were annihilated in a great
naval battle off Shimonose'ki in I 184.
The war between the red and white flags,
like that of the Roses in England, cost
the nation the flower of her youth. Yori-
tomo quarreled with his brother Yosh-
itsuné, who fled to Yezo, and thence, it is
72 ASIATIC HISTORY.
said, to Asia, becoming the Mongol con-
queror, Genghis Khan. #
RISE OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM AND
D UARCHY.—Yoritomo now secured the
appointment of High Constable of the
Realm, and was allowed to inaugurate
the system of having five military, in place
of civil, magistrates appointed over the
most turbulent districts. The system
worked so well that it was extended grad-
ually and insidiously over the whole coun-
try. By this means Yoritomo's military
ambition was effectually covered, and his
power strengthened, as most of the nom-
inees were men of the Minamoto clan.
In I I 92, having shown himself the “man
on horseback" to give the empire peace,
he was formally appointed by the mikado,
Sei-i Tai Shö-gun—“the great general
that subdues the rebels.” This office,
which existed with intervals until 1868,
was that known to foreigners as “Ty-
coon.” Henceforth there existed in Ja-
pan two rulers, mikado, and shö-gun ; two
governments—throne and camp; two cap-
itals—Kióto and Kamaku'ra, or Ye'do.
The emperor was the fountain of all office,
honor, and authority—the son of the
JAPAN. 73
heavenly gods and the center of the rev-
erence of people and nobles. His real
power, however, was a shadow, while the
shö-gun possessed the substance, reve-
nue, and military resources. The main-
spring of Japanese politics is the intense
reverence for the Mikado's person as the
representative of deity. He is the Tennø,
(heavenly ruler.) Whichever party pos—
sesses him holds the balance of power.
The other party are chö'tééâ, or “rebels.”
The term “Mikado ’’ means Honorable
Gate, like Sublime Porte or Pharaoh.
THE Hö'Jö FAMILY.—The Minamoto
line came to an end in 1219. The Höjö.
family secured their power, acting as re-
gents to the shö-guns appointed from Ki-
ôto, who, in the hands of the Höjö minis-
ters, were mostly puppets—often babes or
children. In 1281 the attempted invasion
of the Mongols was frustrated by a storm
and the walor of the Japanese. Ni'chiren
and Shin'ran, the great apostles of Bud-
dhism, preached the doctrines of their
sects, which spread over the greater part
of Japan, though the complete triumph of
the faith of Buddha was not secured until
900 years after its introduction into Japan.
T4 ASIATIC HISTORY.
During the Höjö period Japan became
known to Europe through the writings of
Marco Polo.
ERA OF CIVIL WAR.—In 1333 the
Höjö rulers were overthrown by Nitta
Yoshisa'da, and from I 333 to 1336 the
emperor Go Dai'go reigned without a
shö-gun; but, dissatisfied over the division
of the spoils, the victors over the Höjö
fell to blows, and civil war raged for fifty-
six years. In 1336 Ashika'ga Takau'ji
refounded Kamakura, having been ap-
pointed shö-gun. Two rival emperors
were set up, and the war between their
adherents raged until 1392, when the
“southern '' emperor came to Kióto and
gave up the three sacred emblems to the
“northern,” or legitimate sovereign.
THE ASHIKAGA LINE.—The Ashikaga
line of sho-guns ruled in Kamakura from
I 336 to I 574, over a varying part of the
empire. They took the next great step
in the formation of the feudal system, by
making the military magistracies heredi-
tary in the line of their own nominees.
This period of the history of Japan is one
of almost continual civil war, and the rise
to power of local chieftains called dai-
JAPAN. 75
mio, or territorial nobles, so called in dis-
tinction from the Kuge', or court nobles.
On the sea the Japanese pirates ravaged
the coasts of Corea and China, in some
cases capturing Chinese cities. In 140 I
the title of Nihon O, (King of Japan,)
was accepted by Ashikaga Yoshimo'chi.
Kióto was several times taken and retaken
by rival chiefs and burned. In the inter-
vals of peace the arts flourished and fa-
mous painters and poets arose. In I 539
the first European ship touched at Tane'-
gashi'ma, (Seed Island,) off Japan, and in
1542 Mendez Pinto and his comrades in-
troduced gunpowder and fire-arms. Mus-
kets and cannon were soon put to use in
battle. The Japanese began to travel to
and trade with Siam, India, the Philippine
Islands, and Java. Tobacco, potatoes,
glass, Cotton, and many new products
were imported. In 1549 Xavier landed
in Satsuma. In 1552 seven Christian
churches were established in Kióto. In
I 581 two hundred churches and 200,000
followers of the new faith were reck-
oned. In 1583 the daimiós of Kiushiu
sent an embassy to Spain and Rome,
which was received by Pope Gregory
76 ASIATIC HISTORY.
XIII. and Philip II. and Pope Sextus VI.
They returned after an absence of eight
years.
