[The Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of China, by Wolfram Eberhard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever.] [You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\nTitle: A History of China\n\nAuthor: Wolfram Eberhard\n\nRelease Date: February 28, 2004 [EBook #11367]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ASCII\n\n*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF CHINA ***\n\n\n\n\nProduced by Juliet Sutherland, Gene Smethers and PG Distributed\nProofreaders\n\n\n\n\n\n[Transcriber's Note: The following text contains numerous non-English\nwords containing diacritical marks not contained in the ASCII character\nset.] [Characters accented by those marks, and the corresponding text\nrepresentations are as follows (where x represents the character being\naccented).] [All such symbols in this text above the character being\naccented:\n\n breve (u-shaped symbol): [)x]\n caron (v-shaped symbol): [vx]\n macron (straight line): [=x]\n acute (egu) accent: ['x]\n\nAdditionally, the author has spelled certain words inconsistently.] [Those\nhave been adjusted to be consistent where possible.] [Examples of such\nadjustments are as follows:\n\n From To\nNorthwestern North-western\nSouthwards Southward\nProgramme Program\nre-introduced reintroduced\npractise practice\nLotos Lotus\nJu-Chen Juchen\ncooperate co-operate\nlife-time lifetime\nman-power manpower\nfavor favour\netc.] [In general such changes are made to be consistent with the predominate\nusage in the text, or if there was not a predominate spelling, to the\nmore modern.] []\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA HISTORY OF CHINA\n\nby\n\nWOLFRAM EBERHARD\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\n _THE EARLIEST TIMES_\n\nChapter I: PREHISTORY\n\n 1 Sources for the earliest history\n 2 The Peking Man\n 3 The Palaeolithic Age\n 4 The Neolithic Age\n 5 The eight principal prehistoric cultures\n 6 The Yang-shao culture\n 7 The Lung-shan culture\n 8 The first petty States in Shansi\n\nChapter II: THE SHANG DYNASTY (_c_. 1600-1028 B.C.)\n\n 1 Period, origin, material culture\n 2 Writing and Religion\n 3 Transition to feudalism\n\n\n _ANTIQUITY_\n\nChapter III: THE CHOU DYNASTY (_c_. 1028-257 B.C.)\n\n 1 Cultural origin of the Chou and end of the Shang dynasty\n 2 Feudalism in the new empire\n 3 Fusion of Chou and Shang\n 4 Limitation of the imperial power\n 5 Changes in the relative strength of the feudal states\n 6 Confucius\n 7 Lao Tz[)u]\n\nChapter IV: THE CONTENDING STATES (481-256 B.C.):\nDISSOLUTION OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM\n\n 1 Social and military changes\n 2 Economic changes\n 3 Cultural changes\n\nChapter V: THE CH'IN DYNASTY (256-207 B.C.)\n\n 1 Towards the unitary State\n 2 Centralization in every field\n 3 Frontier Defence.] [Internal collapse\n\n\n _THE MIDDLE AGES_\n\nChapter VI: THE HAN DYNASTY (206 B.C.-A.D. 220)\n\n 1 Development of the gentry-state\n 2 Situation of the Hsiung-nu empire; its relation to the\n Han empire.] [Incorporation of South China\n 3 Brief feudal reaction.] [Consolidation of the gentry\n 4 Turkestan policy.] [End of the Hsiung-nu empire\n 5 Impoverishment.] [Cliques.] [End of the Dynasty\n 6 The pseudo-socialistic dictatorship.] [Revolt of the \"Red Eyebrows\"\n 7 Reaction and Restoration: the Later Han dynasty\n 8 Hsiung-nu policy\n 9 Economic situation.] [Rebellion of the \"Yellow Turbans\".] [Collapse of the Han dynasty\n 10 Literature and Art\n\nChapter VII: THE EPOCH OF THE FIRST DIVISION OF CHINA (A.D. 220-580)\n\n (A) _The three kingdoms_ (A.D. 220-265)\n 1 Social, intellectual, and economic problems during the\n period of the first division\n 2 Status of the two southern Kingdoms\n 3 The northern State of Wei\n\n (B) _The Western Chin dynasty_ (265-317)\n 1 Internal situation in the Chin empire\n 2 Effect on the frontier peoples\n 3 Struggles for the throne\n 4 Migration of Chinese\n 5 Victory of the Huns.] [The Hun Han dynasty\n (later renamed the Earlier Chao dynasty)\n\n (C) _The alien empires in North China, down to the Toba_\n (A.D. 317-385)\n 1 The Later Chao dynasty in eastern North China (Hun; 329-352)\n 2 Earlier Yen dynasty in the north-east (proto-Mongol; 352-370),\n and the Earlier Ch'in dynasty in all north China (Tibetan; 351-394)\n 3 The fragmentation of north China\n 4 Sociological analysis of the two great alien empires\n 5 Sociological analysis of the petty States\n 6 Spread of Buddhism\n\n (D) _The Toba empire in North China_ (A.D. 385-550)\n 1 The rise of the Toba State\n 2 The Hun kingdom of the Hsia (407-431)\n 3 Rise of the Toba to a great power\n 4 Economic and social conditions\n 5 Victory and retreat of Buddhism\n\n (E) _Succession States of the Toba_ (A.D. 550-580):\n _Northern Ch'i dynasty, Northern Chou dynasty_\n 1 Reasons for the splitting of the Toba empire\n 2 Appearance of the (Goek) Turks\n 3 The Northern Ch'i dynasty; the Northern Chou dynasty\n\n (F) _The southern empires_\n 1 Economic and social situation in the south\n 2 Struggles between cliques under the Eastern Chin dynasty\n (A.D. 317-419)\n 3 The Liu-Sung dynasty (A.D. 420-478) and the Southern Ch'i dynasty\n (A.D. 479-501)\n 4 The Liang dynasty (A.D. 502-556)\n 5 The Ch'en dynasty (A.D. 557-588) and its ending by the Sui\n 6 Cultural achievements of the south\n\nChapter VIII: THE EMPIRES OF THE SUI AND THE T'ANG\n\n (A) _The Sui dynasty_ (A.D. 580-618)\n 1 Internal situation in the newly unified empire\n 2 Relations with Turks and with Korea\n 3 Reasons for collapse\n\n (B) _The T'ang dynasty_ (A.D. 618-906)\n 1 Reforms and decentralization\n 2 Turkish policy\n 3 Conquest of Turkestan and Korea.] [Summit of power\n 4 The reign of the empress Wu: Buddhism and capitalism\n 5 Second blossoming of T'ang culture\n 6 Revolt of a military governor\n 7 The role of the Uighurs.] [Confiscation of the capital of the\n monasteries\n 8 First successful peasant revolt.] [Collapse of the empire\n\n\n _MODERN TIMES_\n\nChapter IX: THE EPOCH OF THE SECOND DIVISION OF CHINA\n\n (A) _The period of the Five Dynasties_ (906-960)\n 1 Beginning of a new epoch\n 2 Political situation in the tenth century\n 3 Monopolistic trade in South China.] [Printing and paper money in the\n north\n 4 Political history of the Five Dynasties\n\n (B) _Period of Moderate Absolutism_\n (1) _The Northern Sung dynasty_\n 1 Southward expansion\n 2 Administration and army.] [Inflation\n 3 Reforms and Welfare schemes\n 4 Cultural situation (philosophy, religion, literature, painting)\n 5 Military collapse\n\n (2) _The Liao (Kitan) dynasty in the north_ (937-1125)\n 1 Sociological structure.] [Claim to the Chinese imperial throne\n 2 The State of the Kara-Kitai\n\n (3) _The Hsi-Hsia State in the north_ (1038-1227)\n 1 Continuation of Turkish traditions\n\n (4) _The empire of the Southern Sung dynasty_ (1127-1279)\n 1 Foundation\n 2 Internal situation\n 3 Cultural situation; reasons for the collapse\n\n (5) _The empire of the Juchen in the north (i_ 115-1234)\n 1 Rapid expansion from northern Korea to the Yangtze\n 2 United front of all Chinese\n 3 Start of the Mongol empire\n\nChapter X: THE PERIOD OF ABSOLUTISM\n\n (A) _The Mongol Epoch_ (1280-1368)\n 1 Beginning of new foreign rules\n 2 \"Nationality legislation\"\n 3 Military position\n 4 Social situation\n 5 Popular risings: National rising\n 6 Cultural\n\n (B) _The Ming Epoch_ (1368-1644)\n 1 Start.] [National feeling\n 2 Wars against Mongols and Japanese\n 3 Social legislation within the existing order\n 4 Colonization and agricultural developments\n 5 Commercial and industrial developments\n 6 Growth of the small gentry\n 7 Literature, art, crafts\n 8 Politics at court\n 9 Navy.] [Southward expansion\n 10 Struggles between cliques\n 11 Risings\n 12 Machiavellism\n 13 Foreign relations in the sixteenth century\n 14 External and internal perils\n\n (C) _The Manchu Dynasty_ (1644-1911)\n 1 Installation of the Manchus\n 2 Decline in the eighteenth century\n 3 Expansion in Central Asia; the first State treaty\n 4 Culture\n 5 Relations with the outer world\n 6 Decline; revolts\n 7 European Imperialism in the Far East\n 8 Risings in Turkestan and within China: the T'ai P'ing Rebellion\n 9 Collision with Japan; further Capitulations\n 10 Russia in Manchuria\n 11 Reform and reaction: The Boxer Rising\n 12 End of the dynasty\n\nChapter XI: THE REPUBLIC (1912-1948)\n\n 1 Social and intellectual position\n 2 First period of the Republic: The warlords\n 3 Second period of the Republic: Nationalist China\n 4 The Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945)\n\nChapter XII: PRESENT-DAY CHINA\n\n 1 The growth of communism\n 2 Nationalist China in Taiwan\n 3 Communist China\n\nNotes and References\n\nIndex\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n1 Painted pottery from Kansu: Neolithic.] [_In the collection of the Museum fuer Voelkerkunde, Berlin_.] [2 Ancient bronze tripod found at Anyang.] [_From G. Ecke: Fruehe chinesische Bronzen aus der Sammlung Oskar\n Trautmann, Peking_ 1939, _plate_ 3.] [3 Bronze plaque representing two horses fighting each other.] [Ordos\n region, animal style.] [_From V. Griessmaier: Sammlung Baron Eduard von der Heydt,\n Vienna 1936, illustration No.] [6_.\n\n4 Hunting scene: detail from the reliefs in the tombs at Wu-liang-tz'u.] [_From a print in the author's possession_.] [5 Part of the \"Great Wall\".] [_Photo Eberhard_.] [6 Sun Ch'uean, ruler of Wu.] [_From a painting by Yen Li-pen (c.] [640-680_).] [7 General view of the Buddhist cave-temples of Yuen-kang.] [In the foreground, the present village; in the background the rampart.] [_Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson_.] [8 Detail from the Buddhist cave-reliefs of Lung-men.] [_From a print in the author's possession_.] [9 Statue of Mi-lo (Maitreya, the next future Buddha), in the \"Great\n Buddha Temple\" at Chengting (Hopei).] [_Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson_.] [10 Ladies of the Court: Clay models which accompanied the dead person to\n the grave.] [T'ang period.] [_In the collection of the Museum fuer Voelkerkunde.] [Berlin_.] [11 Distinguished founder: a temple banner found at Khotcho, Turkestan.] [_Museum fuer Voelkerkunde, Berlin.] [No.] [1B 4524, illustration B 408_.] [12 Ancient tiled pagoda at Chengting (Hopei).] [_Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson_.] [13 Horse-training.] [Painting by Li Lung-mien.] [Late Sung period.] [_Manchu Royal House Collection_.] [14 Aborigines of South China, of the \"Black Miao\" tribe, at a festival.] [China-ink drawing of the eighteenth century.] [_Collection of the Museum fuer Voelkerkunde, Berlin.] [No.] [1D 8756, 68_.\n\n15 Pavilion on the \"Coal Hill\" at Peking, in which the last Ming emperor\n committed suicide.] [_Photo Eberhard_.] [16 The imperial summer palace of the Manchu rulers, at Jehol.] [_Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson_.] [17 Tower on the city wall of Peking.] [_Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson_.] [MAPS\n\n1 Regions of the principal local cultures in prehistoric times\n\n2 The principal feudal States in the feudal epoch (roughly 722-481 B.C.)\n\n3 China in the struggle with the Huns or Hsiung-nu (roughly 128-100\nB.C.)\n\n4 The Toba empire (about A.D. 500)\n\n5 The T'ang realm (about A.D. 750)\n\n6 The State of the Later T'ang dynasty (923-935)\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nThere are indeed enough Histories of China already: why yet another one?] [Because the time has come for new departures; because we need to clear\naway the false notions with which the general public is constantly being\nfed by one author after another; because from time to time syntheses\nbecome necessary for the presentation of the stage reached by research.] [Histories of China fall, with few exceptions, into one or the other of\ntwo groups, pro-Chinese and anti-Chinese: the latter used to\npredominate, but today the former type is much more frequently found.] [We\nhave no desire to show that China's history is the most glorious or her\ncivilization the oldest in the world.] [A claim to the longest history\ndoes not establish the greatness of a civilization; the importance of a\ncivilization becomes apparent in its achievements.] [A thousand years ago\nChina's civilization towered over those of the peoples of Europe.] [Today\nthe West is leading; tomorrow China may lead again.] [We need to realize\nhow China became what she is, and to note the paths pursued by the\nChinese in human thought and action.] [The lives of emperors, the great\nbattles, this or the other famous deed, matter less to us than the\ndiscovery of the great forces that underlie these features and govern\nthe human element.] [Only when we have knowledge of those forces and\ncounter-forces can we realize the significance of the great\npersonalities who have emerged in China; and only then will the history\nof China become intelligible even to those who have little knowledge of\nthe Far East and can make nothing of a mere enumeration of dynasties and\ncampaigns.] [Views on China's history have radically changed in recent years.] [Until\nabout thirty years ago our knowledge of the earliest times in China\ndepended entirely on Chinese documents of much later date; now we are\nable to rely on many excavations which enable us to check the written\nsources.] [Ethnological, anthropological, and sociological research has\nbegun for China and her neighbours; thus we are in a position to write\nwith some confidence about the making of China, and about her ethnical\ndevelopment, where formerly we could only grope in the dark.] [The claim\nthat \"the Chinese race\" produced the high Chinese civilization entirely\nby its own efforts, thanks to its special gifts, has become just as\nuntenable as the other theory that immigrants from the West, some\nconceivably from Europe, carried civilization to the Far East.] [We know\nnow that in early times there was no \"Chinese race\", there were not even\n\"Chinese\", just as there were no \"French\" and no \"Swiss\" two thousand\nyears ago.] [The \"Chinese\" resulted from the amalgamation of many separate\npeoples of different races in an enormously complicated and\nlong-drawn-out process, as with all the other high civilizations of the\nworld.] [The picture of ancient and medieval China has also been entirely changed\nsince it has been realized that the sources on which reliance has always\nbeen placed were not objective, but deliberately and emphatically\nrepresented a particular philosophy.] [The reports on the emperors and\nministers of the earliest period are not historical at all, but served\nas examples of ideas of social policy or as glorifications of particular\nnoble families.] [Myths such as we find to this day among China's\nneighbours were made into history; gods were made men and linked\ntogether by long family trees.] [We have been able to touch on all these\nthings only briefly, and have had to dispense with any account of the\ncomplicated processes that have taken place here.] [The official dynastic histories apply to the course of Chinese history\nthe criterion of Confucian ethics; for them history is a textbook of\nethics, designed to show by means of examples how the man of high\ncharacter should behave or not behave.] [We have to go deeper, and try to\nextract the historic truth from these records.] [Many specialized studies\nby Chinese, Japanese, and Western scholars on problems of Chinese\nhistory are now available and of assistance in this task.] [However, some\nChinese writers still imagine that they are serving their country by yet\nagain dishing up the old fables for the foreigner as history; and some\nEuropeans, knowing no better or aiming at setting alongside the\nunedifying history of Europe the shining example of the conventional\nstory of China, continue in the old groove.] [To this day, of course, we\nare far from having really worked through every period of Chinese\nhistory; there are long periods on which scarcely any work has yet been\ndone.] [Thus the picture we are able to give today has no finality about\nit and will need many modifications.] [But the time has come for a new\nsynthesis, so that criticism may proceed along the broadest possible\nfront and push our knowledge further forward.] [The present work is intended for the general reader and not for the\nspecialist, who will devote his attention to particular studies and to\nthe original texts.] [In view of the wide scope of the work, I have had to\nconfine myself to placing certain lines of thought in the foreground and\npaying less attention to others.] [I have devoted myself mainly to showing\nthe main lines of China's social and cultural development down to the\npresent day.] [But I have also been concerned not to leave out of account\nChina's relations with her neighbours.] [Now that we have a better\nknowledge of China's neighbours, the Turks, Mongols, Tibetans, Tunguses,\nTai, not confined to the narratives of Chinese, who always speak only of\n\"barbarians\", we are better able to realize how closely China has been\nassociated with her neighbours from the first day of her history to the\npresent time; how greatly she is indebted to them, and how much she has\ngiven them.] [We no longer see China as a great civilization surrounded by\nbarbarians, but we study the Chinese coming to terms with their\nneighbours, who had civilizations of quite different types but\nnevertheless developed ones.] [It is usual to split up Chinese history under the various dynasties that\nhave ruled China or parts thereof.] [The beginning or end of a dynasty\ndoes not always indicate the beginning or the end of a definite period\nof China's social or cultural development.] [We have tried to break\nChina's history down into the three large periods--\"Antiquity\", \"The\nMiddle Ages\", and \"Modern Times\".] [This does not mean that we compare\nthese periods with periods of the same name in Western history although,\nnaturally, we find some similarities with the development of society and\nculture in the West.] [Every attempt towards periodization is to some\ndegree arbitrary: the beginning and end of the Middle Ages, for\ninstance, cannot be fixed to a year, because development is a continuous\nprocess.] [To some degree any periodization is a matter of convenience,\nand it should be accepted as such.] [The account of Chinese history here given is based on a study of the\noriginal documents and excavations, and on a study of recent research\ndone by Chinese, Japanese and Western scholars, including my own\nresearch.] [In many cases, these recent studies produced new data or\narranged new data in a new way without an attempt to draw general\nconclusions.] [By putting such studies together, by fitting them into the\npattern that already existed, new insights into social and cultural\nprocesses have been gained.] [The specialist in the field will, I hope,\neasily recognize the sources, primary or secondary, on which such new\ninsights represented in this book are based.] [Brief notes are appended\nfor each chapter; they indicate the most important works in English and\nprovide the general reader with an opportunity of finding further\ninformation on the problems touched on.] [For the specialist brief hints\nto international research are given, mainly in cases in which different\ninterpretations have been proposed.] [Chinese words are transcribed according to the Wade-Giles system with\nthe exception of names for which already a popular way of transcription\nexists (such as Peking).] [Place names are written without hyphen, if they\nremain readable.] [THE EARLIEST TIMES\n\n\n\nChapter One\n\n\nPREHISTORY\n\n1 _Sources for the earliest history_\n\nUntil recently we were dependent for the beginnings of Chinese history\non the written Chinese tradition.] [According to these sources China's\nhistory began either about 4000 B.C. or about 2700 B.C. with a\nsuccession of wise emperors who \"invented\" the elements of a\ncivilization, such as clothing, the preparation of food, marriage, and a\nstate system; they instructed their people in these things, and so\nbrought China, as early as in the third millennium B.C., to an\nastonishingly high cultural level.] [However, all we know of the origin of\ncivilizations makes this of itself entirely improbable; no other\ncivilization in the world originated in any such way.] [As time went on,\nChinese historians found more and more to say about primeval times.] [All\nthese narratives were collected in the great imperial history that\nappeared at the beginning of the Manchu epoch.] [That book was translated\ninto French, and all the works written in Western languages until recent\nyears on Chinese history and civilization have been based in the last\nresort on that translation.] [Modern research has not only demonstrated that all these accounts are\ninventions of a much later period, but has also shown _why_ such\nnarratives were composed.] [The older historical sources make no mention\nof any rulers before 2200 B.C., no mention even of their names.] [The\nnames of earlier rulers first appear in documents of about 400 B.C.; the\ndeeds attributed to them and the dates assigned to them often do not\nappear until much later.] [Secondly, it was shown that the traditional\nchronology is wrong and another must be adopted, reducing all the dates\nfor the more ancient history, before 900 B.C.] [Finally, all narratives\nand reports from China's earliest period have been dealt a mortal blow\nby modern archaeology, with the excavations of recent years.] [There was\nno trace of any high civilization in the third millennium B.C., and,\nindeed, we can only speak of a real \"Chinese civilization\" from 1300\nB.C. onward.] [The peoples of the China of that time had come from the\nmost varied sources; from 1300 B.C. they underwent a common process of\ndevelopment that welded them into a new unity.] [In this sense and\nemphasizing the cultural aspects, we are justified in using from then on\na new name, \"Chinese\", for the peoples of China.] [Those sections,\nhowever, of their ancestral populations who played no part in the\nsubsequent cultural and racial fusion, we may fairly call \"non-Chinese\".] [This distinction answers the question that continually crops up, whether\nthe Chinese are \"autochthonons\".] [They are autochthonons in the sense\nthat they formed a unit in the Far East, in the geographical region of\nthe present China, and were not immigrants from the Middle East.] [2 _The Peking Man_\n\nMan makes his appearance in the Far East at a time when remains in other\nparts of the world are very rare and are disputed.] [He appears as the\nso-called \"Peking Man\", whose bones were found in caves of\nChou-k'ou-tien south of Peking.] [The Peking Man is vastly different from\nthe men of today, and forms a special branch of the human race, closely\nallied to the Pithecanthropus of Java.] [The formation of later races of\nmankind from these types has not yet been traced, if it occurred at all.] [Some anthropologists consider, however, that the Peking Man possessed\nalready certain characteristics peculiar to the yellow race.] [The Peking Man lived in caves; no doubt he was a hunter, already in\npossession of very simple stone implements and also of the art of making\nfire.] [As none of the skeletons so far found are complete, it is assumed\nthat he buried certain bones of the dead in different places from the\nrest.] [This burial custom, which is found among primitive peoples in\nother parts of the world, suggests the conclusion that the Peking Man\nalready had religious notions.] [We have no knowledge yet of the length of\ntime the Peking Man may have inhabited the Far East.] [His first traces\nare attributed to a million years ago, and he may have flourished in\n500,000 B.C.\n\n3 _The Palaeolithic Age_\n\nAfter the period of the Peking Man there comes a great gap in our\nknowledge.] [All that we know indicates that at the time of the Peking Man\nthere must have been a warmer and especially a damper climate in North\nChina and Inner Mongolia than today.] [Great areas of the Ordos region,\nnow dry steppe, were traversed in that epoch by small rivers and lakes\nbeside which men could live.] [There were elephants, rhinoceroses, extinct\nspecies of stag and bull, even tapirs and other wild animals.] [About\n50,000 B.C. there lived by these lakes a hunting people whose stone\nimplements (and a few of bone) have been found in many places.] [The\nimplements are comparable in type with the palaeolithic implements of\nEurope (Mousterian type, and more rarely Aurignacian or even\nMagdalenian).] [They are not, however, exactly like the European\nimplements, but have a character of their own.] [We do not yet know what\nthe men of these communities looked like, because as yet no indisputable\nhuman remains have been found.] [All the stone implements have been found\non the surface, where they have been brought to light by the wind as it\nswept away the loess.] [These stone-age communities seem to have lasted a\nconsiderable time and to have been spread not only over North China but\nover Mongolia and Manchuria.] [It must not be assumed that the stone age\ncame to an end at the same time everywhere.] [Historical accounts have\nrecorded, for instance, that stone implements were still in use in\nManchuria and eastern Mongolia at a time when metal was known and used\nin western Mongolia and northern China.] [Our knowledge about the\npalaeolithic period of Central and South China is still extremely\nlimited; we have to wait for more excavations before anything can be\nsaid.] [Certainly, many implements in this area were made of wood or more\nprobably bamboo, such as we still find among the non-Chinese tribes of\nthe south-west and of South-East Asia.] [Such implements, naturally, could\nnot last until today.] [About 25,000 B.C. there appears in North China a new human type, found\nin upper layers in the same caves that sheltered Peking Man.] [This type\nis beyond doubt not Mongoloid, and may have been allied to the Ainu, a\nnon-Mongol race still living in northern Japan.] [These, too, were a\npalaeolithic people, though some of their implements show technical\nadvance.] [Later they disappear, probably because they were absorbed into\nvarious populations of central and northern Asia.] [Remains of them have\nbeen found in badly explored graves in northern Korea.] [4 _The Neolithic age_\n\nIn the period that now followed, northern China must have gradually\nbecome arid, and the formation of loess seems to have steadily advanced.] [There is once more a great gap in our knowledge until, about 4000 B.C.,\nwe can trace in North China a purely Mongoloid people with a neolithic\nculture.] [In place of hunters we find cattle breeders, who are even to\nsome extent agriculturists as well.] [This may seem an astonishing\nstatement for so early an age.] [It is a fact, however, that pure pastoral\nnomadism is exceptional, that normal pastoral nomads have always added a\nlittle farming to their cattle-breeding, in order to secure the needed\nadditional food and above all fodder, for the winter.] [At this time, about 4000 B.C., the other parts of China come into view.] [The neolithic implements of the various regions of the Far East are far\nfrom being uniform; there are various separate cultures.] [In the\nnorth-west of China there is a system of cattle-breeding combined with\nagriculture, a distinguishing feature being the possession of finely\npolished axes of rectangular section, with a cutting edge.] [Farther east,\nin the north and reaching far to the south, is found a culture with axes\nof round or oval section.] [In the south and in the coastal region from\nNanking to Tonking, Yuennan to Fukien, and reaching as far as the coasts\nof Korea and Japan, is a culture with so-called shoulder-axes.] [Szechwan\nand Yuennan represented a further independent culture.] [All these cultures were at first independent.] [Later the shoulder-axe\nculture penetrated as far as eastern India.] [Its people are known to\nphilological research as Austroasiatics, who formed the original stock\nof the Australian aborigines; they survived in India as the Munda\ntribes, in Indo-China as the Mon-Khmer, and also remained in pockets on\nthe islands of Indonesia and especially Melanesia.] [All these peoples had\nmigrated from southern China.] [The peoples with the oval-axe culture are\nthe so-called Papuan peoples in Melanesia; they, too, migrated from\nsouthern China, probably before the others.] [Both groups influenced the\nancient Japanese culture.] [The rectangular-axe culture of north-west\nChina spread widely, and moved southward, where the Austronesian peoples\n(from whom the Malays are descended) were its principal constituents,\nspreading that culture also to Japan.] [Thus we see here, in this period around 4000 B.C., an extensive mutual\npenetration of the various cultures all over the Far East, including\nJapan, which in the palaeolithic age was apparently without or almost\nwithout settlers.] [5 _The eight principal prehistoric cultures_\n\nIn the period roughly around 2500 B.C. the general historical view\nbecomes much clearer.] [Thanks to a special method of working, making use\nof the ethnological sources available from later times together with the\narchaeological sources, much new knowledge has been gained in recent\nyears.] [At this time there is still no trace of a Chinese realm; we find\ninstead on Chinese soil a considerable number of separate local\ncultures, each developing on its own lines.] [The chief of these cultures,\nacquaintance with which is essential to a knowledge of the whole later\ndevelopment of the Far East, are as follows:\n\n(a) _The north-east culture_, centred in the present provinces of Hopei\n(in which Peking lies), Shantung, and southern Manchuria.] [The people of\nthis culture were ancestors of the Tunguses, probably mixed with an\nelement that is contained in the present-day Paleo-Siberian tribes.] [These men were mainly hunters, but probably soon developed a little\nprimitive agriculture and made coarse, thick pottery with certain basic\nforms which were long preserved in subsequent Chinese pottery (for\ninstance, a type of the so-called tripods).] [Later, pig-breeding became\ntypical of this culture.] [(b) _The northern culture_ existed to the west of that culture, in the\nregion of the present Chinese province of Shansi and in the province of\nJehol in Inner Mongolia.] [These people had been hunters, but then became\npastoral nomads, depending mainly on cattle.] [The people of this culture\nwere the tribes later known as Mongols, the so-called proto-Mongols.] [Anthropologically they belonged, like the Tunguses, to the Mongol race.] [(c) The people of the culture farther west, the _north-west culture_,\nwere not Mongols.] [They, too, were originally hunters, and later became a\npastoral people, with a not inconsiderable agriculture (especially\ngrowing wheat and millet).] [The typical animal of this group soon became\nthe horse.] [The horse seems to be the last of the great animals to be\ndomesticated, and the date of its first occurrence in domesticated form\nin the Far East is not yet determined, but we can assume that by 2500\nB.C. this group was