NOBUNA’GA HIDE'YO'SHI AND IYE'-
YASU.-Three of the greatest men in Jap-
anese history were at this time rising into
notice. They were Nobuna'ga, (1533–
I 582,) Hideyo'shi, (I 536–1598,) and Iye'-
yasu, (1542–1616.)
Buddhism had reached the acme of
power and influence. The monasteries
were immensely wealthy, the priests nu-
merous, and both they and their depend-
ents were trained in arms. As soldiers
in the field, the clerical militia, allying
themselves to the different daimios, often
decided the fate of war. Nobunaga was
friendly to the Spanish and Portuguese
friars, encouraging the Christians as a foil
against the Buddhists. In 1567 he at-
tacked the monasteries with fire and
Sword, slaughtering thousands of the bon-
zes, and striking a blow at Buddhism from
which it has not yet recovered. In 1574
he overthrew the last Ashikaga Shö-gun,
and reduced many of the petty chieftains
to vassalage, but could not overcome the
great daimios. Attacked by a treacher-
JAPAN. 77
ous officer in 1582, he perished by his
own hand.
Hideyoshi, a peasant boy, at first an
ostler to Nobunaga, rose by talent and
energy to be a general, avenged his mas-
ter's death, curbed the power of the great
clans, Satsuma and Chö'shiu, and having
tranquilized the whole empire, was made
premier in 1586. According to precedent
a regent must be of Fujiwa'ra blood, as a
shö-gun must be of Minamoto descent,
but Hide'yoshi trampled on precedent as
Kiyomori had done. The third great
process in the formation of the feudal
system was taken by Hide'yoshi when he
arranged all the land in the empire into
fiefs, given and held in his own name,
without reference to the mikado. In 1591
he ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits,
who were grasping after political power.
Partly to employ his generals and vet-
erans, partly to get rid of the Christians,
and under pretext of collecting arrears
of tribute, Hide'yoshi in 1592 sent an army
of 150,000 men to invade Corea, led by
Koni'shi, a Christian, and Ka'to, a pagan,
both able rivals. Koni'shi reached the
Corean capital in seventeen days after
*S ASIATIC HISTORY.
landing. A Chinese army of 40,000 ment
was sent to succor the invaded. The pen-
insula was overrun by the Japanese, and
the war was prolonged during five years.
Meanwhile at home the Franciscans and
Jesuits, having Ostentatiously violated
the edicts forbidding public processions
and worship, were, in 1596, seized and
crucified, and the native Christians perse-
cuted. Taiko, (as Hide'yoshi is often
called,) dying in 1597, the army of occu-
pation in Corea was withdrawn.
THE TOKUGA'WA PERIOD, I600–1868.
—Tokuga'wa Iye'yasu, who founded the
city of Yedo, after meeting his rivals in
battle at Sekigaha'ra in 1600, became
master of the country, and in 1603 was.
made Sei-i Tai Shö-gun, which office had
been in abeyance since the fall of Ashi-
kaga. Like them, Iye'yasu was of Mina-
moto stock. He founded the Tokugawa.
line of shö-guns, who ruled in Yedo until
1868, making that city what it was, and
established the order of things known to
the outside world as characteristic of
modern Japan. In finally feudalizing all
Japan, he distributed the fiefs so as to se-
cure harmony among the great rival dai-
JAPAN. 79
mios, who possessed power in their own
right, and whom he had won over rather
than conquered. “He based the power of
his own dynasty upon the tie of the per-
Sonal fealty of the lesser barons and petty
nobles to himself and his successors as
lords paramount of their lands.” (Aston.)
The tycoon was simply the chief of the
mikado's vassals, a daimio among dai-
mios. Iye'yasure tired from office in 1605,
living in the city now called Shidzuòka,
where he received the Dutch, Spanish, and
English envoys sent to open commerce
with Japan. He encouraged literature,
collected manuscripts, founded schools,
and promoted the arts of peace. Except
one campaign against Hide'yori, Son of
Hide'yoshi, in 1615, and the persecution
of the Christians, profound tranquillity
reigned in the Land of Great Peace until
1863.