already in the possession of horses.] [The horse has\nalways been a \"luxury\", a valuable animal which needed special care.] [For\ntheir economic needs, these tribes depended on other animals, probably\nsheep, goats, and cattle.] [The centre of this culture, so far as can be\nascertained from Chinese sources, were the present provinces of Shensi\nand Kansu, but mainly only the plains.] [The people of this culture were\nmost probably ancestors of the later Turkish peoples.] [It is not\nsuggested, of course, that the original home of the Turks lay in the\nregion of the Chinese provinces of Shensi and Kansu; one gains the\nimpression, however, that this was a border region of the Turkish\nexpansion; the Chinese documents concerning that period do not suffice\nto establish the centre of the Turkish territory.] [(d) In the _west_, in the present provinces of Szechwan and in all the\nmountain regions of the provinces of Kansu and Shensi, lived the\nancestors of the Tibetan peoples as another separate culture.] [They were\nshepherds, generally wandering with their flocks of sheep and goats on\nthe mountain heights.] [(e) In the _south_ we meet with four further cultures.] [One is very\nprimitive, the Liao culture, the peoples of which are the Austroasiatics\nalready mentioned.] [These are peoples who never developed beyond the\nstage of primitive hunters, some of whom were not even acquainted with\nthe bow and arrow.] [Farther east is the Yao culture, an early\nAustronesian culture, the people of which also lived in the mountains,\nsome as collectors and hunters, some going over to a simple type of\nagriculture (denshiring).] [They mingled later with the last great culture\nof the south, the Tai culture, distinguished by agriculture.] [The people\nlived in the valleys and mainly cultivated rice.] [The origin of rice is not yet known; according to some scholars, rice\nwas first cultivated in the area of present Burma and was perhaps at\nfirst a perennial plant.] [Apart from the typical rice which needs much\nwater, there were also some strains of dry rice which, however, did not\ngain much importance.] [The centre of this Tai culture may have been in\nthe present provinces of Kuangtung and Kuanghsi.] [Today, their\ndescendants form the principal components of the Tai in Thailand, the\nShan in Burma and the Lao in Laos.] [Their immigration into the areas of\nthe Shan States of Burma and into Thailand took place only in quite\nrecent historical periods, probably not much earlier than A.D. 1000.] [Finally there arose from the mixture of the Yao with the Tai culture, at\na rather later time, the Yueeh culture, another early Austronesian\nculture, which then spread over wide regions of Indonesia, and of which\nthe axe of rectangular section, mentioned above, became typical.] [Thus, to sum up, we may say that, quite roughly, in the middle of the\nthird millennium we meet in the _north_ and west of present-day China\nwith a number of herdsmen cultures.] [In the _south_ there were a number\nof agrarian cultures, of which the Tai was the most powerful, becoming\nof most importance to the later China.] [We must assume that these\ncultures were as yet undifferentiated in their social composition, that\nis to say that as yet there was no distinct social stratification, but\nat most beginnings of class-formation, especially among the nomad\nherdsmen.] [[Illustration: Map 1.] [Regions of the principal local cultures in\nprehistoric times.] [_Local cultures of minor importance have not been\nshown_.] []\n\n6 _The Yang-shao culture_\n\nThe various cultures here described gradually penetrated one another,\nespecially at points where they met.] [Such a process does not yield a\nsimple total of the cultural elements involved; any new combination\nproduces entirely different conditions with corresponding new results\nwhich, in turn, represent the characteristics of the culture that\nsupervenes.] [We can no longer follow this process of penetration in\ndetail; it need not by any means have been always warlike.] [Conquest of\none group by another was only one way of mutual cultural penetration.] [In\nother cases, a group which occupied the higher altitudes and practiced\nhunting or slash-and-burn agriculture came into closer contacts with\nanother group in the valleys which practiced some form of higher\nagriculture; frequently, such contacts resulted in particular forms of\ndivision of labour in a unified and often stratified new form of\nsociety.] [Recent and present developments in South-East Asia present a\nnumber of examples for such changes.] [Increase of population is certainly\none of the most important elements which lead to these developments.] [The\nresult, as a rule, was a stratified society being made up of at least\none privileged and one ruled stratum.] [Thus there came into existence\naround 2000 B.C. some new cultures, which are well known\narchaeologically.] [The most important of these are the Yang-shao culture\nin the west and the Lung-shan culture in the east.] [Our knowledge of both\nthese cultures is of quite recent date and there are many enigmas still\nto be cleared up.] [The _Yang-shao culture_ takes its name from a prehistoric settlement in\nthe west of the present province of Honan, where Swedish investigators\ndiscovered it.] [Typical of this culture is its wonderfully fine pottery,\napparently used as gifts to the dead.] [It is painted in three colours,\nwhite, red, and black.] [The patterns are all stylized, designs copied\nfrom nature being rare.] [We are now able to divide this painted pottery\ninto several sub-types of specific distribution, and we know that this\nstyle existed from _c_. 2200 B.C. on.] [In general, it tends to disappear\nas does painted pottery in other parts of the world with the beginning\nof urban civilization and the invention of writing.] [The typical\nYang-shao culture seems to have come to an end around 1600 or 1500 B.C.] [It continued in some more remote areas, especially of Kansu, perhaps to\nabout 700 B.C.] [Remnants of this painted pottery have been found over a\nwide area from Southern Manchuria, Hopei, Shansi, Honan, Shensi to\nKansu; some pieces have also been discovered in Sinkiang.] [Thus far, it\nseems that it occurred mainly in the mountainous parts of North and\nNorth-West China.] [The people of this culture lived in villages near to\nthe rivers and creeks.] [They had various forms of houses, including\nunderground dwellings and animal enclosures.] [They practiced some\nagriculture; some authors believe that rice was already known to them.] [They also had domesticated animals.] [Their implements were of stone with\nrare specimens of bone.] [The axes were of the rectangular type.] [Metal was\nas yet unknown, but seems to have been introduced towards the end of the\nperiod.] [They buried their dead on the higher elevations, and here the\npainted pottery was found.] [For their daily life, they used predominantly\na coarse grey pottery.] [After the discovery of this culture, its pottery was compared with the\npainted pottery of the West, and a number of resemblances were found,\nespecially with the pottery of the Lower Danube basin and that of Anau,\nin Turkestan.] [Some authors claim that such resemblances are fortuitous\nand believe that the older layers of this culture are to be found in the\neastern part of its distribution and only the later layers in the west.] [It is, they say, these later stages which show the strongest\nresemblances with the West.] [Other authors believe that the painted\npottery came from the West where it occurs definitely earlier than in\nthe Far East; some investigators went so far as to regard the\nIndo-Europeans as the parents of that civilization.] [As we find people\nwho spoke an Indo-European language in the Far East in a later period,\nthey tend to connect the spread of painted pottery with the spread of\nIndo-European-speaking groups.] [As most findings of painted pottery in\nthe Far East do not stem from scientific excavations it is difficult to\nmake any decision at this moment.] [We will have to wait for more and\nmodern excavations.] [From our knowledge of primeval settlement in West and North-West China\nwe know, however, that Tibetan groups, probably mixed with Turkish\nelements, must have been the main inhabitants of the whole region in\nwhich this painted pottery existed.] [Whatever the origin of the painted\npottery may be, it seems that people of these two groups were the main\nusers of it.] [Most of the shapes of their pottery are not found in later\nChinese pottery.] [7 _The Lung-shan culture_\n\nWhile the Yang-shao culture flourished in the mountain regions of\nnorthern and western China around 2000 B.C., there came into existence\nin the plains of eastern China another culture, which is called the\nLung-shan culture, from the scene of the principal discoveries.] [Lung-shan is in the province of Shantung, near Chinan-fu.] [This culture,\ndiscovered only about twenty-five years ago, is distinguished by a black\npottery of exceptionally fine quality and by a similar absence of metal.] [The pottery has a polished appearance on the exterior; it is never\npainted, and mostly without decoration; at most it may have incised\ngeometrical patterns.] [The forms of the vessels are the same as have\nremained typical of Chinese pottery, and of Far Eastern pottery in\ngeneral.] [To that extent the Lung-shan culture may be described as one of\nthe direct predecessors of the later Chinese civilization.] [As in the West, we find in Lung-shan much grey pottery out of which\nvessels for everyday use were produced.] [This simple corded or matted\nware seems to be in connection with Tunguse people who lived in the\nnorth-east.] [The people of the Lung-shan culture lived on mounds produced\nby repeated building on the ruins of earlier settlements, as did the\ninhabitants of the \"Tells\" in the Near East.] [They were therefore a\nlong-settled population of agriculturists.] [Their houses were of mud, and\ntheir villages were surrounded with mud walls.] [There are signs that\ntheir society was stratified.] [So far as is known at present, this\nculture was spread over the present provinces of Shantung, Kiangsu,\nChekiang, and Anhui, and some specimens of its pottery went as far as\nHonan and Shansi, into the region of the painted pottery.] [This culture\nlasted in the east until about 1600 B.C., with clear evidence of rather\nlonger duration only in the south.] [As black pottery of a similar\ncharacter occurs also in the Near East, some authors believe that it has\nbeen introduced into the Far East by another migration (Pontic\nmigration) following that migration which supposedly brought the painted\npottery.] [This theory has not been generally accepted because of the fact\nthat typical black pottery is limited to the plains of East China; if it\nhad been brought in from the West, we should expect to find it in\nconsiderable amounts also in West China.] [Ordinary black pottery can be\nsimply the result of a special temperature in the pottery kiln; such\npottery can be found almost everywhere.] [The typical thin, fine black\npottery of Lung-shan, however, is in the Far East an eastern element,\nand migrants would have had to pass through the area of the painted\npottery people without leaving many traces and without pushing their\npredecessors to the East.] [On the basis of our present knowledge we\nassume that the peoples of the Lung-shan culture were probably of Tai\nand Yao stocks together with some Tunguses.] [Recently, a culture of mound-dwellers in Eastern China has been\ndiscovered, and a southern Chinese culture of people with impressed or\nstamped pottery.] [This latter seems to be connected with the Yueeh tribes.] [As yet, no further details are known.] [8 _The first petty States in Shansi_\n\nAt the time in which, according to archaeological research, the painted\npottery flourished in West China, Chinese historical tradition has it\nthat the semi-historical rulers, Yao and Shun, and the first official\ndynasty, the Hsia dynasty ruled over parts of China with a centre in\nsouthern Shansi.] [While we dismiss as political myths the Confucianist\nstories representing Yao and Shun as models of virtuous rulers, it may\nbe that a small state existed in south-western Shansi under a chieftain\nYao, and farther to the east another small state under a chieftain Shun,\nand that these states warred against each other until Yao's state was\ndestroyed.] [These first small states may have existed around 2000 B.C.\n\nOn the cultural scene we first find an important element of progress:\nbronze, in traces in the middle layers of the Yang-shao culture, about\n1800 B.C.; that element had become very widespread by 1400 B.C.] [The\nforms of the oldest weapons and their ornamentation show similarities\nwith weapons from Siberia; and both mythology and other indications\nsuggest that the bronze came into China from the north and was not\nproduced in China proper.] [Thus, from the present state of our knowledge,\nit seems most correct to say that the bronze was brought to the Far East\nthrough the agency of peoples living north of China, such as the Turkish\ntribes who in historical times were China's northern neighbours (or\nperhaps only individual families or clans, the so-called smith families\nwith whom we meet later in Turkish tradition), reaching the Chinese\neither through these people themselves or through the further agency of\nMongols.] [At first the forms of the weapons were left unaltered.] [The\nbronze vessels, however, which made their appearance about 1450 B.C. are\nentirely different from anything produced in other parts of Asia; their\nornamentation shows, on the one hand, elements of the so-called \"animal\nstyle\" which is typical of the steppe people of the Ordos area and of\nCentral Asia.] [But most of the other elements, especially the \"filling\"\nbetween stylized designs, is recognizably southern (probably of the Tai\nculture), no doubt first applied to wooden vessels and vessels made from\ngourds, and then transferred to bronze.] [This implies that the art of\ncasting bronze very soon spread from North China, where it was first\npracticed by Turkish peoples, to the east and south, which quickly\ndeveloped bronze industries of their own.] [There are few deposits of\ncopper and tin in North China, while in South China both metals are\nplentiful and easily extracted, so that a trade in bronze from south to\nnorth soon set in.] [The origin of the Hsia state may have been a consequence of the progress\ndue to bronze.] [The Chinese tradition speaks of the Hsia _dynasty_, but\ncan say scarcely anything about it.] [The excavations, too, yield no\nclear conclusions, so that we can only say that it flourished at the\ntime and in the area in which the painted pottery occurred, with a\ncentre in south-west Shansi.] [We date this dynasty now somewhere between\n2000 and 1600 B.C. and believe that it was an agrarian culture with\nbronze weapons and pottery vessels but without the knowledge of the art\nof writing.] [Chapter Two\n\n\nTHE SHANG DYNASTY (_c_. 1600-1028 B.C.)\n\n1 _Period, origin, material culture_\n\nAbout 1600 B.C. we come at last into the realm of history.] [Of the Shang\ndynasty, which now followed, we have knowledge both from later texts and\nfrom excavations and the documents they have brought to light.] [The Shang\ncivilization, an evident off-shoot of the Lung-shan culture (Tai, Yao,\nand Tunguses), but also with elements of the Hsia culture (with Tibetan\nand Mongol and/or Turkish elements), was beyond doubt a high\ncivilization.] [Of the origin of the Shang _State_ we have no details, nor\ndo we know how the Hsia culture passed into the Shang culture.] [The central territory of the Shang realm lay in north-western Honan,\nalongside the Shansi mountains and extending into the plains.] [It was a\npeasant civilization with towns.] [One of these towns has been excavated.] [It adjoined the site of the present town of Anyang, in the province of\nHonan.] [The town, the Shang capital from _c_. 1300 to 1028 B.C., was\nprobably surrounded by a mud wall, as were the settlements of the\nLung-shan people.] [In the centre was what evidently was the ruler's\npalace.] [Round this were houses probably inhabited by artisans; for the\nartisans formed a sort of intermediate class, as dependents of the\nruling class.] [From inscriptions we know that the Shang had, in addition\nto their capital, at least two other large cities and many smaller\ntown-like settlements and villages.] [The rectangular houses were built in\na style still found in Chinese houses, except that their front did not\nalways face south as is now the general rule.] [The Shang buried their\nkings in large, subterranean, cross-shaped tombs outside the city, and\nmany implements, animals and human sacrifices were buried together with\nthem.] [The custom of large burial mounds, which later became typical of\nthe Chou dynasty, did not yet exist.] [The Shang had sculptures in stone, an art which later more or less\ncompletely disappeared and which was resuscitated only in post-Christian\ntimes under the influence of Indian Buddhism.] [Yet, Shang culture cannot\nwell be called a \"megalithic\" culture.] [Bronze implements and especially\nbronze vessels were cast in the town.] [We even know the trade marks of\nsome famous bronze founders.] [The bronze weapons are still similar to\nthose from Siberia, and are often ornamented in the so-called \"animal\nstyle\", which was used among all the nomad peoples between the Ordos\nregion and Siberia until the beginning of the Christian era.] [On the\nother hand, the famous bronze vessels are more of southern type, and\nreveal an advanced technique that has scarcely been excelled since.] [There can be no doubt that the bronze vessels were used for religious\nservice and not for everyday life.] [For everyday use there were\nearthenware vessels.] [Even in the middle of the first millennium B.C.,\nbronze was exceedingly dear, as we know from the records of prices.] [China has always suffered from scarcity of metal.] [For that reason metal\nwas accumulated as capital, entailing a further rise in prices; when\nprices had reached a sufficient height, the stocks were thrown on the\nmarket and prices fell again.] [Later, when there was a metal coinage,\nthis cycle of inflation and deflation became still clearer.] [The metal\ncoinage was of its full nominal value, so that it was possible to coin\nmoney by melting down bronze implements.] [As the money in circulation was\nincreased in this way, the value of the currency fell.] [Then it paid to\nturn coin into metal implements.] [This once more reduced the money in\ncirculation and increased the value of the remaining coinage.] [Thus\nthrough the whole course of Chinese history the scarcity of metal and\ninsufficiency of production of metal continually produced extensive\nfluctuations of the stocks and the value of metal, amounting virtually\nto an economic law in China.] [Consequently metal implements were never\nuniversally in use, and vessels were always of earthenware, with the\nfurther result of the early invention of porcelain.] [Porcelain vessels\nhave many of the qualities of metal ones, but are cheaper.] [The earthenware vessels used in this period are in many cases already\nvery near to porcelain: there was a pottery of a brilliant white,\nlacking only the glaze which would have made it into porcelain.] [Patterns\nwere stamped on the surface, often resembling the patterns on bronze\narticles.] [This ware was used only for formal, ceremonial purposes.] [For\ndaily use there was also a perfectly simple grey pottery.] [Silk was already in use at this time.] [The invention of sericulture must\ntherefore have dated from very ancient times in China.] [It undoubtedly\noriginated in the south of China, and at first not only the threads\nspun by the silkworm but those made by other caterpillars were also\nused.] [The remains of silk fabrics that have been found show already an\nadvanced weaving technique.] [In addition to silk, various plant fibres,\nsuch as hemp, were in use.] [Woollen fabrics do not seem to have been yet\nused.] [The Shang were agriculturists, but their implements were still rather\nprimitive.] [There was no real plough yet; hoes and hoe-like implements\nwere used, and the grain, mainly different kinds of millet and some\nwheat, was harvested with sickles.] [The materials, from which these\nimplements were made, were mainly wood and stone; bronze was still too\nexpensive to be utilized by the ordinary farmer.] [As a great number of\nvessels for wine in many different forms have been excavated, we can\nassume that wine, made from special kinds of millet, was a popular\ndrink.] [The Shang state had its centre in northern Honan, north of the Yellow\nriver.] [At various times, different towns were made into the capital\ncity; Yin-ch'ue, their last capital and the only one which has been\nexcavated, was their sixth capital.] [We do not know why the capitals were\nremoved to new locations; it is possible that floods were one of the\nmain reasons.] [The area under more or less organized Shang control\ncomprised towards the end of the dynasty the present provinces of Honan,\nwestern Shantung, southern Hopei, central and south Shansi, east Shensi,\nparts of Kiangsu and Anhui.] [We can only roughly estimate the size of the\npopulation of the Shang state.] [Late texts say that at the time of the\nannihilation of the dynasty, some 3.1 million free men and 1.1 million\nserfs were captured by the conquerors; this would indicate a population\nof at least some 4-5 millions.] [This seems a possible number, if we\nconsider that an inscription of the tenth century B.C. which reports\nabout an ordinary war against a small and unimportant western neighbour,\nspeaks of 13,081 free men and 4,812 serfs taken as prisoners.] [Inscriptions mention many neighbours of the Shang with whom they were in\nmore or less continuous state of war.] [Many of these neighbours can now\nbe identified.] [We know that Shansi at that time was inhabited by Ch'iang\ntribes, belonging to the Tibetan culture, as well as by Ti tribes,\nbelonging to the northern culture, and by Hsien-yuen and other tribes,\nbelonging to the north-western culture; the centre of the Ch'iang tribes\nwas more in the south-west of Shansi and in Shensi.] [Some of these tribes\ndefinitely once formed a part of the earlier Hsia state.] [The\nidentification of the eastern neighbours of the Shang presents more\ndifficulties.] [We might regard them as representatives of the Tai and Yao\ncultures.] [2 _Writing and Religion_\n\nNot only the material but also the intellectual level attained in the\nShang period was very high.] [We meet for the first time with\nwriting--much later than in the Middle East and in India.] [Chinese\nscholars have succeeded in deciphering some of the documents discovered,\nso that we are able to learn a great deal from them.] [The writing is a\nrudimentary form of the present-day Chinese script, and like it a\npictorial writing, but also makes use, as today, of many phonetic signs.] [There were, however, a good many characters that no longer exist, and\nmany now used are absent.] [There were already more than 3,000 characters\nin use of which some 1,000 can now be read.] [(Today newspapers use some\n3,000 characters; scholars have command of up to 8,000; the whole of\nChinese literature, ancient and modern, comprises some 50,000\ncharacters.] [) With these 3,000 characters the Chinese of the Shang period\nwere able to express themselves well.] [The still existing fragments of writing of this period are found almost\nexclusively on tortoiseshells or on other bony surfaces, and they\nrepresent oracles.] [As early as in the Lung-shan culture there was\ndivination by means of \"oracle bones\", at first without written\ncharacters.] [In the earliest period any bones of animals (especially\nshoulder-bones) were used; later only tortoiseshell.] [For the purpose of\nthe oracle a depression was burnt in the shell so that cracks were\nformed on the other side, and the future was foretold from their\ndirection.] [Subsequently particular questions were scratched on the\nshells, and the answers to them; these are the documents that have come\ndown to us.] [In Anyang tens of thousands of these oracle bones with\ninscriptions have been found.] [The custom of asking the oracle and of\nwriting the answers on the bones spread over the borders of the Shang\nstate and continued in some areas after the end of the dynasty.] [The bronze vessels of later times often bear long inscriptions, but\nthose of the Shang period have only very brief texts.] [On the other hand,\nthey are ornamented with pictures, as yet largely unintelligible, of\ncountless deities, especially in the shape of animals or birds--pictures\nthat demand interpretation.] [The principal form on these bronzes is that\nof the so-called T'ao-t'ieh, a hybrid with the head of a water-buffalo\nand tiger's teeth.] [The Shang period had a religion with many nature deities, especially\ndeities of fertility.] [There was no systematized pantheon, different\ndeities being revered in each locality, often under the most varied\nnames.] [These various deities were, however, similar in character, and\nlater it occurred often that many of them were combined by the priests\ninto a single god.] [The composite deities thus formed were officially\nworshipped.] [Their primeval forms lived on, however, especially in the\nvillages, many centuries longer than the Shang dynasty.] [The sacrifices\nassociated with them became popular festivals, and so these gods or\ntheir successors were saved from oblivion; some of them have lived on in\npopular religion to the present day.] [The supreme god of the official\nworship was called Shang Ti; he was a god of vegetation who guided all\ngrowth and birth and was later conceived as a forefather of the races of\nmankind.] [The earth was represented as a mother goddess, who bore the\nplants and animals procreated by Shang Ti.] [In some parts of the Shang\nrealm the two were conceived as a married couple who later were parted\nby one of their children.] [The husband went to heaven, and the rain is\nthe male seed that creates life on earth.] [In other regions it was\nsupposed that in the beginning of the world there was a world-egg, out\nof which a primeval god came, whose body was represented by the earth:\nhis hair formed the plants, and his limbs the mountains and valleys.] [Every considerable mountain was also itself a god and, similarly, the\nriver god, the thunder god, cloud, lightning, and wind gods, and many\nothers were worshipped.] [In order to promote the fertility of the earth, it was believed that\nsacrifices must be offered to the gods.] [Consequently, in the Shang realm\nand the regions surrounding it there were many sorts of human\nsacrifices; often the victims were prisoners of war.] [One gains the\nimpression that many wars were conducted not as wars of conquest but\nonly for the purpose of capturing prisoners, although the area under\nShang control gradually increased towards the west and the south-east, a\nfact demonstrating the interest in conquest.] [In some regions men lurked\nin the spring for people from other villages; they slew them, sacrificed\nthem to the earth, and distributed portions of the flesh of the\nsacrifice to the various owners of fields, who buried them.] [At a later\ntime all human sacrifices were prohibited, but we have reports down to\nthe eleventh century A.D., and even later, that such sacrifices were\noffered secretly in certain regions of central China.] [In other regions a\ngreat boat festival was held in the spring, to which many crews came\ncrowded in long narrow boats.] [At least one of the boats had to capsize;\nthe people who were thus drowned were a sacrifice to the deities of\nfertility.] [This festival has maintained its fundamental character to\nthis day, in spite of various changes.] [The same is true of other\nfestivals, customs, and conceptions, vestiges of which are contained at\nleast in folklore.] [In addition to the nature deities which were implored to give fertility,\nto send rain, or to prevent floods and storms, the Shang also\nworshipped deceased rulers and even dead ministers as a kind of\nintermediaries between man and the highest deity, Shang Ti.] [This\npractice may be regarded as the forerunner of \"ancestral worship\" which\nbecame so typical of later China.] [3 _Transition to feudalism_\n\nAt the head of the Shang state was a king, posthumously called a \"Ti\",\nthe same word as in the name of the supreme god.] [We have found on bones\nthe names of all the rulers of this dynasty and even some of their\npre-dynastic ancestors.] [These names can be brought into agreement with\nlists of rulers found in the ancient Chinese literature.] [The ruler seems\nto have been a high priest, too; and around him were many other priests.] [We know some of them now so well from the inscriptions that their\nbiographies could be written.] [The king seems to have had some kind of\nbureaucracy.] [There were \"ch'en\", officials who served the ruler\npersonally, as well as scribes and military officials.] [The basic army\norganization was in units of one hundred men which were combined as\n\"right\", \"left\" and \"central\" units into an army of 300 men.] [But it\nseems that the central power did not extend very far.] [In the more\ndistant parts of the realm were more or less independent lords, who\nrecognized the ruler only as their supreme lord and religious leader.] [We\nmay describe this as an early, loose form of the feudal system, although\nthe main element of real feudalism was still absent.] [The main\nobligations of these lords were to send tributes of grain, to\nparticipate with their soldiers in the wars, to send tortoise shells to\nthe capital to be used there for oracles, and to send occasionally\ncattle and horses.] [There were some thirty such dependent states.] [Although we do not know much about the general population, we know that\nthe rulers had a patrilinear system of inheritance.] [After the death of\nthe ruler his brothers followed him on the throne, the older brothers\nfirst.] [After the death of all brothers, the sons of older or younger\nbrothers became rulers.] [No preference was shown to the son of the oldest\nbrother, and no preference between sons of main or of secondary wives is\nrecognizable.] [Thus, the Shang patrilinear system was much less extreme\nthan the later system.] [Moreover, the deceased wives of the rulers played\na great role in the cult, another element which later disappeared.] [From\nthese facts and from the general structure of Shang religion it has been\nconcluded that there was a strong matrilinear strain in Shang culture.] [Although this cannot be proved, it seems quite plausible because we know\nof matrilinear societies in the South of China at later times.] [About the middle of the Shang period there occurred interesting\nchanges, probably under the influence of nomad peoples from the\nnorth-west.] [In religion there appears some evidence of star-worship.] [The deities\nseem to have been conceived as a kind of celestial court of Shang Ti,\nas his \"officials\".] [In the field of material culture, horse-breeding\nbecomes more and more evident.] [Some authors believe that the art of\nriding was already known in late Shang times, although it was certainly\nnot yet so highly developed that cavalry units could be used in war.] [With horse-breeding the two-wheeled light war chariot makes its\nappearance.] [The wheel was already known in earlier times in the form of\nthe potter's wheel.] [Recent excavations have brought to light burials in\nwhich up to eighteen chariots with two or four horses were found\ntogether with the owners of the chariots.] [The cart is not a Chinese\ninvention but came from the north, possibly from Turkish peoples.] [It has\nbeen contended that it was connected with the war chariot of the Near\nEast: shortly before the Shang period there had been vast upheavals in\nwestern Asia, mainly in connection with the expansion of peoples who\nspoke Indo-European languages (Hittites, etc.) and who became successful\nthrough the use of quick, light, two-wheeled war-chariots.] [It is\npossible, but cannot be proved, that the war-chariot spread\nthrough Central Asia in connection with the spread of such\nIndo-European-speaking groups or by the intermediary of Turkish tribes.] [We have some reasons to believe that the first Indo-European-speaking\ngroups arrived in the Far East in the middle of the second millennium\nB.C.] [Some authors even connect the Hsia with these groups.] [In any case,\nthe maximal distribution of these people seems to have been to the\nwestern borders of the Shang state.] [As in Western Asia, a Shang-time\nchariot was manned by three men: the warrior who was a nobleman, his\ndriver, and his servant who handed him arrows or other weapons when\nneeded.] [There developed a quite close relationship between the nobleman\nand his chariot-driver.] [The chariot was a valuable object, manufactured\nby specialists; horses were always expensive and rare in China, and in\nmany periods of Chinese history horses were directly imported from\nnomadic tribes in the North or West.] [Thus, the possessors of vehicles\nformed a privileged class in the Shang realm; they became a sort of\nnobility, and the social organization began to move in the direction of\nfeudalism.] [One of the main sports of the noblemen in this period, in\naddition to warfare, was hunting.] [The Shang had their special hunting\ngrounds south of the mountains which surround Shansi province, along the\nslopes of the T'ai-hang mountain range, and south to the shores of the\nYellow river.] [Here, there were still forests and swamps in Shang time,\nand boars, deer, buffaloes and other animals, as well as occasional\nrhinoceros and elephants, were hunted.] [None of these wild animals was\nused as a sacrifice; all sacrificial animals, such as cattle, pigs,\netc., were domesticated animals.] [Below the nobility we find large numbers of dependent people; modern\nChinese scholars call them frequently \"slaves\" and speak of a \"slave\nsociety\".] [There is no doubt that at least some farmers were \"free\nfarmers\"; others were what we might call \"serfs\": families in hereditary\ngroup dependence upon some noble families and working on land which the\nnoble families regarded as theirs.] [Families of artisans and craftsmen\nalso were hereditary servants of noble families--a type of social\norganization which has its parallels in ancient Japan and in later India\nand other parts of the world.] [There were also real slaves: persons who\nwere the personal property of noblemen.] [The independent states around\nthe Shang state also had serfs.] [When the Shang captured neighbouring\nstates, they resettled the captured foreign aristocracy by attaching\nthem as a group to their own noblemen.] [The captured serfs remained under\ntheir masters and shared their fate.] [The same system was later practiced\nby the Chou after their conquest of the Shang state.] [The conquests of late Shang added more territory to the realm than could\nbe coped with by the primitive communications of the time.] [When the last\nruler of Shang made his big war which lasted 260 days against the tribes\nin the south-east, rebellions broke out which lead to the end of the\ndynasty, about 1028 B.C. according to the new chronology (1122 B.C. old\nchronology).] [ANTIQUITY\n\n\n\nChapter Three\n\n\nTHE CHOU DYNASTY (_c_. 1028-257 B.C.)\n\n1 _Cultural origin of the Chou and end of the Shang dynasty_\n\nThe Shang culture still lacked certain things that were to become\ntypical of \"Chinese\" civilization.] [The family system was not yet the\nstrong patriarchal system of the later Chinese.] [The religion, too, in\nspite of certain other influences, was still a religion of agrarian\nfertility.] [And although Shang society was strongly stratified and showed\nsome tendencies to develop a feudal system, feudalism was still very\nprimitive.] [Although the Shang script was the precursor of later Chinese\nscript, it seemed to have contained many words which later disappeared,\nand we are not sure whether Shang language was the same as the language\nof Chou time.] [With the Chou period, however, we enter a period in which\neverything which was later regarded as typically \"Chinese\" began to\nemerge.] [During the time of the Shang dynasty the Chou formed a small realm in\nthe west, at first in central Shensi, an area which even in much later\ntimes was the home of many \"non-Chinese\" tribes.] [Before the beginning of\nthe eleventh century B.C. they must have pushed into eastern Shensi, due\nto pressures of other tribes which may have belonged to the Turkish\nethnic group.] [However, it is also possible that their movement was\nconnected with pressures from Indo-European groups.] [An analysis of their\ntribal composition at the time of the conquest seems to indicate that\nthe ruling house of the Chou was related to the Turkish group, and that\nthe population consisted mainly of Turks and Tibetans.] [Their culture was\nclosely related to that of Yang-shao, the previously described\npainted-pottery culture, with, of course, the progress brought by time.] [They had bronze weapons and, especially, the war-chariot.] [Their eastward\nmigration, however, brought them within the zone of the Shang culture,\nby which they were strongly influenced, so that the Chou culture lost\nmore and more of its original character and increasingly resembled the\nShang culture.] [The Chou were also brought into the political sphere of\nthe Shang, as shown by the fact that marriages took place between the\nruling houses of Shang and Chou, until the Chou state became nominally\ndependent on the Shang state in the form of a dependency with special\nprerogatives.] [Meanwhile the power of the Chou state steadily grew, while\nthat of the Shang state diminished more and more through the disloyalty\nof its feudatories and through wars in the East.] [Finally, about 1028\nB.C., the Chou ruler, named Wu Wang (\"the martial king\"), crossed his\neastern frontier and pushed into central Honan.] [His army was formed by\nan alliance between various tribes, in the same way as happened again\nand again in the building up of the armies of the rulers of the steppes.] [Wu Wang forced a passage across the Yellow River and annihilated the\nShang army.] [He pursued its vestiges as far as the capital, captured the\nlast emperor of the Shang, and killed him.] [Thus was the Chou dynasty\nfounded, and with it we begin the actual history of China.] [The Chou\nbrought to the Shang culture strong elements of Turkish and also Tibetan\nculture, which were needed for the release of such forces as could\ncreate a new empire and maintain it through thousands of years as a\ncultural and, generally, also a political unit.] [2 _Feudalism in the new empire_\n\nA natural result of the situation thus produced was the turning of the\ncountry into a feudal state.] [The conquerors were an alien minority, so\nthat they had to march out and spread over the whole country.] [Moreover,\nthe allied tribal chieftains expected to be rewarded.] [The territory to\nbe governed was enormous, but the communications in northern China at\nthat time were similar to those still existing not long ago in southern\nChina--narrow footpaths from one settlement to another.] [It is very\ndifficult to build roads in the loess of northern China; and the\nwar-chariots that required roads had only just been introduced.] [Under\nsuch conditions, the simplest way of administering the empire was to\nestablish garrisons of the invading tribes in the various parts of the\ncountry under the command of their chieftains.] [Thus separate regions of\nthe country were distributed as fiefs.] [If a former subject of the Shang\nsurrendered betimes with the territory under his rule, or if there was\none who could not be overcome by force, the Chou recognized him as a\nfeudal lord.] [We find in the early Chou time the typical signs of true feudalism:\nfiefs were given in a ceremony in which symbolically a piece of earth\nwas handed over to the new fiefholder, and his instalment, his rights\nand obligations were inscribed in a \"charter\".] [Most of the fiefholders\nwere members of the Chou ruling family or members of the clan to which\nthis family belonged; other fiefs were given to heads of the allied\ntribes.] [The fiefholder (feudal lord) regarded the land of his fief, as\nfar as he and his clan actually used it, as \"clan\" land; parts of this\nland he gave to members of his own branch-clan for their use without\ntransferring rights of property, thus creating new sub-fiefs and\nsub-lords.] [In much later times the concept of landed property of a\n_family_ developed, and the whole concept of \"clan\" disappeared.] [By 500\nB.C., most feudal lords had retained only a dim memory that they\noriginally belonged to the Chi clan of the Chou or to one of the few\nother original clans, and their so-called sub-lords felt themselves as\nmembers of independent noble families.] [Slowly, then, the family names of\nlater China began to develop, but it took many centuries until, at the\ntime of the Han Dynasty, all citizens (slaves excluded) had accepted\nfamily names.] [Then, reversely, families grew again into new clans.] [Thus we have this picture of the early Chou state: the imperial central\npower established in Shensi, near the present Sian; over a thousand\nfeudal states, great and small, often consisting only of a small\ngarrison, or sometimes a more considerable one, with the former\nchieftain as feudal lord over it.] [Around these garrisons the old\npopulation lived on, in the north the Shang population, farther east and\nsouth various other peoples and cultures.] [The conquerors' garrisons were\nlike islands in a sea.] [Most of them formed new towns, walled, with a\nrectangular plan and central crossroads, similar to the European towns\nsubsequently formed out of Roman encampments.] [This town plan has been\npreserved to the present day.] [This upper class in the garrisons formed the nobility; it was sharply\ndivided from the indigenous population around the towns The conquerors\ncalled the population \"the black-haired people\", and themselves \"the\nhundred families\".] [The rest of the town populations consisted often of\nurban Shang people: Shang noble families together with their bondsmen\nand serfs had been given to Chou fiefholders.] [Such forced resettlements\nof whole populations have remained typical even for much later periods.] [By this method new cities were provided with urban, refined people and,\nmost important, with skilled craftsmen and businessmen who assisted in\nbuilding the cities and in keeping them alive.] [Some scholars believe\nthat many resettled Shang urbanites either were or became businessmen;\nincidentally, the same word \"Shang\" means \"merchant\", up to the present\ntime.] [The people of the Shang capital lived on and even attempted a\nrevolt in collaboration with some Chou people.] [The Chou rulers\nsuppressed this revolt, and then transferred a large part of this\npopulation to Loyang.] [They were settled there in a separate community,\nand vestiges of the Shang population were still to be found there in the\nfifth century A.D.: they were entirely impoverished potters, still\nmaking vessels in the old style.] [3 _Fusion of Chou and Shang_\n\nThe conquerors brought with them, for their own purposes to begin with,\ntheir rigid patriarchate in the family system and their cult of Heaven\n(t'ien), in which the worship of sun and stars took the principal place;\na religion most closely related to that of the Turkish peoples and\nderived from them.] [Some of the Shang popular deities, however, were\nadmitted into the official Heaven-worship.] [Popular deities became\n\"feudal lords\" under the Heaven-god.] [The Shang conceptions of the soul\nwere also admitted into the Chou religion: the human body housed two\nsouls, the personality-soul and the life-soul.] [Death meant the\nseparation of the souls from the body, the life-soul also slowly dying.] [The personality-soul, however, could move about freely and lived as long\nas there were people who remembered it and kept it from hunger by means\nof sacrifices.] [The Chou systematized this idea and made it into the\nancestor-worship that has endured down to the present time.] [The Chou officially abolished human sacrifices, especially since, as\nformer pastoralists, they knew of better means of employing prisoners of\nwar than did the more agrarian Shang.] [The Chou used Shang and other\nslaves as domestic servants for their numerous nobility, and Shang serfs\nas farm labourers on their estates.] [They seem to have regarded the land\nunder their control as \"state land\" and all farmers as \"serfs\".] [A slave,\nhere, must be defined as an individual, a piece of property, who was\nexcluded from membership in human society but, in later legal texts, was\nincluded under domestic animals and immobile property, while serfs as a\nclass depended upon another class and had certain rights, at least the\nright to work on the land.] [They could change their masters if the land\nchanged its master, but they could not legally be sold individually.] [Thus, the following, still rather hypothetical, picture of the land\nsystem of the early Chou time emerges: around the walled towns of the\nfeudal lords and sub-lords, always in the plains, was \"state land\" which\nproduced millet and more and more wheat.] [Cultivation was still largely\n\"shifting\", so that the serfs in groups cultivated more or less\nstandardized plots for a year or more and then shifted to other plots.] [During the growing season they lived in huts on the fields; during the\nwinter in the towns in adobe houses.] [In this manner the yearly life\ncycle was divided into two different periods.] [The produce of the serfs\nsupplied the lords, their dependants and the farmers themselves.] [Whenever the lord found it necessary, the serfs had to perform also\nother services for the lord.] [Farther away from the towns were the\nvillages of the \"natives\", nominally also subjects of the lord.] [In most\nparts of eastern China, these, too, were agriculturists.] [They\nacknowledged their dependence by sending \"gifts\" to the lord in the\ntown.] [Later these gifts became institutionalized and turned into a form\nof tax.] [The lord's serfs, on the other hand, tended to settle near the\nfields in villages of their own because, with growing urban population,\nthe distances from the town to many of the fields became too great.] [It\nwas also at this time of new settlements that a more intensive\ncultivation with a fallow system began.] [At latest from the sixth century\nB.C. on, the distinctions between both land systems became unclear; and\nthe pure serf-cultivation, called by the old texts the \"well-field\nsystem\" because eight cultivating families used one common well,\ndisappeared in practice.] [The actual structure of early Chou administration is difficult to\nascertain.] [The \"Duke of Chou\", brother of the first ruler, Wu Wang,\nlater regent during the minority of Wu Wang's son, and certainly one of\nthe most influential persons of this time, was the alleged creator of\nthe book _Chou-li_ which contains a detailed table of the bureaucracy of\nthe country.] [However, we know now from inscriptions that the bureaucracy\nat the beginning of the Chou period was not much more developed than in\nlate Shang time.] [The _Chou-li_ gave an ideal picture of a bureaucratic\nstate, probably abstracted from actual conditions in feudal states\nseveral centuries later.] [The Chou capital, at Sian, was a twin city.] [In one part lived the\nmaster-race of the Chou with the imperial court, in the other the\nsubjugated population.] [At the same time, as previously mentioned, the\nChou built a second capital, Loyang, in the present province of Honan.] [Loyang was just in the middle of the new state, and for the purposes of\nHeaven-worship it was regarded as the centre of the universe, where it\nwas essential that the emperor should reside.] [Loyang was another twin\ncity: in one part were the rulers' administrative buildings, in the\nother the transferred population of the Shang capital, probably artisans\nfor the most part.] [The valuable artisans seem all to have been taken\nover from the Shang, for the bronze vessels of the early Chou age are\nvirtually identical with those of the Shang age.] [The shapes of the\nhouses also remained unaltered, and probably also the clothing, though\nthe Chou brought with them the novelties of felt and woollen fabrics,\nold possessions of their earlier period.] [The only fundamental material\nchange was in the form of the graves: in the Shang age house-like tombs\nwere built underground; now great tumuli were constructed in the fashion\npreferred by all steppe peoples.] [One professional class was severely hit by the changed\ncircumstances--the Shang priesthood.] [The Chou had no priests.] [As with\nall the races of the steppes, the head of the family himself performed\nthe religious rites.] [Beyond this there were only shamans for certain\npurposes of magic.] [And very soon Heaven-worship was combined with the\nfamily system, the ruler being declared to be the Son of Heaven; the\nmutual relations within the family were thus extended to the religious\nrelations with the deity.] [If, however, the god of Heaven is the father\nof the ruler, the ruler as his son himself offers sacrifice, and so the\npriest becomes superfluous.] [Thus the priests became \"unemployed\".] [Some\nof them changed their profession.] [They were the only people who could\nread and write, and as an administrative system was necessary they\nobtained employment as scribes.] [Others withdrew to their villages and\nbecame village priests.] [They organized the religious festivals in the\nvillage, carried out the ceremonies connected with family events, and\neven conducted the exorcism of evil spirits with shamanistic dances;\nthey took charge, in short, of everything connected with customary\nobservances and morality.] [The Chou lords were great respecters of\npropriety.] [The Shang culture had, indeed, been a high one with an\nancient and highly developed moral system, and the Chou as rough\nconquerors must have been impressed by the ancient forms and tried to\nimitate them.] [In addition, they had in their religion of Heaven a\nconception of the existence of mutual relations between Heaven and\nEarth: all that went on in the skies had an influence on earth, and vice\nversa.] [Thus, if any ceremony was \"wrongly\" performed, it had an evil\neffect on Heaven--there would be no rain, or the cold weather would\narrive too soon, or some such misfortune would come.] [It was therefore of\ngreat importance that everything should be done \"correctly\".] [Hence the\nChou rulers were glad to call in the old priests as performers of\nceremonies and teachers of morality similar to the ancient Indian rulers\nwho needed the Brahmans for the correct performance of all rites.] [There\nthus came into existence in the early Chou empire a new social group,\nlater called \"scholars\", men who were not regarded as belonging to the\nlower class represented by the subjugated population but were not\nincluded in the nobility; men who were not productively employed but\nbelonged to a sort of independent profession.] [They became of very great\nimportance in later centuries.] [In the first centuries of the Chou dynasty the ruling house steadily\nlost power.] [Some of the emperors proved weak, or were killed at war;\nabove all, the empire was too big and its administration too\nslow-moving.] [The feudal lords and nobles were occupied with their own\nproblems in securing the submission of the surrounding villages to their\ngarrisons and in governing them; they soon paid little attention to the\ndistant central authority.] [In addition to this, the situation at the\ncentre of the empire was more difficult than that of its feudal states\nfarther east.] [The settlements around the garrisons in the east were\ninhabited by agrarian tribes, but the subjugated population around the\ncentre at Sian was made up of nomadic tribes of Turks and Mongols\ntogether with semi-nomadic Tibetans.] [Sian lies in the valley of the\nriver Wei; the riverside country certainly belonged, though perhaps only\ninsecurely, to the Shang empire and was specially well adapted to\nagriculture; but its periphery--mountains in the south, steppes in the\nnorth--was inhabited (until a late period, to some extent to the present\nday) by nomads, who had also been subjugated by the Chou.] [The Chou\nthemselves were by no means strong, as they had been only a small tribe\nand their strength had depended on auxiliary tribes, which had now\nspread over the country as the new nobility and lived far from the Chou.] [The Chou emperors had thus to hold in check the subjugated but warlike\ntribes of Turks and Mongols who lived quite close to their capital.] [In\nthe first centuries of the dynasty they were more or less successful,\nfor the feudal lords still sent auxiliary forces.] [In time, however,\nthese became fewer and fewer, because the feudal lords pursued their own\npolicy; and the Chou were compelled to fight their own battles against\ntribes that continually rose against them, raiding and pillaging their\ntowns.] [Campaigns abroad also fell mainly on the shoulders of the Chou,\nas their capital lay near the frontier.] [It must not be simply assumed, as is often done by the Chinese and some\nof the European historians, that the Turkish and Mongolian tribes were\nso savage or so pugnacious that they continually waged war just for the\nlove of it.] [The problem is much deeper, and to fail to recognize this is\nto fail to understand Chinese history down to the Middle Ages.] [The\nconquering Chou established their garrisons everywhere, and these\ngarrisons were surrounded by the quarters of artisans and by the\nvillages of peasants, a process that ate into the pasturage of the\nTurkish and Mongolian nomads.] [These nomads, as already mentioned,\npursued agriculture themselves on a small scale, but it occurred to them\nthat they could get farm produce much more easily by barter or by\nraiding.] [Accordingly they gradually gave up cultivation and became pure\nnomads, procuring the needed farm produce from their neighbours.] [This\nabandonment of agriculture brought them into a precarious situation: if\nfor any reason the Chinese stopped supplying or demanded excessive\nbarter payment, the nomads had to go hungry.] [They were then virtually\ndriven to get what they needed by raiding.] [Thus there developed a mutual\nreaction that lasted for centuries.] [Some of the nomadic tribes living\nbetween garrisons withdrew, to escape from the growing pressure, mainly\ninto the province of Shansi, where the influence of the Chou was weak\nand they were not numerous; some of the nomad chiefs lost their lives in\nbattle, and some learned from the Chou lords and turned themselves into\npetty rulers.] [A number of \"marginal\" states began to develop; some of\nthem even built their own cities.] [This process of transformation of\nagro-nomadic tribes into \"warrior-nomadic\" tribes continued over many\ncenturies and came to an end in the third or second century B.C.] [The result of the three centuries that had passed was a symbiosis\nbetween the urban aristocrats and the country-people.] [The rulers of the\ntowns took over from the general population almost the whole vocabulary\nof the language which from now on we may call \"Chinese\".] [They naturally\ntook over elements of the material civilization.] [The subjugated\npopulation had, meanwhile, to adjust itself to its lords.] [In the\norganism that thus developed, with its unified economic system, the\nconquerors became an aristocratic ruling class, and the subjugated\npopulation became a lower class, with varied elements but mainly a\npeasantry.] [From now on we may call this society \"Chinese\"; it has\nendured to the middle of the twentieth century.] [Most later essential\nsocietal changes are the result of internal development and not of\naggression from without.] [4 _Limitation of the imperial power_\n\nIn 771 B.C. an alliance of northern feudal states had attacked the ruler\nin his western capital; in a battle close to the city they had overcome\nand killed him.] [This campaign appears to have set in motion considerable\ngroups from various tribes, so that almost the whole province of Shensi\nwas lost.] [With the aid of some feudal lords who had remained loyal, a\nChou prince was rescued and conducted eastward to the second capital,\nLoyang, which until then had never been the ruler's actual place of\nresidence.] [In this rescue a lesser feudal prince, ruler of the feudal\nstate of Ch'in, specially distinguished himself.] [Soon afterwards this\nprince, whose domain had lain close to that of the ruler, reconquered a\ngreat part of the lost territory, and thereafter regarded it as his own\nfief.] [The Ch'in family resided in the same capital in which the Chou\nhad lived in the past, and five hundred years later we shall meet with\nthem again as the dynasty that succeeded the Chou.] [The new ruler, resident now in Loyang, was foredoomed to impotence.] [He\nwas now in the centre of the country, and less exposed to large-scale\nenemy attacks; but his actual rule extended little beyond the town\nitself and its immediate environment.] [Moreover, attacks did not entirely\ncease; several times parts of the indigenous population living between\nthe Chou towns rose against the towns, even in the centre of the\ncountry.] [Now that the emperor had no territory that could be the basis of a\nstrong rule and, moreover, because he owed his position to the feudal\nlords and was thus under an obligation to them, he ruled no longer as\nthe chief of the feudal lords but as a sort of sanctified overlord; and\nthis was the position of all his successors.] [A situation was formed at\nfirst that may be compared with that of Japan down to the middle of the\nnineteenth century.] [The ruler was a symbol rather than an exerciser of\npower.] [There had to be a supreme ruler because, in the worship of Heaven\nwhich was recognized by all the feudal lords, the supreme sacrifices\ncould only be offered by the Son of Heaven in person.] [There could not be\na number of sons of heaven because there were not a number of heavens.] [The imperial sacrifices secured that all should be in order in the\ncountry, and that the necessary equilibrium between Heaven and Earth\nshould be maintained.] [For in the religion of Heaven there was a close\nparallelism between Heaven and Earth, and every omission of a sacrifice,\nor failure to offer it in due form, brought down a reaction from Heaven.] [For these religious reasons a central ruler was a necessity for the\nfeudal lords.] [They needed him also for practical reasons.] [In the course\nof centuries the personal relationship between the various feudal lords\nhad ceased.] [Their original kinship and united struggles had long been\nforgotten.] [When the various feudal lords proceeded to subjugate the\nterritories at a distance from their towns, in order to turn their city\nstates into genuine territorial states, they came into conflict with\neach other.] [In the course of these struggles for power many of the small\nfiefs were simply destroyed.] [It may fairly be said that not until the\neighth and seventh centuries B.C. did the old garrison towns became real\nstates.] [In these circumstances the struggles between the feudal states\ncalled urgently for an arbiter, to settle simple cases, and in more\ndifficult cases either to try to induce other feudal lords to intervene\nor to give sanction to the new situation.] [These were the only governing\nfunctions of the ruler from the time of the transfer to the second\ncapital.] [5 _Changes in the relative strength of the feudal states_\n\nIn these disturbed times China also made changes in her outer frontiers.] [When we speak of frontiers in this connection, we must take little\naccount of the European conception of a frontier.] [No frontier in that\nsense existed in China until her conflict with the European powers.] [In\nthe dogma of the Chinese religion of Heaven, all the countries of the\nworld were subject to the Chinese emperor, the Son of Heaven.] [Thus there\ncould be no such thing as other independent states.] [In practice the\ndependence of various regions on the ruler naturally varied: near the\ncentre, that is to say near the ruler's place of residence, it was most\npronounced; then it gradually diminished in the direction of the\nperiphery.] [The feudal lords of the inner territories were already rather\nless subordinated than at the centre, and those at a greater distance\nscarcely at all; at a still greater distance were territories whose\nchieftains regarded themselves as independent, subject only in certain\nrespects to Chinese overlordship.] [In such a system it is difficult to\nspeak of frontiers.] [In practice there was, of course, a sort of\nfrontier, where the influence of the outer feudal lords ceased to exist.] [The development of the original feudal towns into feudal states with\nactual dominion over their territories proceeded, of course, not only in\nthe interior of China but also on its borders, where the feudal\nterritories had the advantage of more unrestricted opportunities of\nexpansion; thus they became more and more powerful.] [In the south (that\nis to say, in the south of the Chou empire, in the present central\nChina) the garrisons that founded feudal states were relatively small\nand widely separated; consequently their cultural system was largely\nabsorbed into that of the aboriginal population, so that they developed\ninto feudal states with a character of their own.] [Three of these\nattained special importance--(1) Ch'u, in the neighbourhood of the\npresent Chungking and Hankow; (2) Wu, near the present Nanking; and (3)\nYueeh, near the present Hangchow.] [In 704 B.C. the feudal prince of Wu\nproclaimed himself \"Wang\".] [\"Wang\", however was the title of the ruler of\nthe Chou dynasty.] [This meant that Wu broke away from the old Chou\nreligion of Heaven, according to which there could be only one ruler\n(_wang_) in the world.] [At the beginning of the seventh