THE POLICY OF SECLUSION.—As the
foreign priests continued to resist the
laws, 129 of them, Jesuits, Franciscans,
and Dominicans, with 200 native helpers,
were, in 1614, deported to Macao in three
junks. The year before a Japanese ship.
bearing a Franciscan and a Japanese
80 ASIATIC HISTORY.
Crossed the Pacific to Mexico, and thence
to Spain and Rome, receiving audience of
the Pope. In 1637, at Shimabara, a great
uprising of the native Christians was put
down by force, and 30,000 men, women,
and children were slain. Horrible perse-
cutions, however, could not utterly oblit-
erate the Christian name, for the de-
scendants of the same martyrs still live,
holding their faith. After this period
Japanese were forbidden to leave the
Country, boats had to be built on an un-
seaworthy model,” and all foreigners, ex-
cept a few Chinese and a dozen Holland-
ers at Nagasa'ki living under restrictions,
were banished. Japan, like Corea, be-
came a hermit nation.
THE RESTORATION OF 1868. — The
* The Kuro Shiwo, or Black Current, which flows
past the eastern coast of Japan, sweeps across the
Pacific to Alaska, California, and thence to the Sand-
wich Islands. Japanese boats blown out to sea were
often stranded on American shores, of which at least
fifty known cases are on record. As this peopling of
American shores must have been a continuous process
from ancient times, do we not in this fact have a clue
to the origin of the aboriginal races of North America?
See “The Mikado's Empire,” Appendix. A number
of waifs were returned to Japan by American captains
of ships before Perry's arrival in 1853.
JAPAN. 81
causes of the recent revolutions in Japan,
which have effected (1,) a profound
change in the national policy toward for-
eigners; (2,) the restoration of the ancient
centralized imperialism ; and (3,) the abo-
lition of the feudal system, can be only
briefly sketched. They were both inter-
nal and external, though chiefly the
former.
The golden age of Japanese pure liter-
ature, in which the native language was
cultivated, was in the period between the
eighth and twelfth centuries. The Japanese
syllabary, (ka'ſa-Ma'ma,) of forty-seven let-
ters, was invented by Kibi, who died A.D.
776; and Az'ra-Ma'ma, or script, by Köbö,
a learned priest, and the reconciler of
Buddhism and Shinto, who died A.D. 835.
He may be called the Philo of Japan. The
purest specimens of Japanese literature
are the products of women. From the
twelfth to the seventeenth century the
condition of the country was mainly that
of civil war, in which scholarship, except
among the priests, scarcely existed. The
priest was the clerk, and the soldier was
ignorant. Shintô had sunk to a myth,
the native language was neglected, all
82 ASIATIC HISTORY.
learning was in Chinese, the political
power was in the hands of the shö-guns,
the mikados having only the semblance
of authority. When Iye'yasu gave peace
to the country in 16OO, an era of learning
began. Letters became the property of
the laymen. The Sword was exchanged
for the pen. A simultaneous revival of
the study of Chinese classics and of the
native literature and language followed.
The ancient texts were recovered, deci-
phered, and edited. Ancient history was
studied, and new works were written
which aroused a spirit of scrutiny into the
relations of the shö-gun and the mikado,
and a desire for the ancient native cult so
long overlaid by Buddhism. Long before
foreigners arrived every thing was ripe for
revolution. The settlement of California
brought a new and enterprising nation as
close to Japan as China was before the
days of steam.
When Commodore Perry arrived in
1853 and treated with the shö-gun, who
then styled himself “Tycoon,” (Great
Prince,) instead of with the true sover-
eign, the wrath of the “mikado-rever-
encers ” was roused, and the crisis of a
JAPAN. 83
century was precipitated. The first idea
of the patriots who opposed themselves
to the Tycoon for having made treaties
with the foreigners against the sovereign's
will, was to “honor the Mikado and expel
the barbarian.” In 1863 Kago'shima was
bombarded by a British, and in 1864 Shi-
monose'ki by an allied foreign squadron,
and heavy indemnities in cash extorted.
In 1868 the southern daimios, who had
long chafed under the rule of the Toku-
gawas, Stigmatizing them as usurpers,
formed a coalition, and compelled the resig-
nation of the shö-gun. They possessed
themselves of the imperial palace and the
person of the young Mikado, branded the
Tycoon's party as châte'Āz, and fought and
won the battle at Fushi'mi, near Kioto,
January 27, 1868—the pivotal point of the
modern history of Japan—captured Yedo,
and with the aid of the iron-clad “Stone-
wall” destroyed the Tycoon's navy. The
office of shö-gun, which had lasted since
I 192, was abolished, the ancient central-
ized imperial system re-established, the
capital changed to Tökiö, (formerly called
Yedo,) and the mediaeval customs which
had separated the people from the throne
S4 ASIATIC HISTORY.
were abolished. The Mikado resumed
the active functions of government, and
appeared in public for the first time in
many centuries. Finding themselves un-
able to drive out the foreigners, the new
reformers, much against the will of many
of the patriots, ratified the treaties in the
name of the emperor.