century it became customary for the\nruler to unite with the feudal lord who was most powerful at the time.] [This feudal lord became a dictator, and had the military power in his\nhands, like the shoguns in nineteenth-century Japan.] [If there was a\ndisturbance of the peace, he settled the matter by military means.] [The\nfirst of these dictators was the feudal lord of the state of Ch'i, in\nthe present province of Shantung.] [This feudal state had grown\nconsiderably through the conquest of the outer end of the peninsula of\nShantung, which until then had been independent.] [Moreover, and this was\nof the utmost importance, the state of Ch'i was a trade centre.] [Much of\nthe bronze, and later all the iron, for use in northern China came from\nthe south by road and in ships that went up the rivers to Ch'i, where it\nwas distributed among the various regions of the north, north-east, and\nnorth-west.] [In addition to this, through its command of portions of the\ncoast, Ch'i had the means of producing salt, with which it met the needs\nof great areas of eastern China.] [It was also in Ch'i that money was\nfirst used.] [Thus Ch'i soon became a place of great luxury, far\nsurpassing the court of the Chou, and Ch'i also became the centre of the\nmost developed civilization.] [[Illustration: Map 2: The principal feudal States in the feudal epoch.] [(_roughly 722-481 B.C._)]\n\nAfter the feudal lord of Ch'i, supported by the wealth and power of his\nfeudal state, became dictator, he had to struggle not only against other\nfeudal lords, but also many times against risings among the most various\nparts of the population, and especially against the nomad tribes in the\nsouthern part of the present province of Shansi.] [In the seventh century\nnot only Ch'i but the other feudal states had expanded.] [The regions in\nwhich the nomad tribes were able to move had grown steadily smaller, and\nthe feudal lords now set to work to bring the nomads of their country\nunder their direct rule.] [The greatest conflict of this period was the\nattack in 660 B.C. against the feudal state of Wei, in northern Honan.] [The nomad tribes seem this time to have been proto-Mongols; they made a\ndirect attack on the garrison town and actually conquered it.] [The\nremnant of the urban population, no more than 730 in number, had to flee\nsouthward.] [It is clear from this incident that nomads were still living\nin the middle of China, within the territory of the feudal states, and\nthat they were still decidedly strong, though no longer in a position to\nget rid entirely of the feudal lords of the Chou.] [The period of the dictators came to an end after about a century,\nbecause it was found that none of the feudal states was any longer\nstrong enough to exercise control over all the others.] [These others\nformed alliances against which the dictator was powerless.] [Thus this\nperiod passed into the next, which the Chinese call the period of the\nContending States.] [6 _Confucius_\n\nAfter this survey of the political history we must consider the\nintellectual history of this period, for between 550 and 280 B.C. the\nenduring fundamental influences in the Chinese social order and in the\nwhole intellectual life of China had their original.] [We saw how the\npriests of the earlier dynasty of the Shang developed into the group of\nso-called \"scholars\".] [When the Chou ruler, after the move to the second\ncapital, had lost virtually all but his religious authority, these\n\"scholars\" gained increased influence.] [They were the specialists in\ntraditional morals, in sacrifices, and in the organization of festivals.] [The continually increasing ritualism at the court of the Chou called for\nmore and more of these men.] [The various feudal lords also attracted\nthese scholars to their side, employed them as tutors for their\nchildren, and entrusted them with the conduct of sacrifices and\nfestivals.] [China's best-known philosopher, Confucius (Chinese: K'ung Tz[)u], was\none of these scholars.] [He was born in 551 B.C. in the feudal state Lu in\nthe present province of Shantung.] [In Lu and its neighbouring state Sung,\ninstitutions of the Shang had remained strong; both states regarded\nthemselves as legitimate heirs of Shang culture, and many traces of\nShang culture can be seen in Confucius's political and ethical ideas.] [He\nacquired the knowledge which a scholar had to possess, and then taught\nin the families of nobles, also helping in the administration of their\nproperties.] [He made several attempts to obtain advancement, either in\nvain or with only a short term of employment ending in dismissal.] [Thus\nhis career was a continuing pilgrimage from one noble to another, from\none feudal lord to another, accompanied by a few young men, sons of\nscholars, who were partly his pupils and partly his servants.] [Many of\nthese disciples seem to have been \"illegitimate\" sons of noblemen, i.e.\nsons of concubines, and Confucius's own family seems to have been of the\nsame origin.] [In the strongly patriarchal and patrilinear system of the\nChou and the developing primogeniture, children of secondary wives had a\nlower social status.] [Ultimately Confucius gave up his wanderings,\nsettled in his home town of Lu, and there taught his disciples until his\ndeath in 479 B.C.\n\nSuch was briefly the life of Confucius.] [His enemies claim that he was a\npolitical intriguer, inciting the feudal lords against each other in the\ncourse of his wanderings from one state to another, with the intention\nof somewhere coming into power himself.] [There may, indeed, be some truth\nin that.] [Confucius's importance lies in the fact that he systematized a body of\nideas, not of his own creation, and communicated it to a circle of\ndisciples.] [His teachings were later set down in writing and formed,\nright down to the twentieth century, the moral code of the upper classes\nof China.] [Confucius was fully conscious of his membership of a social\nclass whose existence was tied to that of the feudal lords.] [With their\ndisappearance, his type of scholar would become superfluous.] [The common\npeople, the lower class, was in his view in an entirely subordinate\nposition.] [Thus his moral teaching is a code for the ruling class.] [Accordingly it retains almost unaltered the elements of the old cult of\nHeaven, following the old tradition inherited from the northern peoples.] [For him Heaven is not an arbitrarily governing divine tyrant, but the\nembodiment of a system of legality.] [Heaven does not act independently,\nbut follows a universal law, the so-called \"Tao\".] [Just as sun, moon, and\nstars move in the heavens in accordance with law, so man should conduct\nhimself on earth in accord with the universal law, not against it.] [The\nruler should not actively intervene in day-to-day policy, but should\nonly act by setting an example, like Heaven; he should observe the\nestablished ceremonies, and offer all sacrifices in accordance with the\nrites, and then all else will go well in the world.] [The individual, too,\nshould be guided exactly in his life by the prescriptions of the rites,\nso that harmony with the law of the universe may be established.] [A second idea of the Confucian system came also from the old conceptions\nof the Chou conquerors, and thus originally from the northern peoples.] [This is the patriarchal idea, according to which the family is the cell\nof society, and at the head of the family stands the eldest male adult\nas a sort of patriarch.] [The state is simply an extension of the family,\n\"state\", of course, meaning simply the class of the feudal lords (the\n\"chuen-tz[)u]\").] [And the organization of the family is also that of the\nworld of the gods.] [Within the family there are a number of ties, all of\nthem, however, one-sided: that of father to son (the son having to obey\nthe father unconditionally and having no rights of his own;) that of\nhusband to wife (the wife had no rights); that of elder to younger\nbrother.] [An extension of these is the association of friend with friend,\nwhich is conceived as an association between an elder and a younger\nbrother.] [The final link, and the only one extending beyond the family\nand uniting it with the state, is the association of the ruler with the\nsubject, a replica of that between father and son.] [The ruler in turn is\nin the position of son to Heaven.] [Thus in Confucianism the cult of\nHeaven, the family system, and the state are welded into unity.] [The\nfrictionless functioning of this whole system is effected by everyone\nadhering to the rites, which prescribe every important action.] [It is\nnecessary, of course, that in a large family, in which there may be up\nto a hundred persons living together, there shall be a precisely\nestablished ordering of relationships between individuals if there is\nnot to be continual friction.] [Since the scholars of Confucius's type\nspecialized in the knowledge and conduct of ceremonies, Confucius gave\nritualism a correspondingly important place both in spiritual and in\npractical life.] [So far as we have described it above, the teaching of Confucius was a\nfurther development of the old cult of Heaven.] [Through bitter\nexperience, however, Confucius had come to realize that nothing could be\ndone with the ruling house as it existed in his day.] [So shadowy a figure\nas the Chou ruler of that time could not fulfil what Confucius required\nof the \"Son of Heaven\".] [But the opinions of students of Confucius's\nactual ideas differ.] [Some say that in the only book in which he\npersonally had a hand, the so-called _Annals of Spring and Autumn_, he\nintended to set out his conception of the character of a true emperor;\nothers say that in that book he showed how he would himself have acted\nas emperor, and that he was only awaiting an opportunity to make himself\nemperor.] [He was called indeed, at a later time, the \"uncrowned ruler\".] [In any case, the _Annals of Spring and Autumn_ seem to be simply a dry\nwork of annals, giving the history of his native state of Lu on the\nbasis of the older documents available to him.] [In his text, however,\nConfucius made small changes by means of which he expressed criticism or\nrecognition; in this way he indirectly made known how in his view a\nruler should act or should not act.] [He did not shrink from falsifying\nhistory, as can today be demonstrated.] [Thus on one occasion a ruler had\nto flee from a feudal prince, which in Confucius's view was impossible\nbehaviour for the ruler; accordingly he wrote instead that the ruler\nwent on a hunting expedition.] [Elsewhere he tells of an eclipse of the\nsun on a certain day, on which in fact there was no eclipse.] [By writing\nof an eclipse he meant to criticize the way a ruler had acted, for the\nsun symbolized the ruler, and the eclipse meant that the ruler had not\nbeen guided by divine illumination.] [The demonstration that the _Annals\nof Spring and Autumn_ can only be explained in this way was the\nachievement some thirty-five years ago of Otto Franke, and through this\ndiscovery Confucius's work, which the old sinologists used to describe\nas a dry and inadequate book, has become of special value to us.] [The\nbook ends with the year 481 B.C., and in spite of its distortions it is\nthe principal source for the two-and-a-half centuries with which it\ndeals.] [Rendered alert by this experience, we are able to see and to show that\nmost of the other later official works of history follow the example of\nthe _Annals of Spring and Autumn_ in containing things that have been\ndeliberately falsified.] [This is especially so in the work called\n_T'ung-chien kang-mu_, which was the source of the history of the\nChinese empire translated into French by de Mailla.] [Apart from Confucius's criticism of the inadequate capacity of the\nemperor of his day, there is discernible, though only in the form of\ncryptic hints, a fundamentally important progressive idea.] [It is that a\nnobleman (chuen-tz[)u] should not be a member of the ruling _elite_ by\nright of birth alone, but should be a man of superior moral qualities.] [From Confucius on, \"chuen-tz[)u]\" became to mean \"a gentleman\".] [Consequently, a country should not be ruled by a dynasty based on\ninheritance through birth, but by members of the nobility who show\noutstanding moral qualification for rulership.] [That is to say, the rule\nshould pass from the worthiest to the worthiest, the successor first\npassing through a period of probation as a minister of state.] [In an\nunscrupulous falsification of the tradition, Confucius declared that\nthis principle was followed in early times.] [It is probably safe to\nassume that Confucius had in view here an eventual justification of\nclaims to rulership of his own.] [Thus Confucius undoubtedly had ideas of reform, but he did not interfere\nwith the foundations of feudalism.] [For the rest, his system consists\nonly of a social order and a moral teaching.] [Metaphysics, logic,\nepistemology, i.e. branches of philosophy which played so great a part\nin the West, are of no interest to him.] [Nor can he be described as the\nfounder of a religion; for the cult of Heaven of which he speaks and\nwhich he takes over existed in exactly the same form before his day.] [He\nis merely the man who first systematized those notions.] [He had no\nsuccesses in his lifetime and gained no recognition; nor did his\ndisciples or their disciples gain any general recognition; his work did\nnot become of importance until some three hundred years after his death,\nwhen in the second century B.C. his teaching was adjusted to the new\nsocial conditions: out of a moral system for the decaying feudal society\nof the past centuries developed the ethic of the rising social order of\nthe gentry.] [The gentry (in much the same way as the European\nbourgeoisie) continually claimed that there should be access for every\ncivilized citizen to the highest places in the social pyramid, and the\nrules of Confucianism became binding on every member of society if he\nwas to be considered a gentleman.] [Only then did Confucianism begin to\ndevelop into the imposing system that dominated China almost down to the\npresent day.] [Confucianism did not become a religion.] [It was comparable\nto the later Japanese Shintoism, or to a group of customs among us which\nwe all observe, if we do not want to find ourselves excluded from our\ncommunity, but which we should never describe as religion.] [We stand up\nwhen the national anthem is played, we give precedency to older people,\nwe erect war memorials and decorate them with flowers, and by these and\nmany other things show our sense of belonging.] [A similar but much more\nconscious and much more powerful part was played by Confucianism in the\nlife of the average Chinese, though he was not necessarily interested in\nphilosophical ideas.] [While the West has set up the ideal of individualism and is suffering\nnow because it no longer has any ethical system to which individuals\nvoluntarily submit; while for the Indians the social problem consisted\nin the solving of the question how every man could be enabled to live\nhis life with as little disturbance as possible from his fellow-men,\nConfucianism solved the problem of how families with groups of hundreds\nof members could live together in peace and co-operation in a densely\npopulated country.] [Everyone knew his position in the family and so, in a\nbroader sense, in the state; and this prescribed his rights and duties.] [We may feel that the rules to which he was subjected were pedantic; but\nthere was no limit to their effectiveness: they reduced to a minimum the\nfriction that always occurs when great masses of people live close\ntogether; they gave Chinese society the strength through which it has\nendured; they gave security to its individuals.] [China's first real\nsocial crisis after the collapse of feudalism, that is to say, after the\nfourth or third century B.C., began only in the present century with the\ncollapse of the social order of the gentry and the breakdown of the\nfamily system.] [7 _Lao Tz[)u]_\n\nIn eighteenth-century Europe Confucius was the only Chinese philosopher\nheld in regard; in the last hundred years, the years of Europe's\ninternal crisis, the philosopher Lao Tz[)u] steadily advanced in repute,\nso that his book was translated almost a hundred times into various\nEuropean languages.] [According to the general view among the Chinese, Lao\nTz[)u] was an older contemporary of Confucius; recent Chinese and\nWestern research (A. Waley; H.H. Dubs) has contested this view and\nplaces Lao Tz[)u] in the latter part of the fourth century B.C., or even\nlater.] [Virtually nothing at all is known about his life; the oldest\nbiography of Lao Tz[)u], written about 100 B.C., says that he lived as\nan official at the ruler's court and, one day, became tired of the life\nof an official and withdrew from the capital to his estate, where he\ndied in old age.] [This, too, may be legendary, but it fits well into the\npicture given to us by Lao Tz[)u]'s teaching and by the life of his\nlater followers.] [From the second century A.D., that is to say at least\nfour hundred years after his death, there are legends of his migrating\nto the far west.] [Still later narratives tell of his going to Turkestan\n(where a temple was actually built in his honour in the Medieval\nperiod); according to other sources he travelled as far as India or\nSogdiana (Samarkand and Bokhara), where according to some accounts he\nwas the teacher or forerunner of Buddha, and according to others of\nMani, the founder of Manichaeism.] [For all this there is not a vestige of\ndocumentary evidence.] [Lao Tz[)u]'s teaching is contained in a small book, the _Tao Te Ching_,\nthe \"Book of the World Law and its Power\".] [The book is written in quite\nsimple language, at times in rhyme, but the sense is so vague that\ncountless versions, differing radically from each other, can be based on\nit, and just as many translations are possible, all philologically\ndefensible.] [This vagueness is deliberate.] [Lao Tz[)u]'s teaching is essentially an effort to bring man's life on\nearth into harmony with the life and law of the universe (Tao).] [This was\nalso Confucius's purpose.] [But while Confucius set out to attain that\npurpose in a sort of primitive scientific way, by laying down a number\nof rules of human conduct, Lao Tz[)u] tries to attain his ideal by an\nintuitive, emotional method.] [Lao Tz[)u] is always described as a mystic,\nbut perhaps this is not entirely appropriate; it must be borne in mind\nthat in his time the Chinese language, spoken and written, still had\ngreat difficulties in the expression of ideas.] [In reading Lao Tz[)u]'s\nbook we feel that he is trying to express something for which the\nlanguage of his day was inadequate; and what he wanted to express\nbelonged to the emotional, not the intellectual, side of the human\ncharacter, so that any perfectly clear expression of it in words was\nentirely impossible.] [It must be borne in mind that the Chinese language\nlacks definite word categories like substantive, adjective, adverb, or\nverb; any word can be used now in one category and now in another, with\na few exceptions; thus the understanding of a combination like \"white\nhorse\" formed a difficult logical problem for the thinker of the fourth\ncentury B.C.: did it mean \"white\" plus \"horse\"?] [Or was \"white horse\" no\nlonger a horse at all but something quite different?] [Confucius's way of bringing human life into harmony with the life of the\nuniverse was to be a process of assimilating Man as a social being, Man\nin his social environment, to Nature, and of so maintaining his activity\nwithin the bounds of the community.] [Lao Tz[)u] pursues another path, the\npath for those who feel disappointed with life in the community.] [A\nTaoist, as a follower of Lao Tz[)u] is called, withdraws from all social\nlife, and carries out none of the rites and ceremonies which a man of\nthe upper class should observe throughout the day.] [He lives in\nself-imposed seclusion, in an elaborate primitivity which is often\ndescribed in moving terms that are almost convincing of actual\n\"primitivity\".] [Far from the city, surrounded by Nature, the Taoist lives\nhis own life, together with a few friends and his servants, entirely\naccording to his nature.] [His own nature, like everything else,\nrepresents for him a part of the Tao, and the task of the individual\nconsists in the most complete adherence to the Tao that is conceivable,\nas far as possible performing no act that runs counter to the Tao.] [This\nis the main element of Lao Tz[)u]'s doctrine, the doctrine of _wu-wei_,\n\"passive achievement\".] [Lao Tz[)u] seems to have thought that this doctrine could be applied to\nthe life of the state.] [He assumed that an ideal life in society was\npossible if everyone followed his own nature entirely and no artificial\nrestrictions were imposed.] [Thus he writes: \"The more the people are\nforbidden to do this and that, the poorer will they be.] [The more sharp\nweapons the people possess, the more will darkness and bewilderment\nspread through the land.] [The more craft and cunning men have, the more\nuseless and pernicious contraptions will they invent.] [The more laws and\nedicts are imposed, the more thieves and bandits there will be.] ['If I\nwork through Non-action,' says the Sage, 'the people will transform\nthemselves.] ['\"[1] Thus according to Lao Tz[)u], who takes the existence\nof a monarchy for granted, the ruler must treat his subjects as follows:\n\"By emptying their hearts of desire and their minds of envy, and by\nfilling their stomachs with what they need; by reducing their ambitions\nand by strengthening their bones and sinews; by striving to keep them\nwithout the knowledge of what is evil and without cravings.] [Thus are the\ncrafty ones given no scope for tempting interference.] [For it is by\nNon-action that the Sage governs, and nothing is really left\nuncontrolled.] [\"[2]\n\n[Footnote 1: _The Way of Acceptance_: a new version of Lao Tz[)u]'s _Tao\nTe Ching_, by Hermon Ould (Dakers, 1946), Ch.] [57.] []\n\n[Footnote 2: _The Way of Acceptance_, Ch.] [3.] []\n\nLao Tz[)u] did not live to learn that such rule of good government would\nbe followed by only one sort of rulers--dictators; and as a matter of\nfact the \"Legalist theory\" which provided the philosophic basis for\ndictatorship in the third century B.C. was attributable to Lao Tz[)u].] [He was not thinking, however, of dictatorship; he was an individualistic\nanarchist, believing that if there were no active government all men\nwould be happy.] [Then everyone could attain unity with Nature for\nhimself.] [Thus we find in Lao Tz[)u], and later in all other Taoists, a\nscornful repudiation of all social and official obligations.] [An answer\nthat became famous was given by the Taoist Chuang Tz[)u] (see below)\nwhen it was proposed to confer high office in the state on him (the\nstory may or may not be true, but it is typical of Taoist thought): \"I\nhave heard,\" he replied, \"that in Ch'u there is a tortoise sacred to the\ngods.] [It has now been dead for 3,000 years, and the king keeps it in a\nshrine with silken cloths, and gives it shelter in the halls of a\ntemple.] [Which do you think that tortoise would prefer--to be dead and\nhave its vestigial bones so honoured, or to be still alive and dragging\nits tail after it in the mud?] [\" the officials replied: \"No doubt it would\nprefer to be alive and dragging its tail after it in the mud.] [\" Then\nspoke Chuang Tz[)u]: \"Begone!] [I, too, would rather drag my tail after me\nin the mud!] [\" (Chuang Tz[)u] 17, 10.] [)\n\nThe true Taoist withdraws also from his family.] [Typical of this is\nanother story, surely apocryphal, from Chuang Tz[)u] (Ch.] [3, 3).] [At the\ndeath of Lao Tz[)u] a disciple went to the family and expressed his\nsympathy quite briefly and formally.] [The other disciples were\nastonished, and asked his reason.] [He said: \"Yes, at first I thought that\nhe was our man, but he is not.] [When I went to grieve, the old men were\nbewailing him as though they were bewailing a son, and the young wept as\nthough they were mourning a mother.] [To bind them so closely to himself,\nhe must have spoken words which he should not have spoken, and wept\ntears which he should not have wept.] [That, however, is a falling away\nfrom the heavenly nature.] [\"\n\nLao Tz[)u]'s teaching, like that of Confucius, cannot be described as\nreligion; like Confucius's, it is a sort of social philosophy, but of\nirrationalistic character.] [Thus it was quite possible, and later it\nbecame the rule, for one and the same person to be both Confucian and\nTaoist.] [As an official and as the head of his family, a man would think\nand act as a Confucian; as a private individual, when he had retired far\nfrom the city to live in his country mansion (often modestly described\nas a cave or a thatched hut), or when he had been dismissed from his\npost or suffered some other trouble, he would feel and think as a\nTaoist.] [In order to live as a Taoist it was necessary, of course, to\npossess such an estate, to which a man could retire with his servants,\nand where he could live without himself doing manual work.] [This\ndifference between the Confucian and the Taoist found a place in the\nworks of many Chinese poets.] [I take the following quotation from an\nessay by the statesman and poet Ts'ao Chih, of the end of the second\ncentury A.D.:\n\n\"Master Mysticus lived in deep seclusion on a mountain in the\nwilderness; he had withdrawn as in flight from the world, desiring to\npurify his spirit and give rest to his heart.] [He despised official\nactivity, and no longer maintained any relations with the world; he\nsought quiet and freedom from care, in order in this way to attain\neverlasting life.] [He did nothing but send his thoughts wandering between\nsky and clouds, and consequently there was nothing worldly that could\nattract and tempt him.] [[Illustration: 1 Painted pottery from Kansu: Neolithic.] [_In the\ncollection of the Museum fuer Voelkerkunde, Berlin_.] []\n\n[Illustration: 2 Ancient bronze tripod found at Anyang.] [_From G. Ecke:\nFruehe chinesische Bronzen aus der Sammlung Oskar Trautmann, Peking_\n1939, _plate_ 3.] []\n\n\"When Mr. Rationalist heard of this man, he desired to visit him, in\norder to persuade him to alter his views.] [He harnessed four horses, who\ncould quickly traverse the plain, and entered his light fast carriage.] [He drove through the plain, leaving behind him the ruins of abandoned\nsettlements; he entered the boundless wilderness, and finally reached\nthe dwelling of Master Mysticus.] [Here there was a waterfall on one side,\nand on the other were high crags; at the back a stream flowed deep down\nin its bed, and in front was an odorous wood.] [The master wore a white\ndoeskin cap and a striped fox-pelt.] [He came forward from a cave buried\nin the mountain, leaned against the tall crag, and enjoyed the prospect\nof wild nature.] [His ideas floated on the breezes, and he looked as if\nthe wide spaces of the heavens and the countries of the earth were too\nnarrow for him; as if he was going to fly but had not yet left the\nground; as if he had already spread his wings but wanted to wait a\nmoment.] [Mr. Rationalist climbed up with the aid of vine shoots, reached\nthe top of the crag, and stepped up to him, saying very respectfully:\n\n\"'I have heard that a man of nobility does not flee from society, but\nseeks to gain fame; a man of wisdom does not swim against the current,\nbut seeks to earn repute.] [You, however, despise the achievements of\ncivilization and culture; you have no regard for the splendour of\nphilanthropy and justice; you squander your powers here in the\nwilderness and neglect ordered relations between man....'\"\n\nFrequently Master Mysticus and Mr. Rationalist were united in a single\nperson.] [Thus, Shih Ch'ung wrote in an essay on himself:\n\n\"In my youth I had great ambition and wanted to stand out above the\nmultitude.] [Thus it happened that at a little over twenty years of age I\nwas already a court official; I remained in the service for twenty-five\nyears.] [When I was fifty I had to give up my post because of an\nunfortunate occurrence....] [The older I became, the more I appreciated\nthe freedom I had acquired; and as I loved forest and plain, I retired\nto my villa.] [When I built this villa, a long embankment formed the\nboundary behind it; in front the prospect extended over a clear canal;\nall around grew countless cypresses, and flowing water meandered round\nthe house.] [There were pools there, and outlook towers; I bred birds and\nfishes.] [In my harem there were always good musicians who played dance\ntunes.] [When I went out I enjoyed nature or hunted birds and fished.] [When\nI came home, I enjoyed playing the lute or reading; I also liked to\nconcoct an elixir of life and to take breathing exercises,[3] because I\ndid not want to die, but wanted one day to lift myself to the skies,\nlike an immortal genius.] [Suddenly I was drawn back into the official\ncareer, and became once more one of the dignitaries of the Emperor.] [\"\n\n[Footnote 3: Both Taoist practices.] []\n\nThus Lao Tz[)u]'s individualist and anarchist doctrine was not suited to\nform the basis of a general Chinese social order, and its employment in\nsupport of dictatorship was certainly not in the spirit of Lao Tz[)u].] [Throughout history, however, Taoism remained the philosophic attitude of\nindividuals of the highest circle of society; its real doctrine never\nbecame popularly accepted; for the strong feeling for nature that\ndistinguishes the Chinese, and their reluctance to interfere in the\nsanctified order of nature by technical and other deliberate acts, was\nnot actually a result of Lao Tz[)u]'s teaching, but one of the\nfundamentals from which his ideas started.] [If the date assigned to Lao Tz[)u] by present-day research (the fourth\ninstead of the sixth century B.C.) is correct, he was more or less\ncontemporary with Chuang Tz[)u], who was probably the most gifted poet\namong the Chinese philosophers and Taoists.] [A thin thread extends from\nthem as far as the fourth century A.D.: Huai-nan Tz[)u], Chung-ch'ang\nT'ung, Yuean Chi (210-263), Liu Ling (221-300), and T'ao Ch'ien\n(365-427), are some of the most eminent names of Taoist philosophers.] [After that the stream of original thought dried up, and we rarely find a\nnew idea among the late Taoists.] [These gentlemen living on their estates\nhad acquired a new means of expressing their inmost feelings: they wrote\npoetry and, above all, painted.] [Their poems and paintings contain in a\ndifferent outward form what Lao Tz[)u] had tried to express with the\ninadequate means of the language of his day.] [Thus Lao Tz[)u]'s teaching\nhas had the strongest influence to this day in this field, and has\ninspired creative work which is among the finest achievements of\nmankind.] [Chapter Four\n\n\nTHE CONTENDING STATES (481-256 B.C.): DISSOLUTION OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM\n\n\n1 _Social and military changes_\n\nThe period following that of the Chou dictatorships is known as that of\nthe Contending States.] [Out of over a thousand states, fourteen remained,\nof which, in the period that now followed, one after another\ndisappeared, until only one remained.] [This period is the fullest, or one\nof the fullest, of strife in all Chinese history.] [The various feudal\nstates had lost all sense of allegiance to the ruler, and acted in\nentire independence.] [It is a pure fiction to speak of a Chinese State in\nthis period; the emperor had no more power than the ruler of the Holy\nRoman Empire in the late medieval period of Europe, and the so-called\n\"feudal states\" of China can be directly compared with the developing\nnational states of Europe.] [A comparison of this period with late\nmedieval Europe is, indeed, of highest interest.] [If we adopt a political\nsystem of periodization, we might say that around 500 B.C. the unified\nfeudal state of the first period of Antiquity came to an end and the\nsecond, a period of the national states began, although formally, the\nfeudal system continued and the national states still retained many\nfeudal traits.] [As none of these states was strong enough to control and subjugate the\nrest, alliances were formed.] [The most favoured union was the north-south\naxis; it struggled against an east-west league.] [The alliances were not\nstable but broke up again and again through bribery or intrigue, which\nproduced new combinations.] [We must confine ourselves to mentioning the\nmost important of the events that took place behind this military\nfacade.] [Through the continual struggles more and more feudal lords lost their\nlands; and not only they, but the families of the nobles dependent on\nthem, who had received so-called sub-fiefs.] [Some of the landless nobles\nperished; some offered their services to the remaining feudal lords as\nsoldiers or advisers.] [Thus in this period we meet with a large number of\nmigratory politicians who became competitors of the wandering scholars.] [Both these groups recommended to their lord ways and means of gaining\nvictory over the other feudal lords, so as to become sole ruler.] [In\norder to carry out their plans the advisers claimed the rank of a\nMinister or Chancellor.] [Realistic though these advisers and their lords were in their thinking,\nthey did not dare to trample openly on the old tradition.] [The emperor\nmight in practice be a completely powerless figurehead, but he belonged\nnevertheless, according to tradition, to a family of divine origin,\nwhich had obtained its office not merely by the exercise of force but\nthrough a \"divine mandate\".] [Accordingly, if one of the feudal lords\nthought of putting forward a claim to the imperial throne, he felt\ncompelled to demonstrate that his family was just as much of divine\norigin as the emperor's, and perhaps of remoter origin.] [In this matter\nthe travelling \"scholars\" rendered valuable service as manufacturers of\ngenealogical trees.] [Each of the old noble families already had its\nfamily tree, as an indispensable requisite for the sacrifices to\nancestors.] [But in some cases this tree began as a branch of that of the\nimperial family: this was the case of the feudal lords who were of\nimperial descent and whose ancestors had been granted fiefs after the\nconquest of the country.] [Others, however, had for their first ancestor a\nlocal deity long worshipped in the family's home country, such as the\nancient agrarian god Huang Ti, or the bovine god Shen Nung.] [Here the\n\"scholars\" stepped in, turning the local deities into human beings and\n\"emperors\".] [This suddenly gave the noble family concerned an imperial\norigin.] [Finally, order was brought into this collection of ancient\nemperors.] [They were arranged and connected with each other in\n\"dynasties\" or in some other \"historical\" form.] [Thus at a stroke Huang\nTi, who about 450 B.C. had been a local god in the region of southern\nShansi, became the forefather of almost all the noble families,\nincluding that of the imperial house of the Chou.] [Needless to say, there\nwould be discrepancies between the family trees constructed by the\nvarious scholars for their lords, and later, when this problem had lost\nits political importance, the commentators laboured for centuries on the\nelaboration of an impeccable system of \"ancient emperors\"--and to this\nday there are sinologists who continue to present these humanized gods\nas historical personalities.] [In the earlier wars fought between the nobles they were themselves the\nactual combatants, accompanied only by their retinue.] [As the struggles\nfor power grew in severity, each noble hired such mercenaries as he\ncould, for instance the landless nobles just mentioned.] [Very soon it\nbecame the custom to arm peasants and send them to the wars.] [This\nsubstantially increased the armies.] [The numbers of soldiers who were\nkilled in particular battles may have been greatly exaggerated (in a\nsingle battle in 260 B.C., for instance, the number who lost their lives\nwas put at 450,000, a quite impossible figure); but there must have been\narmies of several thousand men, perhaps as many as 10,000.] [The\npopulation had grown considerably by that time.] [The armies of the earlier period consisted mainly of the nobles in their\nwar chariots; each chariot surrounded by the retinue of the nobleman.] [Now came large troops of commoners as infantry as well, drawn from the\npeasant population.] [To these, cavalry were first added in the fifth\ncentury B.C., by the northern state of Chao (in the present Shansi),\nfollowing the example of its Turkish and Mongol neighbours.] [The general\ntheory among ethnologists is that the horse was first harnessed to a\nchariot, and that riding came much later; but it is my opinion that\nriders were known earlier, but could not be efficiently employed in war\nbecause the practice had not begun of fighting in disciplined troops of\nhorsemen, and the art had not been learnt of shooting accurately with\nthe bow from the back of a galloping horse, especially shooting to the\nrear.] [In any case, its cavalry gave the feudal state of Chao a military\nadvantage for a short time.] [Soon the other northern states copied it one\nafter another--especially Ch'in, in north-west China.] [The introduction\nof cavalry brought a change in clothing all over China, for the former\nlong skirt-like garb could not be worn on horseback.] [Trousers and the\nriding-cap were introduced from the north.] [The new technique of war made it important for every state to possess as\nmany soldiers as possible, and where it could to reduce the enemy's\nnumbers.] [One result of this was that wars became much more sanguinary;\nanother was that men in other countries were induced to immigrate and\nsettle as peasants, so that the taxes they paid should provide the means\nfor further recruitment of soldiers.] [In the state of Ch'in, especially,\nthe practice soon started of using the whole of the peasantry\nsimultaneously as a rough soldiery.] [Hence that state was particularly\nanxious to attract peasants in large numbers.] [2 _Economic changes_\n\nIn the course of the wars much land of former noblemen had become free.] [Often the former serfs had then silently become landowners.] [Others had\nstarted to cultivate empty land in the area inhabited by the indigenous\npopulation and regarded this land, which they themselves had made\nfertile, as their private family property.] [There was, in spite of the\ngrowth of the population, still much cultivable land available.] [Victorious feudal lords induced farmers to come to their territory and\nto cultivate the wasteland.] [This is a period of great migrations,\ninternal and external.] [It seems that from this period on not only\nmerchants but also farmers began to migrate southward into the area of\nthe present provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi and as far as Tonking.] [As long as the idea that all land belonged to the great clans of the\nChou prevailed, sale of land was inconceivable; but when individual\nfamily heads acquired land or cultivated new land, they regarded it as\ntheir natural right to dispose of the land as they wished.] [From now on\nuntil the end of the medieval period, the family head as representative\nof the family could sell or buy land.] [However, the land belonged to the\nfamily and not to him as a person.] [This development was favoured by the\nspread of money.] [In time land in general became an asset with a market\nvalue and could be bought and sold.] [Another important change can be seen from this time on.] [Under the feudal\nsystem of the Chou strict primogeniture among the nobility existed: the\nfief went to the oldest son by the main wife.] [The younger sons were\ngiven independent pieces of land with its inhabitants as new, secondary\nfiefs.] [With the increase in population there was no more such land that\ncould be set up as a new fief.] [From now on, primogeniture was retained\nin the field of ritual and religion down to the present time: only the\noldest son of the main wife represents the family in the ancestor\nworship ceremonies; only the oldest son of the emperor could become his\nsuccessor.] [But the landed property from now on was equally divided among\nall sons.] [Occasionally the oldest son was given some extra land to\nenable him to pay the expenses for the family ancestral worship.] [Mobile\nproperty, on the other side, was not so strictly regulated and often the\noldest son was given preferential treatment in the inheritance.] [The technique of cultivation underwent some significant changes.] [The\nanimal-drawn plough seems to have been invented during this period, and\nfrom now on, some metal agricultural implements like iron sickles and\niron plough-shares became more common.] [A fallow system was introduced so\nthat cultivation became more intensive.] [Manuring of fields was already\nknown in Shang time.] [It seems that the consumption of meat decreased\nfrom this period on: less mutton and beef were eaten.] [Pig and dog\nbecame the main sources of meat, and higher consumption of beans made\nup for the loss of proteins.] [All this indicates a strong population\nincrease.] [We have no statistics for this period, but by 400 B.C. it is\nconceivable that the population under the control of the various\nindividual states comprised something around twenty-five millions.] [The\neastern plains emerge more and more as centres of production.] [The increased use of metal and the invention of coins greatly stimulated\ntrade.] [Iron which now became quite common, was produced mainly in\nShansi, other metals in South China.] [But what were the traders to do\nwith their profits?] [Even later in China, and almost down to recent\ntimes, it was never possible to hoard large quantities of money.] [Normally the money was of copper, and a considerable capital in the form\nof copper coin took up a good deal of room and was not easy to conceal.] [If anyone had much money, everyone in his village knew it.] [No one dared\nto hoard to any extent for fear of attracting bandits and creating\nlasting insecurity.] [On the other hand the merchants wanted to attain the\nstandard of living which the nobles, the landowners, used to have.] [Thus\nthey began to invest their money in land.] [This was all the easier for\nthem since it often happened that one of the lesser nobles or a peasant\nfell deeply into debt to a merchant and found himself compelled to give\nup his land in payment of the debt.] [Soon the merchants took over another function.] [So long as there had been\nmany small feudal states, and the feudal lords had created lesser lords\nwith small fiefs, it had been a simple matter for the taxes to be\ncollected, in the form of grain, from the peasants through the agents of\nthe lesser lords.] [Now that there were only a few great states in\nexistence, the old system was no longer effectual.] [This gave the\nmerchants their opportunity.] [The rulers of the various states entrusted\nthe merchants with the collection of taxes, and this had great\nadvantages for the ruler: he could obtain part of the taxes at once, as\nthe merchant usually had grain in stock, or was himself a landowner and\ncould make advances at any time.] [Through having to pay the taxes to the\nmerchant, the village population became dependent on him.] [Thus the\nmerchants developed into the first administrative officials in the\nprovinces.] [In connection with the growth of business, the cities kept on growing.] [It is estimated that at the beginning of the third century, the city of\nLin-chin, near the present Chi-nan in Shantung, had a population of\n210,000 persons.] [Each of its walls had a length of 4,000 metres; thus,\nit was even somewhat larger than the famous city of Loyang, capital of\nChina during the Later Han dynasty, in the second century A.D.] [Several\nother cities of this period have been recently excavated and must have\nhad populations far above 10,000 persons.] [There were two types of\ncities: the rectangular, planned city of the Chou conquerors, a seat of\nadministration; and the irregularly shaped city which grew out of a\nmarket place and became only later an administrative centre.] [We do not\nknow much about the organization and administration of these cities, but\nthey seem to have had considerable independence because some of them\nissued their own city coins.] [When these cities grew, the food produced in the neighbourhood of the\ntowns no longer sufficed for their inhabitants.] [This led to the building\nof roads, which also facilitated the transport of supplies for great\narmies.] [These roads mainly radiated from the centre of consumption into\nthe surrounding country, and they were less in use for communication\nbetween one administrative centre and another.] [For long journeys the\nrivers were of more importance, since transport by wagon was always\nexpensive owing to the shortage of draught animals.] [Thus we see in this\nperiod the first important construction of canals and a development of\ncommunications.] [With the canal construction was connected the\nconstruction of irrigation and drainage systems, which further promoted\nagricultural production.] [The cities were places in which often great\nluxury developed; music, dance, and other refinements were cultivated;\nbut the cities also seem to have harboured considerable industries.] [Expensive and technically superior silks were woven; painters decorated\nthe walls of temples and palaces; blacksmiths and bronze-smiths produced\nbeautiful vessels and implements.] [It seems certain that the art of\ncasting iron and the beginnings of the production of steel were already\nknown at this time.] [The life of the commoners in these cities was\nregulated by laws; the first codes are mentioned in 536 B.C. By the end\nof the fourth century B.C. a large body of criminal law existed,\nsupposedly collected by Li K'uei, which became the foundation of all\nlater Chinese law.] [It seems that in this period the states of China\nmoved quickly towards a money economy, and an observer to whom the later\nChinese history was not known could have predicted the eventual\ndevelopment of a capitalistic society out of the apparent tendencies.] [So far nothing has been said in these chapters about China's foreign\npolicy.] [Since the central ruling house was completely powerless, and the\nfeudal lords were virtually independent rulers, little can be said, of\ncourse, about any \"Chinese\" foreign policy.] [There is less than ever to\nbe said about it for this period of the \"Contending States\".] [Chinese\nmerchants penetrated southward, and soon settlers moved in increasing\nnumbers into the plains of the south-east.] [In the north, there were\ncontinual struggles with Turkish and Mongol tribes, and about 300 B.C.\nthe name of the Hsiung-nu (who are often described as \"The Huns of the\nFar East\") makes its first appearance.] [It is known that these northern\npeoples had mastered the technique of horseback warfare and were far\nahead of the Chinese, although the Chinese imitated their methods.] [The\npeasants of China, as they penetrated farther and farther north, had to\nbe protected by their rulers against the northern peoples, and since the\nrulers needed their armed forces for their struggles within China, a\nbeginning was made with the building of frontier walls, to prevent\nsudden raids of the northern peoples against the peasant settlements.] [Thus came into existence the early forms of the \"Great Wall of China\".] [This provided for the first time a visible frontier between Chinese and\nnon-Chinese.] [Along this frontier, just as by the walls of towns, great\nmarkets were held at which Chinese peasants bartered their produce to\nnon-Chinese nomads.] [Both partners in this trade became accustomed to it\nand drew very substantial profits from it.] [We even know the names of\nseveral great horse-dealers who bought horses from the nomads and sold\nthem within China.] [3 _Cultural changes_\n\nTogether with the economic and social changes in this period, there came\ncultural changes.] [New ideas sprang up in exuberance, as would seem\nentirely natural, because in times of change and crisis men always come\nforward to offer solutions for pressing problems.] [We shall refer here\nonly briefly to the principal philosophers of the period.] [Mencius (_c_. 372-289 B.C.) and Hsuen Tz[)u] (_c_. 298-238 B.C.) were\nboth followers of Confucianism.] [Both belonged to the so-called\n\"scholars\", and both lived in the present Shantung, that is to say, in\neastern China.] [Both elaborated the ideas of Confucius, but neither of\nthem achieved personal success.] [Mencius (Meng Tz[)u]) recognized that\nthe removal of the ruling house of the Chou no longer presented any\ndifficulty.] [The difficult question for him was when a change of ruler\nwould be justified.] [And how could it be ascertained whom Heaven had\ndestined as successor if the existing dynasty was brought down?] [Mencius\nreplied that the voice of the \"people\", that is to say of the upper\nclass and its following, would declare the right man, and that this man\nwould then be Heaven's nominee.] [This theory persisted throughout the\nhistory of China.] [Hsuen Tz[)u]'s chief importance lies in the fact that\nhe recognized that the \"laws\" of nature are unchanging but that man's\nfate is determined not by nature alone but, in addition, by his own\nactivities.] [Man's nature is basically bad, but by working on himself\nwithin the framework of society, he can change his nature and can\ndevelop.] [Thus, Hsuen Tz[)u]'s philosophy contains a dynamic element, fit\nfor a dynamic period of history.] [In the strongest contrast to these thinkers was the school of Mo Ti (at\nsome time between 479 and 381 B.C.).] [The Confucian school held fast to\nthe old feudal order of society, and was only ready to agree to a few\nsuperficial changes.] [The school of Mo Ti proposed to alter the\nfundamental principles of society.] [Family ethics must no longer be\nretained; the principles of family love must be extended to the whole\nupper class, which Mo Ti called the \"people\".] [One must love another\nmember of the upper class just as much as one's own father.] [Then the\nfriction between individuals and between states would cease.] [Instead of\nfamilies, large groups of people friendly to one another must be\ncreated.] [Further one should live frugally and not expend endless money\non effete rites, as the Confucianists demanded.] [The expenditure on\nweddings and funerals under the Confucianist ritual consumed so much\nmoney that many families fell into debt and, if they were unable to pay\noff the debt, sank from the upper into the lower class.] [In order to\nmaintain the upper class, therefore, there must be more frugality.] [Mo\nTi's teaching won great influence.] [He and his successors surrounded\nthemselves with a private army of supporters which was rigidly organized\nand which could be brought into action at any time as its leader wished.] [Thus the Mohists came forward everywhere with an approach entirely\ndifferent from that of the isolated Confucians.] [When the Mohists offered\ntheir assistance to a ruler, they brought with them a group of technical\nand military experts who had been trained on the same principles.] [In\nconsequence of its great influence this teaching was naturally hotly\nopposed by the Confucianists.] [We see clearly in Mo Ti's and his followers' ideas the influence of the\nchanged times.] [His principle of \"universal love\" reflects the breakdown\nof the clans and the general weakening of family bonds which had taken\nplace.] [His ideal of social organization resembles organizations of\nmerchants and craftsmen which we know only of later periods.] [His stress\nupon frugality, too, reflects a line of thought which is typical of\nbusinessmen.] [The rationality which can also be seen in his metaphysical\nideas and which has induced modern Chinese scholars to call him an early\nmaterialist is fitting to an age in which a developing money economy and\nexpanding trade required a cool, logical approach to the affairs of this\nworld.] [A similar mentality can be seen in another school which appeared from\nthe fifth century B.C. on, the \"dialecticians\".] [Here are a number of\nnames to mention: the most important are Kung-sun Lung and Hui Tz[)u],\nwho are comparable with the ancient Greek dialecticians and Sophists.] [They saw their main task in the development of logic.] [Since, as we have\nmentioned, many \"scholars\" journeyed from one princely court to another,\nand other people came forward, each recommending his own method to the\nprince for the increase of his power, it was of great importance to be\nable to talk convincingly, so as to defeat a rival in a duel of words on\nlogical grounds.] [Unquestionably, however, the most important school of this period was\nthat of the so-called Legalists, whose most famous representative was\nShang Yang (or Shang Tz[)u], died 338 B.C.).] [The supporters of this\nschool came principally from old princely families that had lost their\nfeudal possessions, and not from among the so-called scholars.] [They were\npeople belonging to the upper class who possessed political experience\nand now offered their knowledge to other princes who still reigned.] [These men had entirely given up the old conservative traditions of\nConfucianism; they were the first to make their peace with the new\nsocial order.] [They recognized that little or nothing remained of the old\nupper class of feudal lords and their following.] [The last of the feudal\nlords collected around the heads of the last remaining princely courts,\nor lived quietly on the estates that still remained to them.] [Such a\nclass, with its moral and economic strength broken, could no longer\nlead.] [The Legalists recognized, therefore, only the ruler and next to\nhim, as the really active and responsible man, the chancellor; under\nthese there were to be only the common people, consisting of the richer\nand poorer peasants; the people's duty was to live and work for the\nruler, and to carry out without question whatever orders they received.] [They were not to discuss or think, but to obey.] [The chancellor was to\ndraft laws which came automatically into operation.] [The ruler himself\nwas to have nothing to do with the government or with the application of\nthe laws.] [He was only a symbol, a representative of the equally inactive\nHeaven.] [Clearly these theories were much the best suited to the\nconditions of the break-up of feudalism about 300 B.C.] [Thus they were\nfirst adopted by the state in which the old idea of the feudal state had\nbeen least developed, the state of Ch'in, in which alien peoples were\nmost strongly represented.] [Shang Yang became the actual organizer of the\nstate of Ch'in.] [His ideas were further developed by Han Fei Tz[)u] (died\n233 B.C.).] [The mentality which speaks out of his writings has closest\nsimilarity to the famous Indian Arthashastra which originated slightly\nearlier; both books exhibit a \"Machiavellian\" spirit.] [It must be\nobserved that these theories had little or nothing to do with the ideas\nof the old cult of Heaven or with family allegiance; on the other hand,\nthe soldierly element, with the notion of obedience, was well suited to\nthe militarized peoples of the west.] [The population of Ch'in, organized\nthroughout on these principles, was then in a position to remove one\nopponent after another.] [In the middle of the third century B.C. the\ngreater part of the China of that time was already in the hands of\nCh'in, and in 256 B.C. the last emperor of the Chou dynasty was\ncompelled, in his complete impotence, to abdicate in favour of the ruler\nof Ch'in.] [Apart from these more or less political speculations, there came into\nexistence in this period, by no mere chance, a school of thought which\nnever succeeded in fully developing in China, concerned with natural\nscience and comparable with the Greek natural philosophy.] [We have\nalready several times pointed to parallels between Chinese and Indian\nthoughts.] [Such similarities may be the result of mere coincidence.] [But\nrecent findings in Central Asia indicate that direct connections between\nIndia, Persia, and China may have started at a time much earlier than we\nhad formerly thought.] [Sogdian merchants who later played a great role in\ncommercial contacts might have been active already from 350 or 400 B.C.\non and might have been the transmitters of new ideas.] [The most important\nphilosopher of this school was Tsou Yen (flourished between 320 and 295\nB.C.); he, as so many other Chinese philosophers of this time, was a\nnative of Shantung, and the ports of the Shantung coast may well have\nbeen ports of entrance of new ideas from Western Asia as were the roads\nthrough the Turkestan basin into Western China.] [Tsou Yen's basic ideas\nhad their root in earlier Chinese speculations: the doctrine that all\nthat exists is to be explained by the positive, creative, or the\nnegative, passive action (Yang and Yin) of the five elements, wood,\nfire, earth, metal, and water (Wu hsing).] [But Tsou Yen also considered\nthe form of the world, and was the first to put forward the theory that\nthe world consists not of a single continent with China in the middle of\nit, but of nine continents.] [The names of these continents sound like\nIndian names, and his idea of a central world-mountain may well have\ncome from India.] [The \"scholars\" of his time were quite unable to\nappreciate this beginning of science, which actually led to the\ncontention of this school, in the first century B.C., that the earth was\nof spherical shape.] [Tsou Yen himself was ridiculed as a dreamer; but\nvery soon, when the idea of the reciprocal destruction of the elements\nwas applied, perhaps by Tsou Yen himself, to politics, namely when, in\nconnection with the astronomical calculations much cultivated by this\nschool and through the identification of dynasties with the five\nelements, the attempt was made to explain and to calculate the duration\nand the supersession of dynasties, strong pressure began to be brought\nto bear against this school.] [For hundreds of years its books were\ndistributed and read only in secret, and many of its members were\nexecuted as revolutionaries.] [Thus, this school, instead of becoming the\nnucleus of a school of natural science, was driven underground.] [The\nsecret societies which started to arise clearly from the first century\nB.C. on, but which may have been in existence earlier, adopted the\npolitico-scientific ideas of Tsou Yen's school.] [Such secret societies\nhave existed in China down to the present time.] [They all contained a\nstrong religious, but heterodox element which can often be traced back\nto influences from a foreign religion.] [In times of peace they were\ncentres of a true, emotional religiosity.] [In times of stress, a\n\"messianic\" element tended to become prominent: the world is bad and\ndegenerating; morality and a just social order have decayed, but the\ncoming of a savior is close; the saviour will bring a new, fair order\nand destroy those who are wicked.] [Tsou Yen's philosophy seemed to allow\nthem to calculate when this new order would start; later secret\nsocieties contained ideas from Iranian Mazdaism, Manichaeism and\nBuddhism, mixed with traits from the popular religions and often couched\nin terms taken from the Taoists.] [The members of such societies were,\ntypically, ordinary farmers who here found an emotional outlet for their\nfrustrations in daily life.] [In times of stress, members of the leading\n_elite_ often but not always established contacts with these societies,\ntook over their leadership and led them to open rebellion.] [The fate of\nTsou Yen's school did not mean that the Chinese did not develop in the\nfield of sciences.] [At about Tsou Yen's lifetime, the first mathematical\nhandbook was written.] [From these books it is obvious that the interest\nof the government in calculating the exact size of fields, the content\nof measures for grain, and other fiscal problems stimulated work in this\nfield, just as astronomy developed from the interest of the government\nin the fixation of the calendar.] [Science kept on developing in other\nfields, too, but mainly as a hobby of scholars and in the shops of\ncraftsmen, if it did not have importance for the administration and\nespecially taxation and budget calculations.] [Chapter Five\n\n\nTHE CH'IN DYNASTY (256-207 B.C.)