THE Aw AKENING OF NEw JAPAN.—
Gradually the leaders of the revolution
yielded to the impulse of enlightenment and
progress, and became diligent students
of the civilization of Christendom. Purg-
ing their ranks of “foreigner-haters,” and
extending the olive-branch to the old ad-
herents of the shö-gun, the wounds of civil
war were healed, and the nation resolute-
ly entered on the path of progress and of
Western ideas. The Etas (periahs) were
restored to citizenship. The press was
established. Foreign teachers, surgeons,
and Scientific men were invited from Eu-
i ope and America to assist the people and
Government. In 1871 the feudal system
was abolished, and the daimios retired to
private life. In 1872 an embassy was
sent to the treaty nations of the world to
revise the treaties and study the methods
JAPAN. 85
of progress among western peoples. Tel-
egraphs, railways, light-houses, steamship
lines, and a national postal and educa-
tional system were established. The re-
bellions instigated by fanatics of the old
régime, or the disappointed radicals of the
restoration, were one after another put
down with the help of steam, electricity,
blood, and iron ; the most serious war
being with the Satsuma rebels led by
Sai'go in 1877, which cost ten thousand
lives and $50,000,000. A treaty of peace,
instead of war, with Corea, was made
February 27, 1876. The Formosa canni-
bals were chastised by an army of occu-
pation. Toleration of Christianity grad-
ually, but without observation, became the
fact. Hundreds of young men were sent
to study in the schools of America and Eu-
rope. The steady drift of public opinion
seems to be in the direction of constitu-
tional representative government. In many
things the influence and example of Japan
seem to be acting as powerful leaven
among the Asiatic nations, especially
China and Corea. To the latter Japan
is returning the favors of early history.
Protestant Christianity, founded upon
S6 ASIATIC HISTORY.
the Bible and the preaching of Christ cru-
cified, began in 1859, shortly after the
opening of the ports of Nagasaki and Yo-
kohama, the pioneers being Hepburn,
Brown, Verbeck, Williams, and others.
These American missionaries were quickly
followed by the British brethren. Owing
to the jealous hostility of the Government
few converts were made during the first
ten years, but much literary work was
accomplished and foundations were laid.
The first church, at Yokohama, was or—
ganized March 10, 1872. There are now
—1881—about seventy churches and over
4,OOO members. The means of propaga-
tion are actively employed, and are based
on thorough use and knowledge of the
Scriptures. The New Testament, in whole,
and the Old, in part, are now translated
and widely read.
In this year of our Lord 1881, and of
Mei'ji (Enlightened Peace) the 13th, Japan,
once the hermit nation, holds friendly in-
tercourse with twenty nations, while her
Once unchanging dynasty still rules over
“the mikado's empire,” and her one hun-
dred and twenty-third sovereign reigns
over a “land of Great Peace.”
JAPAN's
87
CHRONOLOG P.
The 17 long-lived mikados, average reign,
67 years; average age, 108 years. . 660 B.C–399 A.D.
Era of Conquest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400-12oo
The Minamoto shö-guns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . II92-1219
The Hojö family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I2 Ig-1333
The temporary monarchy............ 1333-1336
The Ashikaga shö-guns. ... . . . . . . . . . . 1336–1574
Nobunaga. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1574–1582
Hide'yoshi.......... . . . . . . . . . . ‘...... 1582–1597
The Regency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1597–16oo
The Tokugawa shö-guns. . . . . . . . . . . . . 16oo—1868
Centralized Imperialism......... . . . . . 1868-1881
$ tº
88
JAPAN.
2
B00KS 0N JAPAN.
. HZstory of Jaffan. F. O. Adams,
London, 1874.
7%e Mžado's Empire. (History,
Social Life, Statistics, Travel, etc.)
William Elliot Griffis. Harper &
Brothers, New York.
3. Jaffan. E. J. Reed. London, 1880.
. Unbeaten Tracks ºn Japan. Miss
I. Bird. Putnam's Sons, New York.
. Hand-book of Central and Northern
jažazz. Satow and Hawes. Yoko-
hama, 1881.
. Tales of Old Japan. A. B. Mitford.
. Japanese Fairy World. W. E.
Griffis. J. H. Barhyte, Schenectady,
New York.
See also “Transactions of Asiatic So-
ciety of Japan,” the writings of Aston
and Satow ; and of the older writers,
Hildreth, Kaempfer, and Thunberg; and
articles in “American Cyclopedia
2 y
and
“Library of Universal Information.”
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