\n\n1 _Towards the unitary State_\n\nIn 256 B.C. the last ruler of the Chou dynasty abdicated in favour of\nthe feudal lord of the state of Ch'in.] [Some people place the beginning\nof the Ch'in dynasty in that year, 256 B.C.; others prefer the date 221\nB.C., because it was only in that year that the remaining feudal states\ncame to their end and Ch'in really ruled all China.] [The territories of the state of Ch'in, the present Shensi and eastern\nKansu, were from a geographical point of view transit regions, closed\noff in the north by steppes and deserts and in the south by almost\nimpassable mountains.] [Only between these barriers, along the rivers Wei\n(in Shensi) and T'ao (in Kansu), is there a rich cultivable zone which\nis also the only means of transit from east to west.] [All traffic from\nand to Turkestan had to take this route.] [It is believed that strong\nrelations with eastern Turkestan began in this period, and the state of\nCh'in must have drawn big profits from its \"foreign trade\".] [The merchant\nclass quickly gained more and more importance.] [The population was\ngrowing through immigration from the east which the government\nencouraged.] [This growing population with its increasing means of\nproduction, especially the great new irrigation systems, provided a\nwelcome field for trade which was also furthered by the roads, though\nthese were actually built for military purposes.] [The state of Ch'in had never been so closely associated with the feudal\ncommunities of the rest of China as the other feudal states.] [A great\npart of its population, including the ruling class, was not purely\nChinese but contained an admixture of Turks and Tibetans.] [The other\nChinese even called Ch'in a \"barbarian state\", and the foreign influence\nwas, indeed, unceasing.] [This was a favourable soil for the overcoming of\nfeudalism, and the process was furthered by the factors mentioned in the\npreceding chapter, which were leading to a change in the social\nstructure of China.] [Especially the recruitment of the whole population,\nincluding the peasantry, for war was entirely in the interest of the\ninfluential nomad fighting peoples within the state.] [About 250 B.C.,\nCh'in was not only one of the economically strongest among the feudal\nstates, but had already made an end of its own feudal system.] [Every feudal system harbours some seeds of a bureaucratic system of\nadministration: feudal lords have their personal servants who are not\nrecruited from the nobility, but who by their easy access to the lord\ncan easily gain importance.] [They may, for instance, be put in charge of\nestates, workshops, and other properties of the lord and thus acquire\nexperience in administration and an efficiency which are obviously of\nadvantage to the lord.] [When Chinese lords of the preceding period, with\nthe help of their sub-lords of the nobility, made wars, they tended to\nput the newly-conquered areas not into the hands of newly-enfeoffed\nnoblemen, but to keep them as their property and to put their\nadministration into the hands of efficient servants; these were the\nfirst bureaucratic officials.] [Thus, in the course of the later Chou\nperiod, a bureaucratic system of administration had begun to develop,\nand terms like \"district\" or \"prefecture\" began to appear, indicating\nthat areas under a bureaucratic administration existed beside and inside\nareas under feudal rule.] [This process had gone furthest in Ch'in and was\nsponsored by the representatives of the Legalist School, which was best\nadapted to the new economic and social situation.] [A son of one of the concubines of the penultimate feudal ruler of Ch'in\nwas living as a hostage in the neighbouring state of Chao, in what is\nnow northern Shansi.] [There he made the acquaintance of an unusual man,\nthe merchant Lue Pu-wei, a man of education and of great political\ninfluence.] [Lue Pu-wei persuaded the feudal ruler of Ch'in to declare this\nson his successor.] [He also sold a girl to the prince to be his wife, and\nthe son of this marriage was to be the famous and notorious Shih\nHuang-ti.] [Lue Pu-wei came with his protege to Ch'in, where he became his\nPrime Minister, and after the prince's death in 247 B.C. Lue Pu-wei\nbecame the regent for his young son Shih Huang-ti (then called Cheng).] [For the first time in Chinese history a merchant, a commoner, had\nreached one of the highest positions in the state.] [It is not known what\nsort of trade Lue Pu-wei had carried on, but probably he dealt in horses,\nthe principal export of the state of Chao.] [As horses were an absolute\nnecessity for the armies of that time, it is easy to imagine that a\nhorse-dealer might gain great political influence.] [Soon after Shih Huang-ti's accession Lue Pu-wei was dismissed, and a new\ngroup of advisers, strong supporters of the Legalist school, came into\npower.] [These new men began an active policy of conquest instead of the\npeaceful course which Lue Pu-wei had pursued.] [One campaign followed\nanother in the years from 230 to 222, until all the feudal states had\nbeen conquered, annexed, and brought under Shih Huang-ti's rule.] [2 _Centralization in every field_\n\nThe main task of the now gigantic realm was the organization of\nadministration.] [One of the first acts after the conquest of the other\nfeudal states was to deport all the ruling families and other important\nnobles to the capital of Ch'in; they were thus deprived of the basis of\ntheir power, and their land could be sold.] [These upper-class families\nsupplied to the capital a class of consumers of luxury goods which\nattracted craftsmen and businessmen and changed the character of the\ncapital from that of a provincial town to a centre of arts and crafts.] [It was decided to set up the uniform system of administration throughout\nthe realm, which had already been successfully introduced in Ch'in: the\nrealm was split up into provinces and the provinces into prefectures;\nand an official was placed in charge of each province or prefecture.] [Originally the prefectures in Ch'in had been placed directly under the\ncentral administration, with an official, often a merchant, being\nresponsible for the collection of taxes; the provinces, on the other\nhand, formed a sort of military command area, especially in the\nnewly-conquered frontier territories.] [With the growing militarization of\nCh'in, greater importance was assigned to the provinces, and the\nprefectures were made subordinate to them.] [Thus the officials of the\nprovinces were originally army officers but now, in the reorganization\nof the whole realm, the distinction between civil and military\nadministration was abolished.] [At the head of the province were a civil\nand also a military governor, and both were supervised by a controller\ndirectly responsible to the emperor.] [Since there was naturally a\ncontinual struggle for power between these three officials, none of them\nwas supreme and none could develop into a sort of feudal lord.] [In this\nsystem we can see the essence of the later Chinese administration.] [[Illustration: 3 Bronze plaque representing two horses fighting each\nother.] [Ordos region, animal style.] [_From V. Griessmaier: Sammlung Baron\nEduard von der Heydt, Vienna_ 1936, _illustration No_.] [6.] []\n\n[Illustration: 4 Hunting scene: detail from the reliefs in the tombs at\nWu-liang-tz'u.] [_From a print in the author's possession_.] []\n\n[Illustration: 5 Part of the 'Great Wall'.] [_Photo Eberhard_.] []\n\nOwing to the centuries of division into independent feudal states, the\nvarious parts of the country had developed differently.] [Each province\nspoke a different dialect which also contained many words borrowed from\nthe language of the indigenous population; and as these earlier\npopulations sometimes belonged to different races with different\nlanguages, in each state different words had found their way into the\nChinese dialects.] [This caused divergences not only in the spoken but in\nthe written language, and even in the characters in use for writing.] [There exist to this day dictionaries in which the borrowed words of that\ntime are indicated, and keys to the various old forms of writing also\nexist.] [Thus difficulties arose if, for instance, a man from the old\nterritory of Ch'in was to be transferred as an official to the east: he\ncould not properly understand the language and could not read the\nborrowed words, if he could read at all!] [For a large number of the\nofficials of that time, especially the officers who became military\ngovernors, were certainly unable to read.] [The government therefore\nordered that the language of the whole country should be unified, and\nthat a definite style of writing should be generally adopted.] [The words\nto be used were set out in lists, so that the first lexicography came\ninto existence simply through the needs of practical administration, as\nhad happened much earlier in Babylon.] [Thus, the few recently found\nmanuscripts from pre-Ch'in times still contain a high percentage of\nChinese characters which we cannot read because they were local\ncharacters; but all words in texts after the Ch'in time can be read\nbecause they belong to the standardized script.] [We know now that all\nclassical texts of pre-Ch'in time as we have them today, have been\nre-written in this standardized script in the second century B.C.: we do\nnot know which words they actually contained at the time when they were\ncomposed, nor how these words were actually pronounced, a fact which\nmakes the reconstruction of Chinese language before Ch'in very\ndifficult.] [The next requirement for the carrying on of the administration was the\nunification of weights and measures and, a surprising thing to us, of\nthe gauge of the tracks for wagons.] [In the various feudal states there\nhad been different weights and measures in use, and this had led to\ngreat difficulties in the centralization of the collection of taxes.] [The\ncentre of administration, that is to say the new capital of Ch'in, had\ngrown through the transfer of nobles and through the enormous size of\nthe administrative staff into a thickly populated city with very large\nrequirements of food.] [The fields of the former state of Ch'in alone\ncould not feed the city; and the grain supplied in payment of taxation\nhad to be brought in from far around, partly by cart.] [The only roads\nthen existing consisted of deep cart-tracks.] [If the axles were not of\nthe same length for all carts, the roads were simply unusable for many\nof them.] [Accordingly a fixed length was laid down for axles.] [The\nadvocates of all these reforms were also their beneficiaries, the\nmerchants.] [The first principle of the Legalist school, a principle which had been\napplied in Ch'in and which was to be extended to the whole realm, was\nthat of the training of the population in discipline and obedience, so\nthat it should become a convenient tool in the hands of the officials.] [This requirement was best met by a people composed as far as possible\nonly of industrious, uneducated, and tax-paying peasants.] [Scholars and\nphilosophers were not wanted, in so far as they were not directly\nengaged in work commissioned by the state.] [The Confucianist writings\ncame under special attack because they kept alive the memory of the old\nfeudal conditions, preaching the ethic of the old feudal class which had\njust been destroyed and must not be allowed to rise again if the state\nwas not to suffer fresh dissolution or if the central administration was\nnot to be weakened.] [In 213 B.C. there took place the great holocaust of\nbooks which destroyed the Confucianist writings with the exception of\none copy of each work for the State Library.] [Books on practical subjects\nwere not affected.] [In the fighting at the end of the Ch'in dynasty the\nState Library was burnt down, so that many of the old works have only\ncome down to us in an imperfect state and with doubtful accuracy.] [The\nreal loss arose, however, from the fact that the new generation was\nlittle interested in the Confucianist literature, so that when, fifty\nyears later, the effort was made to restore some texts from the oral\ntradition, there no longer existed any scholars who really knew them by\nheart, as had been customary in the past.] [In 221 B.C. Shih Huang-ti had become emperor of all China.] [The judgments\npassed on him vary greatly: the official Chinese historiography rejects\nhim entirely--naturally, for he tried to exterminate Confucianism, while\nevery later historian was himself a Confucian.] [Western scholars often\ntreat him as one of the greatest men in world history.] [Closer research\nhas shown that Shih Huang-ti was evidently an average man without any\ngreat gifts, that he was superstitious, and shared the tendency of his\ntime to mystical and shamanistic notions.] [His own opinion was that he\nwas the first of a series of ten thousand emperors of his dynasty (Shih\nHuang-ti means \"First Emperor\"), and this merely suggests megalomania.] [The basic principles of his administration had been laid down long\nbefore his time by the philosophers of the Legalist school, and were\ngiven effect by his Chancellor Li Ss[)u].] [Li Ss[)u] was the really great\npersonality of that period.] [The Legalists taught that the ruler must do\nas little as possible himself.] [His Ministers were there to act for him.] [He himself was to be regarded as a symbol of Heaven.] [In that capacity\nShih Huang-ti undertook periodical journeys into the various parts of\nthe empire, less for any practical purpose of inspection than for\npurposes of public worship.] [They corresponded to the course of the sun,\nand this indicates that Shih Huang-ti had adopted a notion derived from\nthe older northern culture of the nomad peoples.] [He planned the capital in an ambitious style but, although there was\nreal need for extension of the city, his plans can scarcely be regarded\nas of great service.] [His enormous palace, and also his mausoleum which\nwas built for him before his death, were constructed in accordance with\nastral notions.] [Within the palace the emperor continually changed his\nresidential quarters, probably not only from fear of assassination but\nalso for astral reasons.] [His mausoleum formed a hemispherical dome, and\nall the stars of the sky were painted on its interior.] [3 _Frontier defence.] [Internal collapse_\n\nWhen the empire had been unified by the destruction of the feudal\nstates, the central government became responsible for the protection of\nthe frontiers from attack from without.] [In the south there were only\npeoples in a very low state of civilization, who could offer no serious\nmenace to the Chinese.] [The trading colonies that gradually extended to\nCanton and still farther south served as Chinese administrative centres\nfor provinces and prefectures, with small but adequate armies of their\nown, so that in case of need they could defend themselves.] [In the north\nthe position was much more difficult.] [In addition to their conquest\nwithin China, the rulers of Ch'in had pushed their frontier far to the\nnorth.] [The nomad tribes had been pressed back and deprived of their best\npasturage, namely the Ordos region.] [When the livelihood of nomad peoples\nis affected, when they are threatened with starvation, their tribes\noften collect round a tribal leader who promises new pasturage and\nbetter conditions of life for all who take part in the common campaigns.] [In this way the first great union of tribes in the north of China came\ninto existence in this period, forming the realm of the Hsiung-nu under\ntheir first leader, T'ou-man.] [This first realm of the Hsiung-nu was not\nyet extensive, but its ambitious and warlike attitude made it a danger\nto Ch'in.] [It was therefore decided to maintain a large permanent army in\nthe north.] [In addition to this, the frontier walls already existing in\nthe mountains were rebuilt and made into a single great system.] [Thus\ncame into existence in 214 B.C., out of the blood and sweat of countless\npressed labourers, the famous Great Wall.] [On one of his periodical journeys the emperor fell ill and died.] [His\ndeath was the signal for the rising of many rebellious elements.] [Nobles\nrose in order to regain power and influence; generals rose because they\nobjected to the permanent pressure from the central administration and\ntheir supervision by controllers; men of the people rose as popular\nleaders because the people were more tormented than ever by forced\nlabour, generally at a distance from their homes.] [Within a few months\nthere were six different rebellions and six different \"rulers\".] [Assassinations became the order of the day; the young heir to the throne\nwas removed in this way and replaced by another young prince.] [But as\nearly as 206 B.C. one of the rebels, Liu Chi (also called Liu Pang),\nentered the capital and dethroned the nominal emperor.] [Liu Chi at first\nhad to retreat and was involved in hard fighting with a rival, but\ngradually he succeeded in gaining the upper hand and defeated not only\nhis rival but also the other eighteen states that had been set up anew\nin China in those years.] [THE MIDDLE AGES\n\n\n\nChapter Six\n\n\nTHE HAN DYNASTY (206 B.C.-A.D. 220)\n\nI _Development of the gentry-state_\n\nIn 206 B.C. Liu Chi assumed the title of Emperor and gave his dynasty\nthe name of the Han Dynasty.] [After his death he was given as emperor the\nname of Kao Tsu.] [[4] The period of the Han dynasty may be described as\nthe beginning of the Chinese Middle Ages, while that of the Ch'in\ndynasty represents the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages; for\nunder the Han dynasty we meet in China with a new form of state, the\n\"gentry state\".] [The feudalism of ancient times has come definitely to\nits end.] [[Footnote 4: From then on, every emperor was given after his death an\nofficial name as emperor, under which he appears in the Chinese sources.] [We have adopted the original or the official name according to which of\nthe two has come into the more general use in Western books.] []\n\nEmperor Kao Tsu came from eastern China, and his family seems to have\nbeen a peasant family; in any case it did not belong to the old\nnobility.] [After his destruction of his strongest rival, the removal of\nthe kings who had made themselves independent in the last years of the\nCh'in dynasty was a relatively easy task for the new autocrat, although\nthese struggles occupied the greater part of his reign.] [A much more\ndifficult question, however, faced him: How was the empire to be\ngoverned?] [Kao Tsu's old friends and fellow-countrymen, who had helped\nhim into power, had been rewarded by appointment as generals or high\nofficials.] [Gradually he got rid of those who had been his best comrades,\nas so many upstart rulers have done before and after him in every\ncountry in the world.] [An emperor does not like to be reminded of a very\nhumble past, and he is liable also to fear the rivalry of men who\nformerly were his equals.] [It is evident that little attention was paid\nto theories of administration; policy was determined mainly by practical\nconsiderations.] [Kao Tsu allowed many laws and regulations to remain in\nforce, including the prohibition of Confucianist writings.] [On the other\nhand, he reverted to the allocation of fiefs, though not to old noble\nfamilies but to his relatives and some of his closest adherents,\ngenerally men of inferior social standing.] [Thus a mixed administration\ncame into being: part of the empire was governed by new feudal princes,\nand another part split up into provinces and prefectures and placed\ndirectly under the central power through its officials.] [But whence came the officials?] [Kao Tsu and his supporters, as farmers\nfrom eastern China, looked down upon the trading population to which\nfarmers always regard themselves as superior.] [The merchants were ignored\nas potential officials although they had often enough held official\nappointments under the former dynasty.] [The second group from which\nofficials had been drawn under the Ch'in was that of the army officers,\nbut their military functions had now, of course, fallen to Kao Tsu's\nsoldiers.] [The emperor had little faith, however, in the loyalty of\nofficers, even of his own, and apart from that he would have had first\nto create a new administrative organization for them.] [Accordingly he\nturned to another class which had come into existence, the class later\ncalled the _gentry_, which in practice had the power already in its\nhands.] [The term \"gentry\" has no direct parallel in Chinese texts; the later\nterms \"shen-shih\" and \"chin-shen\" do not quite cover this concept.] [The\nbasic unit of the gentry class are families, not individuals.] [Such\nfamilies often derive their origin from branches of the Chou nobility.] [But other gentry families were of different and more recent origin in\nrespect to land ownership.] [Some late Chou and Ch'in officials of\nnon-noble origin had become wealthy and had acquired land; the same was\ntrue for wealthy merchants and finally, some non-noble farmers who were\nsuccessful in one or another way, bought additional land reaching the\nsize of large holdings.] [All \"gentry\" families owned substantial estates\nin the provinces which they leased to tenants on a kind of contract\nbasis.] [The tenants, therefore, cannot be called \"serfs\" although their\nfactual position often was not different from the position of serfs.] [The\nrents of these tenants, usually about half the gross produce, are the\nbasis of the livelihood of the gentry.] [One part of a gentry family\nnormally lives in the country on a small home farm in order to be able\nto collect the rents.] [If the family can acquire more land and if this\nnew land is too far away from the home farm to make collection of rents\neasy, a new home farm is set up under the control of another branch of\nthe family.] [But the original home remains to be regarded as the real\nfamily centre.] [In a typical gentry family, another branch of the family is in the\ncapital or in a provincial administrative centre in official positions.] [These officials at the same time are the most highly educated members\nof the family and are often called the \"literati\".] [There are also always\nindividual family members who are not interested in official careers or\nwho failed in their careers and live as free \"literati\" either in the\nbig cities or on the home farms.] [It seems, to judge from much later\nsources, that the families assisted their most able members to enter the\nofficial careers, while those individuals who were less able were used\nin the administration of the farms.] [This system in combination with the\nstrong familism of the Chinese, gave a double security to the gentry\nfamilies.] [If difficulties arose in the estates either by attacks of\nbandits or by war or other catastrophes, the family members in official\npositions could use their influence and power to restore the property in\nthe provinces.] [If, on the other hand, the family members in official\npositions lost their positions or even their lives by displeasing the\ncourt, the home branch could always find ways to remain untouched and\ncould, in a generation or two, recruit new members and regain power and\ninfluence in the government.] [Thus, as families, the gentry was secure,\nalthough failures could occur to individuals.] [There are many gentry\nfamilies who remained in the ruling _elite_ for many centuries, some\nover more than a thousand years, weathering all vicissitudes of life.] [Some authors believe that Chinese leading families generally pass\nthrough a three- or four-generation cycle: a family member by his\nofficial position is able to acquire much land, and his family moves\nupward.] [He is able to give the best education and other facilities to\nhis sons who lead a good life.] [But either these sons or the grandsons\nare spoiled and lazy; they begin to lose their property and status.] [The\nfamily moves downward, until in the fourth or fifth generation a new\nrise begins.] [Actual study of families seems to indicate that this is not\ntrue.] [The main branch of the family retains its position over centuries.] [But some of the branch families, created often by the less able family\nmembers, show a tendency towards downward social mobility.] [It is clear from the above that a gentry family should be interested in\nhaving a fair number of children.] [The more sons they have, the more\npositions of power the family can occupy and thus, the more secure it\nwill be; the more daughters they have, the more \"political\" marriages\nthey can conclude, i.e. marriages with sons of other gentry families in\npositions of influence.] [Therefore, gentry families in China tend to be,\non the average, larger than ordinary families, while in our Western\ncountries the leading families usually were smaller than the lower class\nfamilies.] [This means that gentry families produced more children than\nwas necessary to replenish the available leading positions; thus, some\nfamily members had to get into lower positions and had to lose status.] [In view of this situation it was very difficult for lower class families\nto achieve access into this gentry group.] [In European countries the\nleading _elite_ did not quite replenish their ranks in the next\ngeneration, so that there was always some chance for the lower classes\nto move up into leading ranks.] [The gentry society was, therefore, a\ncomparably stable society with little upward social mobility but with\nsome downward mobility.] [As a whole and for reasons of gentry\nself-interest, the gentry stood for stability and against change.] [The gentry members in the bureaucracy collaborated closely with one\nanother because they were tied together by bonds of blood or marriage.] [It was easy for them to find good tutors for their children, because a\npupil owed a debt of gratitude to his teacher and a child from a gentry\nfamily could later on nicely repay this debt; often, these teachers\nthemselves were members of other gentry families.] [It was easy for sons\nof the gentry to get into official positions, because the people who had\nto recommend them for office were often related to them or knew the\nposition of their family.] [In Han time, local officials had the duty to\nrecommend young able men; if these men turned out to be good, the\nofficials were rewarded, if not they were blamed or even punished.] [An\nofficial took less of a chance, if he recommended a son of an\ninfluential family, and he obliged such a candidate so that he could\nlater count on his help if he himself should come into difficulties.] [When, towards the end of the second century B.C., a kind of examination\nsystem was introduced, this attitude was not basically changed.] [The country branch of the family by the fact that it controlled large\ntracts of land, supplied also the logical tax collectors: they had the\nstanding and power required for this job.] [Even if they were appointed in\nareas other than their home country (a rule which later was usually\napplied), they knew the gentry families of the other district or were\nrelated to them and got their support by appointing their members as\ntheir assistants.] [Gentry society continued from Kao Tsu's time to 1948, but it went\nthrough a number of phases of development and changed considerably in\ntime.] [We will later outline some of the most important changes.] [In\ngeneral the number of politically leading gentry families was around one\nhundred (texts often speak of \"the hundred families\" in this time) and\nthey were concentrated in the capital; the most important home seats of\nthese families in Han time were close to the capital and east of it or\nin the plains of eastern China, at that time the main centre of grain\nproduction.] [We regard roughly the first one thousand years of \"Gentry Society\" as\nthe period of the Chinese \"Middle Ages\", beginning with the Han dynasty;\nthe preceding time of the Ch'in was considered as a period of\ntransition, a time in which the feudal period of \"Antiquity\" came to a\nformal end and a new organization of society began to become visible.] [Even those authors who do not accept a sociological classification of\nperiods and many authors who use Marxist categories, believe that with\nCh'in and Han a new era in Chinese history began.] [2 _Situation of the Hsiung-nu empire; its relation to the Han empire.] [Incorporation of South China_\n\n\nIn the time of the Ch'in dynasty there had already come into unpleasant\nprominence north of the Chinese frontier the tribal union, then\nrelatively small, of the Hsiung-nu.] [Since then, the Hsiung-nu empire had\ndestroyed the federation of the Yueeh-chih tribes (some of which seem to\nhave been of Indo-European language stock) and incorporated their people\ninto their own federation; they had conquered also the less well\norganized eastern pastoral tribes, the Tung-hu and thus had become a\nformidable power.] [Everything goes to show that it had close relations\nwith the territories of northern China.] [Many Chinese seem to have\nmigrated to the Hsiung-nu empire, where they were welcome as artisans\nand probably also as farmers; but above all they were needed for the\nstaffing of a new state administration.] [The scriveners in the newly\nintroduced state secretariat were Chinese and wrote Chinese, for at that\ntime the Hsiung-nu apparently had no written language.] [There were\nChinese serving as administrators and court officials, and even as\ninstructors in the army administration, teaching the art of warfare\nagainst non-nomads.] [But what was the purpose of all this?] [Mao Tun, the\nsecond ruler of the Hsiung-nu, and his first successors undoubtedly\nintended ultimately to conquer China, exactly as many other northern\npeoples after them planned to do, and a few of them did.] [The main\npurpose of this was always to bring large numbers of peasants under the\nrule of the nomad rulers and so to solve, once for all, the problem of\nthe provision of additional winter food.] [Everything that was needed, and\neverything that seemed to be worth trying to get as they grew more\ncivilized, would thus be obtained better and more regularly than by\nraids or by tedious commercial negotiations.] [But if China was to be\nconquered and ruled there must exist a state organization of equal\nauthority to hers; the Hsiung-nu ruler must himself come forward as Son\nof Heaven and develop a court ceremonial similar to that of a Chinese\nemperor.] [Thus the basis of the organization of the Hsiung-nu state lay\nin its rivalry with the neighbouring China; but the details naturally\ncorresponded to the special nature of the Hsiung-nu social system.] [The\nyoung Hsiung-nu feudal state differed from the ancient Chinese feudal\nstate not only in depending on a nomad economy with only supplementary\nagriculture, but also in possessing, in addition to a whole class of\nnobility and another of commoners, a stratum of slavery to be analysed\nfurther below.] [Similar to the Chou state, the Hsiung-nu state contained,\nespecially around the ruler, an element of court bureaucracy which,\nhowever, never developed far enough to replace the basically feudal\ncharacter of administration.] [Thus Kao Tsu was faced in Mao Tun not with a mere nomad chieftain but\nwith the most dangerous of enemies, and Kao Tsu's policy had to be\ndirected to preventing any interference of the Hsiung-nu in North\nChinese affairs, and above all to preventing alliances between Hsiung-nu\nand Chinese.] [Hsiung-nu alone, with their technique of horsemen's\nwarfare, would scarcely have been equal to the permanent conquest of the\nfortified towns of the north and the Great Wall, although they\ncontrolled a population which may have been in excess of 2,000,000\npeople.] [But they might have succeeded with Chinese aid.] [Actually a\nChinese opponent of Kao Tsu had already come to terms with Mao Tun, and\nin 200 B.C. Kao Tsu was very near suffering disaster in northern Shansi,\nas a result of which China would have come under the rule of the\nHsiung-nu.] [But it did not come to that, and Mao Tun made no further\nattempt, although the opportunity came several times.] [Apparently the\npolicy adopted by his court was not imperialistic but national, in the\nuncorrupted sense of the word.] [It was realized that a country so thickly\npopulated as China could only be administered from a centre within\nChina.] [The Hsiung-nu would thus have had to abandon their home territory\nand rule in China itself.] [That would have meant abandoning the flocks,\nabandoning nomad life, and turning into Chinese.] [The main supporters of\nthe national policy, the first principle of which was loyalty to the old\nways of life, seem to have been the tribal chieftains.] [Mao Tun fell in\nwith their view, and the Hsiung-nu maintained their state as long as\nthey adhered to that principle--for some seven hundred years.] [Other\nnomad peoples, Toba, Mongols, and Manchus, followed the opposite policy,\nand before long they were caught in the mechanism of the much more\nhighly developed Chinese economy and culture, and each of them\ndisappeared from the political scene in the course of a century or so.] [The national line of policy of the Hsiung-nu did not at all mean an end\nof hostilities and raids on Chinese territory, so that Kao Tsu declared\nhimself ready to give the Hsiung-nu the foodstuffs and clothing\nmaterials they needed if they would make an end of their raids.] [A treaty\nto this effect was concluded, and sealed by the marriage of a Chinese\nprincess with Mao Tun.] [This was the first international treaty in the\nFar East between two independent powers mutually recognized as equals,\nand the forms of international diplomacy developed in this time remained\nthe standard forms for the next thousand years.] [The agreement was\nrenewed at the accession of each new ruler, but was never adhered to\nentirely by either side.] [The needs of the Hsiung-nu increased with the\nexpansion of their empire and the growing luxury of their court; the\nChinese, on the other hand, wanted to give as little as possible, and no\ndoubt they did all they could to cheat the Hsiung-nu.] [Thus, in spite of\nthe treaties the Hsiung-nu raids went on.] [With China's progressive\nconsolidation, the voluntary immigration of Chinese into the Hsiung-nu\nempire came to an end, and the Hsiung-nu actually began to kidnap\nChinese subjects.] [These were the main features of the relations between\nChinese and Hsiung-nu almost until 100 B.C.] [In the extreme south, around the present-day Canton, another independent\nempire had been formed in the years of transition, under the leadership\nof a Chinese.] [The narrow basis of this realm was no doubt provided by\nthe trading colonies, but the indigenous population of Yueeh tribes was\ninsufficiently civilized for the building up of a state that could have\nmaintained itself against China.] [Kao Tsu sent a diplomatic mission to\nthe ruler of this state, and invited him to place himself under Chinese\nsuzerainty (196 B.C.).] [The ruler realized that he could offer no serious\nresistance, while the existing circumstances guaranteed him virtual\nindependence and he yielded to Kao Tsu without a struggle.] [3 _Brief feudal reaction.] [Consolidation of the gentry_\n\nKao Tsu died in 195 B.C. From then to 179 the actual ruler was his\nwidow, the empress Lue, while children were officially styled emperors.] [The empress tried to remove all the representatives of the emperor's\nfamily and to replace them with members of her own family.] [To secure her\nposition she revived the feudal system, but she met with strong\nresistance from the dynasty and its supporters who already belonged in\nmany cases to the new gentry, and who did not want to find their\nposition jeopardized by the creation of new feudal lords.] [On the death of the empress her opponents rose, under the leadership of\nKao Tsu's family.] [Every member of the empress's family was exterminated,\nand a son of Kao Tsu, known later under the name of Wen Ti (Emperor\nWen), came to the throne.] [He reigned from 179 to 157 B.C. Under him\nthere were still many fiefs, but with the limitation which the emperor\nKao Tsu had laid down shortly before his death: only members of the\nimperial family should receive fiefs, to which the title of King was\nattached.] [Thus all the more important fiefs were in the hands of the\nimperial family, though this did not mean that rivalries came to an end.] [On the whole Wen Ti's period of rule passed in comparative peace.] [For\nthe first time since the beginning of Chinese history, great areas of\ncontinuous territory were under unified rule, without unending internal\nwarfare such as had existed under Shih Huang-ti and Kao Tsu.] [The\ncreation of so extensive a region of peace produced great economic\nadvance.] [The burdens that had lain on the peasant population were\nreduced, especially since under Wen Ti the court was very frugal.] [The\npopulation grew and cultivated fresh land, so that production increased\nand with it the exchange of goods.] [The most outstanding sign of this was\nthe abandonment of restrictions on the minting of copper coin, in order\nto prevent deflation through insufficiency of payment media.] [As a\nconsequence more taxes were brought in, partly in kind, partly in coin,\nand this increased the power of the central government.] [The new gentry\nstreamed into the towns, their standard of living rose, and they made\nthemselves more and more into a class apart from the general population.] [As people free from material cares, they were able to devote themselves\nto scholarship.] [They went back to the old writings and studied them once\nmore.] [They even began to identify themselves with the nobles of feudal\ntimes, to adopt the rules of good behaviour and the ceremonial described\nin the Confucianist books, and very gradually, as time went on, to make\nthese their textbooks of good form.] [From this point the Confucianist\nideals first began to penetrate the official class recruited from the\ngentry, and then the state organization itself.] [It was expected that an\nofficial should be versed in Confucianism, and schools were set up for\nConfucianist education.] [Around 100 B.C. this led to the introduction of\nthe examination system, which gradually became the one method of\nselection of new officials.] [The system underwent many changes, but\nremained in operation in principle until 1904.] [The object of the\nexaminations was not to test job efficiency but command of the ideals of\nthe gentry and knowledge of the literature inculcating them: this was\nregarded as sufficient qualification for any position in the service of\nthe state.] [In theory this path to training of character and to admission to the\nstate service was open to every \"respectable\" citizen.] [Of the\ntraditional four \"classes\" of Chinese society, only the first two,\nofficials (_shih_) and farmers (_nung_) were always regarded as fully\n\"respectable\" (_liang-min_).] [Members of the other two classes, artisans\n(_kung_) and merchants (_shang_), were under numerous restrictions.] [Below these were classes of \"lowly people\" (_ch'ien-min_) and below\nthese the slaves which were not part of society proper.] [The privileges\nand obligations of these categories were soon legally fixed.] [In\npractice, during the first thousand years of the existence of the\nexamination system no peasant had a chance to become an official by\nmeans of the examinations.] [In the Han period the provincial officials\nhad to propose suitable young persons for examination, and so for\nadmission to the state service, as was already mentioned.] [In addition,\nschools had been instituted for the sons of officials; it is interesting\nto note that there were, again and again, complaints about the low level\nof instruction in these schools.] [Nevertheless, through these schools all\nsons of officials, whatever their capacity or lack of capacity, could\nbecome officials in their turn.] [In spite of its weaknesses, the system\nhad its good side.] [It inoculated a class of people with ideals that were\nunquestionably of high ethical value.] [The Confucian moral system gave a\nChinese official or any member of the gentry a spiritual attitude and an\noutward bearing which in their best representatives has always commanded\nrespect, an integrity that has always preserved its possessors, and in\nconsequence Chinese society as a whole, from moral collapse, from\nspiritual nihilism, and has thus contributed to the preservation of\nChinese cultural values in spite of all foreign conquerors.] [In the time of Wen Ti and especially of his successors, the revival at\ncourt of the Confucianist ritual and of the earlier Heaven-worship\nproceeded steadily.] [The sacrifices supposed to have been performed in\nancient times, the ritual supposed to have been prescribed for the\nemperor in the past, all this was reintroduced.] [Obviously much of it was\nspurious: much of the old texts had been lost, and when fragments were\nfound they were arbitrarily completed.] [Moreover, the old writing was\ndifficult to read and difficult to understand; thus various things were\nread into the texts without justification.] [The new Confucians who came\nforward as experts in the moral code were very different men from their\npredecessors; above all, like all their contemporaries, they were\nstrongly influenced by the shamanistic magic that had developed in the\nCh'in period.] [Wen Ti's reign had brought economic advance and prosperity;\nintellectually it had been a period of renaissance, but like every such\nperiod it did not simply resuscitate what was old, but filled the\nancient moulds with an entirely new content.] [Socially the period had\nwitnessed the consolidation of the new upper class, the gentry, who\ncopied the mode of life of the old nobility.] [This is seen most clearly\nin the field of law.] [In the time of the Legalists the first steps had\nbeen taken in the codification of the criminal law.] [They clearly\nintended these laws to serve equally for all classes of the people.] [The\nCh'in code which was supposedly Li K'uei's code, was used in the Han\nperiod, and was extensively elaborated by Siao Ho (died 193 B.C.) and\nothers.] [This code consisted of two volumes of the chief laws for grave\ncases, one of mixed laws for the less serious cases, and six volumes on\nthe imposition of penalties.] [In the Han period \"decisions\" were added,\nso that about A.D. 200 the code had grown to 26,272 paragraphs with over\n17,000,000 words.] [The collection then consisted of 960 volumes.] [This\ncolossal code has been continually revised, abbreviated, or expanded,\nand under its last name of \"Collected Statues of the Manchu Dynasty\" it\nretained its validity down to the present century.] [Alongside this collection there was another book that came to be\nregarded and used as a book of precedences.] [The great Confucianist\nphilosopher Tung Chung-shu (179-104 B.C.), a firm supporter of the\nideology of the new gentry class, declared that the classic Confucianist\nwritings, and especially the book _Ch'un-ch'iu_, \"Annals of Spring and\nAutumn\", attributed to Confucius himself, were essentially books of\nlegal decisions.] [They contained \"cases\" and Confucius's decisions of\nthem.] [Consequently any case at law that might arise could be decided by\nanalogy with the cases contained in \"Annals of Spring and Autumn\".] [Only\nan educated person, of course, a member of the gentry, could claim that\nhis action should be judged by the decisions of Confucius and not by the\ncode compiled for the common people, for Confucius had expressly stated\nthat his rules were intended only for the upper class.] [Thus, right down\nto modern times an educated person could be judged under regulations\ndifferent from those applicable to the common people, or if judged on\nthe basis of the laws, he had to expect a special treatment.] [The\nprinciple of the \"equality before the law\" which the Legalists had\nadvocated and which fitted well into the absolutistic, totalitarian\nsystem of the Ch'in, had been attacked by the feudal nobility at that\ntime and was attacked by the new gentry of the Han time.] [Legalist\nthinking remained an important undercurrent for many centuries to come,\nbut application of the equalitarian principle was from now on never\nseriously considered.] [Against the growing influence of the officials belonging to the gentry\nthere came a last reaction.] [It came as a reply to the attempt of a\nrepresentative of the gentry to deprive the feudal princes of the whole\nof their power.] [In the time of Wen Ti's successor a number of feudal\nkings formed an alliance against the emperor, and even invited the\nHsiung-nu to join them.] [The Hsiung-nu did not do so, because they saw\nthat the rising had no prospect of success, and it was quelled.] [After\nthat the feudal princes were steadily deprived of rights.] [They were\ndivided into two classes, and only privileged ones were permitted to\nlive in the capital, the others being required to remain in their\ndomains.] [At first, the area was controlled by a \"minister\" of the\nprince, an official of the state; later the area remained under normal\nadministration and the feudal prince kept only an empty title; the tax\nincome of a certain number of families of an area was assigned to him\nand transmitted to him by normal administrative channels.] [Often, the\nnumber of assigned families was fictional in that the actual income was\nfrom far fewer families.] [This system differs from the Near Eastern\nsystem in which also no actual enforcement took place, but where\ndeserving men were granted the right to collect themselves the taxes of\na certain area with certain numbers of families.] [Soon after this the whole government was given the shape which it\ncontinued to have until A.D. 220, and which formed the point of\ndeparture for all later forms of government.] [At the head of the state\nwas the emperor, in theory the holder of absolute power in the state\nrestricted only by his responsibility towards \"Heaven\", i.e. he had to\nfollow and to enforce the basic rules of morality, otherwise \"Heaven\"\nwould withdraw its \"mandate\", the legitimation of the emperor's rule,\nand would indicate this withdrawal by sending natural catastrophes.] [Time\nand again we find emperors publicly accusing themselves for their faults\nwhen such catastrophes occurred; and to draw the emperor's attention to\nactual or made-up calamities or celestial irregularities was one way to\ncriticize an emperor and to force him to change his behaviour.] [There are\ntwo other indications which show that Chinese emperors--excepting a few\nindividual cases--at least in the first ten centuries of gentry society\nwere not despots: it can be proved that in some fields the\nresponsibility for governmental action did not lie with the emperor but\nwith some of his ministers.] [Secondly, the emperor was bound by the law\ncode: he could not change it nor abolish it.] [We know of cases in which\nthe ruler disregarded the code, but then tried to \"defend\" his arbitrary\naction.] [Each new dynasty developed a new law code, usually changing only\ndetails of the punishment, not the basic regulations.] [Rulers could issue\nadditional \"regulations\", but these, too, had to be in the spirit of\nthe general code and the existing moral norms.] [This situation has some\nsimilarity to the situation in Muslim countries.] [At the ruler's side\nwere three counsellors who had, however, no active functions.] [The real\nconduct of policy lay in the hands of the \"chancellor\", or of one of the\n\"nine ministers\".] [Unlike the practice with which we are familiar in the\nWest, the activities of the ministries (one of them being the court\nsecretariat) were concerned primarily with the imperial palace.] [As,\nhowever, the court secretariat, one of the nine ministries, was at the\nsame time a sort of imperial statistical office, in which all economic,\nfinancial, and military statistical material was assembled, decisions on\nissues of critical importance for the whole country could and did come\nfrom it.] [The court, through the Ministry of Supplies, operated mines and\nworkshops in the provinces and organized the labour service for public\nconstructions.] [The court also controlled centrally the conscription for\nthe general military service.] [Beside the ministries there was an\nextensive administration of the capital with its military guards.] [The\nvarious parts of the country, including the lands given as fiefs to\nprinces, had a local administration, entirely independent of the central\ngovernment and more or less elaborated according to their size.] [The\nregional administration was loosely associated with the central\ngovernment through a sort of primitive ministry of the interior, and\nsimilarly the Chinese representatives in the protectorates, that is to\nsay the foreign states which had submitted to Chinese protective\noverlordship, were loosely united with a sort of foreign ministry in the\ncentral government.] [When a rising or a local war broke out, that was the\naffair of the officer of the region concerned.] [If the regional troops\nwere insufficient, those of the adjoining regions were drawn upon; if\neven these were insufficient, a real \"state of war\" came into being;\nthat is to say, the emperor appointed eight generals-in-chief, mobilized\nthe imperial troops, and intervened.] [This imperial army then had\nauthority over the regional and feudal troops, the troops of the\nprotectorates, the guards of the capital, and those of the imperial\npalace.] [At the end of the war the imperial army was demobilized and the\ngenerals-in-chief were transferred to other posts.] [In all this there gradually developed a division into civil and military\nadministration.] [A number of regions would make up a province with a\nmilitary governor, who was in a sense the representative of the imperial\narmy, and who was supposed to come into activity only in the event of\nwar.] [This administration of the Han period lacked the tight organization that\nwould make precise functioning possible.] [On the other hand, an\nextremely important institution had already come into existence in a\nprimitive form.] [As central statistical authority, the court secretariat\nhad a special position within the ministries and supervised the\nadministration of the other offices.] [Thus there existed alongside the\nexecutive a means of independent supervision of it, and the resulting\nrivalry enabled the emperor or the chancellor to detect and eliminate\nirregularities.] [Later, in the system of the T'ang period (A.D. 618-906),\nthis institution developed into an independent censorship, and the\nsystem was given a new form as a \"State and Court Secretariat\", in which\nthe whole executive was comprised and unified.] [Towards the end of the\nT'ang period the permanent state of war necessitated the permanent\ncommissioning of the imperial generals-in-chief and of the military\ngovernors, and as a result there came into existence a \"Privy Council of\nState\", which gradually took over functions of the executive.] [The system\nof administration in the Han and in the T'ang period is shown in the\nfollowing table:\n\n _Han epoch_ _T'ang epoch_\n\n 1.] [Emperor 1.] [Emperor\n\n 2.] [Three counsellors to the emperor 2.] [Three counsellors and three\n (with no active functions) assistants (with no active\n functions)\n\n 3.] [Eight supreme generals (only 3.] [Generals and Governors-General\n appointed in time of war) (only appointed in time of\n war; but in practice\n continuously in office)\n\n 4.] [--------------------------- 4.] [(a) State secretariat\n (1) Central secretariat\n (2) Secretariat of the Crown\n (3) Secretariat of the Palace\n and imperial historical\n commission\n (b) Emperor's Secretariat\n (1) Private Archives\n (2) Court Adjutants' Office\n (3) Harem administration\n\n 5.] [Court administration 5.] [Court administration\n (Ministries) (Ministries)\n (1) Ministry for state (1) Ministry for state\n sacrifices sacrifices\n (2) Ministry for imperial (2) Ministry for imperial\n coaches and horses coaches and horses\n (3) Ministry for justice at (3) Ministry for justice at\n court court\n (4) Ministry for receptions (4) Ministry for receptions\n (i.e. foreign affairs)\n (5) Ministry for ancestors' (5) Ministry for ancestors'\n temples temples\n (6) Ministry for supplies to (6) Ministry for supplies to\n the court the court\n (7) Ministry for the harem (7) Economic and financial\n Ministry\n (8) Ministry for the palace (8) Ministry for the payment\n guards of salaries\n (9) Ministry for the court (9) Ministry for armament\n (state secretariat) and magazines\n\n 6.] [Administration of the 6.] [Administration of the\n capital: capital:\n (1) Crown prince's palace (1) Crown prince's palace\n (2) Security service for the (2) Palace guards and guards'\n capital office\n (3) Capital administration: (3) Arms production department\n (a) Guards of the capital\n (b) Guards of the city gates\n (c) Building department\n (4) Labour service department\n (5) Building department\n (6) Transport department\n (7) Department for education\n (of sons of officials!] [)\n\n 7.] [Ministry of the Interior 7.] [Ministry of the Interior\n (Provincial administration) (Provincial administration)\n\n 8.] [Foreign Ministry 8.] [---------------------------\n\n 9.] [Censorship (Audit council)\n\nThere is no denying that according to our standard this whole system was\nstill elementary and \"personal\", that is to say, attached to the\nemperor's person--though it should not be overlooked that we ourselves\nare not yet far from a similar phase of development.] [To this day the\ntitles of not a few of the highest officers of state--the Lord Privy\nSeal, for instance--recall that in the past their offices were conceived\nas concerned purely with the personal service of the monarch.] [In one\npoint, however, the Han administrative set-up was quite modern: it\nalready had a clear separation between the emperor's private treasury\nand the state treasury; laws determined which of the two received\ncertain taxes and which had to make certain payments.] [This separation,\nwhich in Europe occurred not until the late Middle Ages, in China was\nabolished at the end of the Han Dynasty.] [The picture changes considerably to the advantage of the Chinese as\nsoon as we consider the provincial administration.] [The governor of a\nprovince, and each of his district officers or prefects, had a staff\noften of more than a hundred officials.] [These officials were drawn from\nthe province or prefecture and from the personal friends of the\nadministrator, and they were appointed by the governor or the prefect.] [The staff was made up of officials responsible for communications with\nthe central or provincial administration (private secretary, controller,\nfinance officer), and a group of officials who carried on the actual\nlocal administration.] [There were departments for transport, finance,\neducation, justice, medicine (hygiene), economic and military affairs,\nmarket control, and presents (which had to be made to the higher\nofficials at the New Year and on other occasions).] [In addition to these\noffices, organized in a quite modern style, there was an office for\nadvising the governor and another for drafting official documents and\nletters.] [The interesting feature of this system is that the provincial\nadministration was _de facto_ independent of the central administration,\nand that the governor and even his prefects could rule like kings in\ntheir regions, appointing and discharging as they chose.] [This was a\nvestige of feudalism, but on the other hand it was a healthy check\nagainst excessive centralization.] [It is thanks to this system that even\nthe collapse of the central power or the cutting off of a part of the\nempire did not bring the collapse of the country.] [In a remote frontier\ntown like Tunhuang, on the border of Turkestan, the life of the local\nChinese went on undisturbed whether communication with the capital was\nmaintained or was broken through invasions by foreigners.] [The official\nsent from the centre would be liable at any time to be transferred\nelsewhere; and he had to depend on the practical knowledge of his\nsubordinates, the members of the local families of the gentry.] [These\nofficials had the local government in their hands, and carried on the\nadministration of places like Tunhuang through a thousand years and\nmore.] [The Hsin family, for instance, was living there in 50 B.C. and was\nstill there in A.D. 950; and so were the Yin, Ling-hu, Li, and K'ang\nfamilies.] [All the officials of the various offices or Ministries were appointed\nunder the state examination system, but they had no special professional\ntraining; only for the more important subordinate posts were there\nspecialists, such as jurists, physicians, and so on.] [A change came\ntowards the end of the T'ang period, when a Department of Commerce and\nMonopolies was set up; only specialists were appointed to it, and it was\nplaced directly under the emperor.] [Except for this, any official could\nbe transferred from any ministry to any other without regard to his\nexperience.] [4 _Turkestan policy.] [End of the Hsiung-nu empire_\n\nIn the two decades between 160 and 140 B.C. there had been further\ntrouble with the Hsiung-nu, though there was no large-scale fighting.] [There was a fundamental change of policy under the next emperor, Wu (or\nWu Ti, 141-86 B.C.).] [The Chinese entered for the first time upon an\nactive policy against the Hsiung-nu.] [There seem to have been several\nreasons for this policy, and several objectives.] [The raids of the\nHsiung-nu from the Ordos region and from northern Shansi had shown\nthemselves to be a direct menace to the capital and to its extremely\nimportant hinterland.] [Northern Shansi is mountainous, with deep ravines.] [A considerable army on horseback could penetrate some distance to the\nsouth before attracting attention.] [Northern Shensi and the Ordos region\nare steppe country, in which there were very few Chinese settlements and\nthrough which an army of horsemen could advance very quickly.] [It was\ntherefore determined to push back the Hsiung-nu far enough to remove\nthis threat.] [It was also of importance to break the power of the\nHsiung-nu in the province of Kansu, and to separate them as far as\npossible from the Tibetans living in that region, to prevent any union\nbetween those two dangerous adversaries.] [A third point of importance was\nthe safeguarding of caravan routes.] [The state, and especially the\ncapital, had grown rich through Wen Ti's policy.] [Goods streamed into the\ncapital from all quarters.] [Commerce with central Asia had particularly\nincreased, bringing the products of the Middle East to China.] [The\ncaravan routes passed through western Shensi and Kansu to eastern\nTurkestan, but at that time the Hsiung-nu dominated the approaches to\nTurkestan and were in a position to divert the trade to themselves or\ncut it off.] [The commerce brought profit not only to the caravan traders,\nmost of whom were probably foreigners, but to the officials in the\nprovinces and prefectures through which the routes passed.] [Thus the\nofficials in western China were interested in the trade routes being\nbrought under direct control, so that the caravans could arrive\nregularly and be immune from robbery.] [Finally, the Chinese government\nmay well have regarded it as little to its honour to be still paying\ndues to the Hsiung-nu and sending princesses to their rulers, now that\nChina was incomparably wealthier and stronger than at the time when that\npolicy of appeasement had begun.] [[Illustration: Map 3.] [China in the struggle with the Huns or Hsiung Nu\n(_roughly 128-100 B.C._)]\n\nThe first active step taken was to try, in 133 B.C., to capture the\nhead of the Hsiung-nu state, who was called a _shan-yue_ but the\n_shan-yue_ saw through the plan and escaped.] [There followed a period of\ncontinuous fighting until 119 B.C.] [The Chinese made countless attacks,\nwithout lasting success.] [But the Hsiung-nu were weakened, one sign of\nthis being that there were dissensions after the death of the _shan-yue_\nChuen-ch'en, and in 127 B.C. his son went over to the Chinese.] [Finally\nthe Chinese altered their tactics, advancing in 119 B.C. with a strong\narmy of cavalry, which suffered enormous losses but inflicted serious\nloss on the Hsiung-nu.] [After that the Hsiung-nu withdrew farther to the\nnorth, and the Chinese settled peasants in the important region of\nKansu.] [Meanwhile, in 125 B.C., the famous Chang Ch'ien had returned.] [He had\nbeen sent in 138 to conclude an alliance with the Yueeh-chih against the\nHsiung-nu.] [The Yueeh-chih had formerly been neighbours of the Hsiung-nu\nas far as the Ala Shan region, but owing to defeat by the Hsiung-nu\ntheir remnants had migrated to western Turkestan.] [Chang Ch'ien had\nfollowed them.] [Politically he had no success, but he brought back\naccurate information about the countries in the far west, concerning\nwhich nothing had been known beyond the vague reports of merchants.] [Now\nit was learnt whence the foreign goods came and whither the Chinese\ngoods went.] [Chang Ch'ien's reports (which are one of the principal\nsources for the history of central Asia at that remote time)\nstrengthened the desire to enter into direct and assured commercial\nrelations with those distant countries.] [The government evidently thought\nof getting this commerce into its own hands.] [The way to do this was to\nimpose \"tribute\" on the countries concerned.] [The idea was that the\nmissions bringing the annual \"tribute\" would be a sort of state\nbartering commissions.] [The state laid under tribute must supply\nspecified goods at its own cost, and received in return Chinese produce,\nthe value of which was to be roughly equal to the \"tribute\".] [Thus Chang\nCh'ien's reports had the result that, after the first successes against\nthe Hsiung-nu, there was increased interest in a central Asian policy.] [The greatest military success were the campaigns of General Li Kuang-li\nto Ferghana in 104 and 102 B.C.] [The result of the campaigns was to bring\nunder tribute all the small states in the Tarim basin and some of the\nstates of western Turkestan.] [From now on not only foreign consumer goods\ncame freely into China, but with them a great number of other things,\nnotably plants such as grape, peach, pomegranate.] [In 108 B.C. the western part of Korea was also conquered.] [Korea was\nalready an important transit region for the trade with Japan.] [Thus this\ntrade also came under the direct influence of the Chinese government.] [Although this conquest represented a peril to the eastern flank of the\nHsiung-nu, it did not by any means mean that they were conquered.] [The\nHsiung-nu while weakened evaded the Chinese pressure, but in 104 B.C.\nand again in 91 they inflicted defeats on the Chinese.] [The Hsiung-nu\nwere indirectly threatened by Chinese foreign policy, for the Chinese\nconcluded an alliance with old enemies of the Hsiung-nu, the Wu-sun, in\nthe north of the Tarim basin.] [This made the Tarim basin secure for the\nChinese, and threatened the Hsiung-nu with a new danger in their rear.] [Finally the Chinese did all they could through intrigue, espionage, and\nsabotage to promote disunity and disorder within the Hsiung-nu, though\nit cannot be seen from the Chinese accounts how far the Chinese were\nresponsible for the actual conflicts and the continual changes of\n_shan-yue_.] [Hostilities against the Hsiung-nu continued incessantly,\nafter the death of Wu Ti, under his successor, so that the Hsiung-nu\nwere further weakened.] [In consequence of this it was possible to rouse\nagainst them other tribes who until then had been dependent on them--the\nTing-ling in the north and the Wu-huan in the east.] [The internal\ndifficulties of the Hsiung-nu increased further.] [Wu Ti's active policy had not been directed only against the Hsiung-nu.] [After heavy fighting he brought southern China, with the region round\nCanton, and the south-eastern coast, firmly under Chinese dominion--in\nthis case again on account of trade interests.] [No doubt there were\nalready considerable colonies of foreign merchants in Canton and other\ncoastal towns, trading in Indian and Middle East goods.] [The traders seem\noften to have been Sogdians.] [The southern wars gave Wu Ti the control of\nthe revenues from this commerce.] [He tried several times to advance\nthrough Yuennan in order to secure a better land route to India, but\nthese attempts failed.] [Nevertheless, Chinese influence became stronger\nin the south-west.] [In spite of his long rule, Wu Ti did not leave an adult heir, as the\ncrown prince was executed, with many other persons, shortly before Wu\nTi's death.] [The crown prince had been implicated in an alleged attempt\nby a large group of people to remove the emperor by various sorts of\nmagic.] [It is difficult to determine today what lay behind this affair;\nprobably it was a struggle between two cliques of the gentry.] [Thus a\nregency council had to be set up for the young heir to the throne; it\nincluded a member of a Hsiung-nu tribe.] [The actual government was in the\nhands of a general and his clique until the death of the heir to the\nthrone, and at the beginning of his successor's reign.] [At this time came the end of the Hsiung-nu empire--a foreign event of\nthe utmost importance.] [As a result of the continual disastrous wars\nagainst the Chinese, in which not only many men but, especially, large\nquantities of cattle fell into Chinese hands, the livelihood of the\nHsiung-nu was seriously threatened; their troubles were increased by\nplagues and by unusually severe winters.] [To these troubles were added\npolitical difficulties, including unsettled questions in regard to the\nsuccession to the throne.] [The result of all this was that the Hsiung-nu\ncould no longer offer effective military resistance to the Chinese.] [There were a number of _shan-yue_ ruling contemporaneously as rivals, and\none of them had to yield to the Chinese in 58 B.C.; in 51 he came as a\nvassal to the Chinese court.] [The collapse of the Hsiung-nu empire was\ncomplete.] [After 58 B.C. the Chinese were freed from all danger from that\nquarter and were able, for a time, to impose their authority in Central\nAsia.] [5 _Impoverishment.] [Cliques.] [End of the Dynasty_\n\nIn other respects the Chinese were not doing as well as might have been\nassumed.] [The wars carried on by Wu Ti and his successors had been\nruinous.] [The maintenance of large armies of occupation in the new\nregions, especially in Turkestan, also meant a permanent drain on the\nnational funds.] [There was a special need for horses, for the people of\nthe steppes could only be fought by means of cavalry.] [As the Hsiung-nu\nwere supplying no horses, and the campaigns were not producing horses\nenough as booty, the peasants had to rear horses for the government.] [Additional horses were bought at very high prices, and apart from this\nthe general financing of the wars necessitated increased taxation of the\npeasants, a burden on agriculture no less serious than was the enrolment\nof many peasants for military service.] [Finally, the new external trade\ndid not by any means bring the advantages that had been hoped for.] [The\ntribute missions brought tribute but, to begin with, this meant an\nobligation to give presents in return; moreover, these missions had to\nbe fed and housed in the capital, often for months, as the official\nreceptions took place only on New Year's Day.] [Their maintenance entailed\nmuch expense, and meanwhile the members of the missions traded privately\nwith the inhabitants and the merchants of the capital, buying things\nthey needed and selling things they had brought in addition to the\ntribute.] [The tribute itself consisted mainly of \"precious articles\",\nwhich meant strange or rare things of no practical value.] [The emperor\nmade use of them as elements of personal luxury, or made presents of\nsome of them to deserving officials.] [The gifts offered by the Chinese in\nreturn consisted mainly of silk.] [Silk was received by the government as\na part of the tax payments and formed an important element of the\nrevenue of the state.] [It now went abroad without bringing in any\ncorresponding return.] [The private trade carried on by the members of the\nmissions was equally unserviceable to the Chinese.] [It, too, took from\nthem goods of economic value, silk and gold, which went abroad in\nexchange for luxury articles of little or no economic importance, such\nas glass, precious stones, or stud horses, which in no way benefited the\ngeneral population.] [Thus in this last century B.C. China's economic\nsituation grew steadily and fairly rapidly worse.] [The peasants, more\nheavily taxed than ever, were impoverished, and yet the exchequer became\nnot fuller but emptier, so that gold began even to be no longer\navailable for payments.] [Wu Ti was aware of the situation and called\ndifferent groups together to discuss the problems of economics.] [Under\nthe name \"Discussions on Salt and Iron\" the gist of these talks is\npreserved and shows that one group under the leadership of Sang\nHung-yang (143-80 B.C.) was business-oriented and thinking in economic\nterms, while their opponents, mainly Confucianists, regarded the\nsituation mainly as a moral crisis.] [Sang proposed an \"equable\ntransportation\" and a \"standardization\" system and favoured other state\nmonopolies and controls; these ideas were taken up later and continued\nto be discussed, again and again.] [Already under Wu Ti there had been signs of a development which now\nappeared constantly in Chinese history.] [Among the new gentry, families\nentered into alliances with each other, sealed their mutual allegiance\nby matrimonial unions, and so formed large cliques.] [Each clique made it\nits concern to get the most important government positions into its\nhands, so that it should itself control the government.] [Under Wu Ti, for\nexample, almost all the important generals had belonged to a certain\nclique, which remained dominant under his two successors.] [Two of the\nchief means of attaining power were for such a clique to give the\nemperor a girl from its ranks as wife, and to see to it that all the\neunuchs around the emperor should be persons dependent on the clique.] [Eunuchs came generally from the poorer classes; they were launched at\ncourt by members of the great cliques, or quite openly presented to the\nemperor.] [The chief influence of the cliques lay, however, in the selection of\nofficials.] [It is not surprising that the officials recommended only sons\nof people in their own clique--their family or its closest associates.] [On top of all this, the examiners were in most cases themselves members\nof the same families to which the provincial officials belonged.] [Thus it\nwas made doubly certain that only those candidates who were to the\nliking of the dominant group among the gentry should pass.] [Surrounded by these cliques, the emperors became in most cases powerless\nfigureheads.] [At times energetic rulers were able to play off various\ncliques against each other, and so to acquire personal power; but the\nweaker emperors found themselves entirely in the hands of cliques.] [Not a\nfew emperors in China were removed by cliques which they had attempted\nto resist; and various dynasties were brought to their end by the\ncliques; this was the fate of the Han dynasty.] [The beginning of its fall came with the activities of the widow of the\nemperor Yuean Ti.] [She virtually ruled in the name of her\neighteen-year-old son, the emperor Ch'eng Ti (32-7 B.C.), and placed all\nher brothers, and also her nephew, Wang Mang, in the principal\ngovernment posts.] [They succeeded at first in either removing the\nstrongest of the other cliques or bringing them into dependence.] [Within\nthe Wang family the nephew Wang Mang steadily advanced, securing direct\nsupporters even in some branches of the imperial family; these\npersonages declared their readiness to join him in removing the existing\nline of the imperial house.] [When Ch'eng Ti died without issue, a young\nnephew of his (Ai Ti, 6-1 B.C.) was placed on the throne by Wang Mang,\nand during this period the power of the Wangs and their allies grew\nfurther, until all their opponents had been removed and the influence of\nthe imperial family very greatly reduced.] [When Ai Ti died, Wang Mang\nplaced an eight-year-old boy on the throne, himself acting as regent;\nfour years later the boy fell ill and died, probably with Wang Mang's\naid.] [Wang Mang now chose a one-year-old baby, but soon after he felt\nthat the time had come for officially assuming the rulership.] [In A.D. 8\nhe dethroned the baby, ostensibly at Heaven's command, and declared\nhimself emperor and first of the Hsin (\"new\") dynasty.] [All the members\nof the old imperial family in the capital were removed from office and\ndegraded to commoners, with the exception of those who had already been\nsupporting Wang Mang.] [Only those members who held unimportant posts at a\ndistance remained untouched.] [Wang Mang's \"usurpation\" is unusual from two points of view.] [First, he\npaid great attention to public opinion and induced large masses of the\npopulation to write petitions to the court asking the Han ruler to\nabdicate; he even fabricated \"heavenly omina\" in his own favour and\nagainst the Han dynasty in order to get wide support even from\nintellectuals.] [Secondly, he inaugurated a formal abdication ceremony,\nculminating in the transfer of the imperial seal to himself.] [This\nceremony became standard for the next centuries.] [The seal was made of a\nprecious stone, once presented to the Ch'in dynasty ruler before he\nascended the throne.] [From now on, the possessor of this seal was the\nlegitimate ruler.] [6 _The pseudo-socialistic dictatorship.] [Revolt of the \"Red Eyebrows\"_\n\nWang Mang's dynasty lasted only from A.D. 9 to 23; but it was one of the\nmost stirring periods of Chinese history.] [It is difficult to evaluate\nWang Mang, because all we know about him stems from sources hostile\ntowards him.] [Yet we gain the impression that some of his innovations,\nsuch as the legalization of enthronement through the transfer of the\nseal; the changes in the administration of provinces and in the\nbureaucratic set-up in the capital; and even some of his economic\nmeasures were so highly regarded that they were retained or\nreintroduced, although this happened in some instances centuries later\nand without mentioning Wang Mang's name.] [But most of his policies and\nactions were certainly neither accepted nor acceptable.] [He made use of\nevery conceivable resource in order to secure power to his clique.] [As\nfar as possible he avoided using open force, and resorted to a\nhigh-level propaganda.] [Confucianism, the philosophic basis of the power\nof the gentry, served him as a bait; he made use of the so-called \"old\ncharacter school\" for his purposes.] [When, after the holocaust of books,\nit was desired to collect the ancient classics again, texts were found\nunder strange circumstances in the walls of Confucius's house; they were\nwritten in an archaic script.] [The people who occupied themselves with\nthese books were called the old character school.] [The texts came under\nsuspicion; most scholars had little belief in their genuineness.] [Wang\nMang, however, and his creatures energetically supported the cult of\nthese ancient writings.] [The texts were edited and issued, and in the\nprocess, as can now be seen, certain things were smuggled into them that\nfitted in well with Wang Mang's intentions.] [He even had other texts\nreissued with falsifications.] [He now represented himself in all his\nactions as a man who did with the utmost precision the things which the\nbooks reported of rulers or ministers of ancient times.] [As regent he had\ndeclared that his model was the brother of the first emperor of the Chou\ndynasty; as emperor he took for his exemplar one of the mythical\nemperors of ancient China; of his new laws he claimed that they were\nsimply revivals of decrees of the golden age.] [In all this he appealed to\nthe authority of literature that had been tampered with to suit his\naims.] [Actually, such laws had never before been customary; either Wang\nMang completely misinterpreted passages in an ancient text to suit his\npurpose, or he had dicta that suited him smuggled into the text.] [There\ncan be no question that Wang Mang and his accomplices began by\ndeliberately falsifying and deceiving.] [However, as time went on, he\nprobably began to believe in his own frauds.] [Wang Mang's great series of certain laws has brought him the name of\n\"the first Socialist on the throne of China\".] [But closer consideration\nreveals that these measures, ostensibly and especially aimed at the good\nof the poor, were in reality devised simply in order to fill the\nimperial exchequer and to consolidate the imperial power.] [When we read\nof the turning over of great landed estates to the state, do we not\nimagine that we are faced with a modern land reform?] [But this applied\nonly to the wealthiest of all the landowners, who were to be deprived in\nthis way of their power.] [The prohibition of private slave-owning had a\nsimilar purpose, the state reserving to itself the right to keep slaves.] [Moreover, landless peasants were to receive land to till, at the expense\nof those who possessed too much.] [This admirable law, however, was not\nintended seriously to be carried into effect.] [Instead, the setting up of\na system of state credits for peasants held out the promise, in spite of\nrather reduced interest rates, of important revenue.] [The peasants had\nnever been in a position to pay back their private debts together with\nthe usurious interest, but there were at least opportunities of coming\nto terms with a private usurer, whereas the state proved a merciless\ncreditor.] [It could dispossess the peasant, and either turn his property\ninto a state farm, convey it to another owner, or make the peasant a\nstate slave.] [Thus this measure worked against the interest of the\npeasants, as did the state monopoly of the exploitation of mountains and\nlakes.] [\"Mountains and lakes\" meant the uncultivated land around\nsettlements, the \"village commons\", where people collected firewood or\nwent fishing.] [They now had to pay money for fishing rights and for the\nright to collect wood, money for the emperor's exchequer.] [The same\npurpose lay behind the wine, salt, and iron tool monopolies.] [Enormous\nrevenues came to the state from the monopoly of minting coin, when old\nmetal coin of full value was called in and exchanged for debased coin.] [Another modern-sounding institution, that of the \"equalization offices\",\nwas supposed to buy cheap goods in times of plenty in order to sell them\nto the people in times of scarcity at similarly low prices, so\npreventing want and also preventing excessive price fluctuations.] [In\nactual fact these state offices formed a new source of profit, buying\ncheaply and selling as dearly as possible.] [Thus the character of these laws was in no way socialistic; nor,\nhowever, did they provide an El Dorado for the state finances, for Wang\nMang's officials turned all the laws to their private advantage.] [The\nrevenues rarely reached the capital; they vanished into the pockets of\nsubordinate officials.] [The result was a further serious lowering of the\nlevel of existence of the peasant population, with no addition to the\nfinancial resources of the state.] [Yet Wang Mang had great need of money,\nbecause he attached importance to display and because he was planning a\nnew war.] [He aimed at the final destruction of the Hsiung-nu, so that\naccess to central Asia should no longer be precarious and it should thus\nbe possible to reduce the expense of the military administration of\nTurkestan.] [The war would also distract popular attention from the\ntroubles at home.] [By way of preparation for war, Wang Mang sent a\nmission to the Hsiung-nu with dishonouring proposals, including changes\nin the name of the Hsiung-nu and in the title of the _shan-yue_.] [The name\nHsiung-nu was to be given the insulting change of Hsiang-nu, meaning\n\"subjugated slaves\".] [The result was that risings of the Hsiung-nu took\nplace, whereupon Wang Mang commanded that the whole of their country\nshould be partitioned among fifteen _shan-yue_ and declared the country\nto be a Chinese province.] [Since this declaration had no practical\nresult, it robbed Wang Mang of the increased prestige he had sought and\nonly further infuriated the Hsiung-nu.] [Wang Mang concentrated a vast\narmy on the frontier.] [Meanwhile he lost the whole of the possessions in\nTurkestan.] [But before Wang Mang's campaign against the Hsiung-nu could begin, the\ndifficulties at home grew steadily worse.] [In A.D. 12 Wang Mang felt\nobliged to abrogate all his reform legislation because it could not be\ncarried into effect; and the economic situation proved more lamentable\nthan ever.] [There were continual risings, which culminated in A.D. 18 in\na great popular insurrection, a genuine revolutionary rising of the\npeasants, whose distress had grown beyond bearing through Wang Mang's\nill-judged measures.] [The rebels called themselves \"Red Eyebrows\"; they\nhad painted their eyebrows red by way of badge and in order to bind\ntheir members indissolubly to their movement.] [The nucleus of this rising\nwas a secret society.] [Such secret societies, usually are harmless, but\nmay, in emergency situations, become an immensely effective instrument\nin the hands of the rural population.] [The secret societies then organize\nthe peasants, in order to achieve a forcible settlement of the matter in\ndispute.] [Occasionally, however, the movement grows far beyond its\nleaders' original objective and becomes a popular revolutionary\nmovement, directed against the whole ruling class.] [That is what happened\non this occasion.] [Vast swarms of peasants marched to the capital,\nkilling all officials and people of position on their way.] [The troops\nsent against them by Wang Mang either went over to the Red Eyebrows or\ncopied them, plundering wherever they could and killing officials.] [Owing\nto the appalling mass murders and the fighting, the forces placed by\nWang Mang along the frontier against the Hsiung-nu received no\nreinforcements and, instead of attacking the Hsiung-nu, themselves went\nover to plundering, so that ultimately the army simply disintegrated.] [Fortunately for China, the _shan-yue_ of the time did not take advantage\nof his opportunity, perhaps because his position within the Hsiung-nu\nempire was too insecure.] [Scarcely had the popular rising begun when descendants of the deposed\nHan dynasty appeared and tried to secure the support of the upper class.] [They came forward as fighters against the usurper Wang Mang and as\ndefenders of the old social order against the revolutionary masses.] [But\nthe armies which these Han princes were able to collect were no better\nthan those of the other sides.] [They, too, consisted of poor and hungry\npeasants, whose aim was to get money or goods by robbery; they too,\nplundered and murdered more than they fought.] [However, one prince by the name of Liu Hsiu gradually gained the upper\nhand.] [The basis of his power was the district of Nanyang in Honan, one\nof the wealthiest agricultural centres of China at that time and also\nthe centre of iron and steel production.] [The big landowners, the gentry\nof Nanyang, joined him, and the prince's party conquered the capital.] [Wang Mang, placing entire faith in his sanctity, did not flee; he sat in\nhis robes in the throne-room and recited the ancient writings, convinced\nthat he would overcome his adversaries by the power of his words.] [But a\nsoldier cut off his head (A.D. 22).] [The skull was kept for two hundred\nyears in the imperial treasury.] [The fighting, nevertheless, went on.] [Various branches of the prince's party fought one another, and all of\nthem fought the Red Eyebrows.] [In those years millions of men came to\ntheir end.] [Finally, in A.D. 24, Liu Hsiu prevailed, becoming the first\nemperor of the second Han dynasty, also called the Later Han dynasty;\nhis name as emperor was Kuang-wu Ti (A.D. 25-57).] [7 _Reaction and Restoration: the Later Han dynasty_\n\nWithin the country the period that followed was one of reaction and\nrestoration.] [The massacres of the preceding years had so reduced the\npopulation that there was land enough for the peasants who remained\nalive.] [Moreover, their lords and the moneylenders of the towns were\ngenerally no longer alive, so that many peasants had become free of\ndebt.] [The government was transferred from Sian to Loyang, in the present\nprovince of Honan.] [This brought the capital nearer to the great\nwheat-producing regions, so that the transport of grain and other taxes\nin kind to the capital was cheapened.] [Soon this cleared foundation was\ncovered by a new stratum, a very sparse one, of great landowners who\nwere supporters and members of the new imperial house, largely\ndescendants of the landowners of the earlier Han period.] [At first they\nwere not much in evidence, but they gained power more and more rapidly.] [In spite of this, the first half-century of the Later Han period was one\nof good conditions on the land and economic recovery.] [8 _Hsiung-nu policy_\n\nIn foreign policy the first period of the Later Han dynasty was one of\nextraordinary success, both in the extreme south and in the question of\nthe Hsiung-nu.] [During the period of Wang Mang's rule and the fighting\nconnected with it, there had been extensive migration to the south and\nsouth-west.] [Considerable regions of Chinese settlement had come into\nexistence in Yuennan and even in Annam and Tongking, and a series of\ncampaigns under General Ma Yuan (14 B.C.-A.D. 49) now added these\nregions to the territory of the empire.] [These wars were carried on with\nrelatively small forces, as previously in the Canton region, the natives\nbeing unable to offer serious resistance owing to their inferiority in\nequipment and civilization.] [The hot climate, however, to which the\nChinese soldiers were unused, was hard for them to endure.] [The Hsiung-nu, in spite of internal difficulties, had regained\nconsiderable influence in Turkestan during the reign of Wang Mang.] [But\nthe king of the city state of Yarkand had increased his power by\nshrewdly playing off Chinese and Hsiung-nu against each other, so that\nbefore long he was able to attack the Hsiung-nu.] [The small states in\nTurkestan, however, regarded the overlordship of the distant China as\npreferable to that of Yarkand or the Hsiung-nu both of whom, being\nnearer, were able to bring their power more effectively into play.] [Accordingly many of the small states appealed for Chinese aid.] [Kuang-wu\nTi met this appeal with a blank refusal, implying that order had only\njust been restored in China and that he now simply had not the resources\nfor a campaign in Turkestan.] [Thus, the king of Yarkand was able to\nextend his power over the remainder of the small states of Turkestan,\nsince the Hsiung-nu had been obliged to withdraw.] [Kuang-wu Ti had\nseveral frontier wars with the Hsiung-nu without any decisive result.] [But in the years around A.D. 45 the Hsiung-nu had suffered several\nsevere droughts and also great plagues of locusts, so that they had lost\na large part of their cattle.] [They were no longer able to assert\nthemselves in Turkestan and at the same time to fight the Chinese in the\nsouth and the Hsien-pi and the Wu-huan in the east.] [These two peoples,\napparently largely of Mongol origin, had been subject in the past to\nHsiung-nu overlordship.] [They had spread steadily in the territories\nbordering Manchuria and Mongolia, beyond the eastern frontier of the\nHsiung-nu empire.] [Living there in relative peace and at the same time in\npossession of very fertile pasturage, these two peoples had grown in\nstrength.] [And since the great political collapse of 58 B.C. the\nHsiung-nu had not only lost their best pasturage in the north of the\nprovinces of Shensi and Shansi, but had largely grown used to living in\nco-operation with the Chinese.] [They had become much more accustomed to\ntrade with China, exchanging animals for textiles and grain, than to\nwarfare, so that in the end they were defeated by the Hsien-pi and\nWu-huan, who had held to the older form of purely warlike nomad life.] [Weakened by famine and by the wars against Wu-huan and Hsien-pi, the\nHsiung-nu split into two, one section withdrawing to the north.] [The southern Hsiung-nu were compelled to submit to the Chinese in order\nto gain security from their other enemies.] [Thus the Chinese were able to\ngain a great success without moving a finger: the Hsiung-nu, who for\ncenturies had shown themselves again and again to be the most dangerous\nenemies of China, were reduced to political insignificance.] [About a\nhundred years earlier the Hsiung-nu empire had suffered defeat; now half\nof what remained of it became part of the Chinese state.] [Its place was\ntaken by the Hsien-pi and Wu-huan, but at first they were of much less\nimportance.] [In spite of the partition, the northern Hsiung-nu attempted in the years\nbetween A.D. 60 and 70 to regain a sphere of influence in Turkestan;\nthis seemed the easier for them since the king of Yarkand had been\ncaptured and murdered, and Turkestan was more or less in a state of\nconfusion.] [The Chinese did their utmost to play off the northern against\nthe southern Hsiung-nu and to maintain a political balance of power in\nthe west and north.] [So long as there were a number of small states in\nTurkestan, of which at least some were friendly to China, Chinese trade\ncaravans suffered relatively little disturbance on their journeys.] [Independent states in Turkestan had proved more profitable for trade\nthan when a large army of occupation had to be maintained there.] [When,\nhowever, there appeared to be the danger of a new union of the two\nparts of the Hsiung-nu as a restoration of a large empire also\ncomprising all Turkestan, the Chinese trading monopoly was endangered.] [Any great power would secure the best goods for itself, and there would\nbe no good business remaining for China.] [For these reasons a great\nChinese campaign was undertaken against Turkestan in A.D. 73 under Tou\nKu.] [Mainly owing to the ability of the Chinese deputy commander Pan\nCh'ao, the whole of Turkestan was quickly conquered.] [Meanwhile the\nemperor Ming Ti (A.D. 58-75) had died, and under the new emperor Chang\nTi (76-88) the \"isolationist\" party gained the upper hand against the\nclique of Tou Ku and Pan Ch'ao: the danger of the restoration of a\nHsiung-nu empire, the isolationists contended, no longer existed;\nTurkestan should be left to itself; the small states would favour trade\nwith China of their own accord.] [Meanwhile, a considerable part of\nTurkestan had fallen away from China, for Chang Ti sent neither money\nnor troops to hold the conquered territories.] [Pan Ch'ao nevertheless\nremained in Turkestan (at Kashgar and Khotan) where he held on amid\ncountless difficulties.] [Although he reported (A.D. 78) that the troops\ncould feed themselves in Turkestan and needed neither supplies nor money\nfrom home, no reinforcements of any importance were sent; only a few\nhundred or perhaps a thousand men, mostly released criminals, reached\nhim.] [Not until A.D. 89 did the Pan Ch'ao clique return to power when the\nmother of the young emperor Ho Ti (89-105) took over the government\nduring his minority: she was a member of the family of Tou Ku.] [She was\ninterested in bringing to a successful conclusion the enterprise which\nhad been started by members of her family and its followers.] [In\naddition, it can be shown that a number of other members of the \"war\nparty\" had direct interests in the west, mainly in form of landed\nestates.] [Accordingly, a campaign was started in 89 under her brother\nagainst the northern Hsiung-nu, and it decided the fate of Turkestan in\nChina's favour.] [Turkestan remained firmly in Chinese possession until\nthe death of Pan Ch'ao in 102.] [Shortly afterwards heavy fighting broke\nout again: the Tanguts advanced from the south in an attempt to cut off\nChinese access to Turkestan.] [The Chinese drove back the Tanguts and\nmaintained their hold on Turkestan, though no longer absolutely.] [9 _Economic situation.] [Rebellion of the \"Yellow Turbans\".] [Collapse of\nthe Han dynasty_\n\nThe economic results of the Turkestan trade in this period were not so\nunfavourable as in the earlier Han period.] [The army of occupation was\nincomparably smaller, and under Pan Ch'ao's policy the soldiers were fed\nand paid in Turkestan itself, so that the cost to China remained small.] [Moreover, the drain on the national income was no longer serious\nbecause, in the intervening period, regular Chinese settlements had been\nplanted in Turkestan including Chinese merchants, so that the trade no\nlonger remained entirely in the hands of foreigners.] [In spite of the economic consolidation at the beginning of the Later Han\ndynasty, and in spite of the more balanced trade, the political\nsituation within China steadily worsened from A.D. 80 onwards.] [Although\nthe class of great landowners was small, a number of cliques formed\nwithin it, and their mutual struggle for power soon went beyond the\nlimits of court intrigue.] [New actors now came upon the stage, namely the\neunuchs.] [With the economic improvement there had been a general increase\nin the luxury at the court of the Han emperors, and the court steadily\nincreased in size.] [The many hundred wives and concubines in the palace\nmade necessary a great army of eunuchs.] [As they had the ear of the\nemperor and so could influence him, the eunuchs formed an important\npolitical factor.] [For a time the main struggle was between the group of\neunuchs and the group of scholars.] [The eunuchs served a particular\nclique to which some of the emperor's wives belonged.] [The scholars, that\nis to say the ministers, together with members of the ministries and the\nadministrative staff, served the interests of another clique.] [The\nstruggles grew more and more sanguinary in the middle of the second\ncentury A.D.] [It soon proved that the group with the firmest hold in the\nprovinces had the advantage, because it was not easy to control the\nprovinces from a distance.] [The result was that, from about A.D. 150,\nevents at court steadily lost importance, the lead being taken by the\ngenerals commanding the provincial troops.] [It would carry us too far to\ngive the details of all these struggles.] [The provincial generals were at\nfirst Ts'ao Ts'ao, Lue Pu, Yuean Shao, and Sun Ts'e; later came Liu Pei.] [All were striving to gain control of the government, and all were\nengaged in mutual hostilities from about 180 onwards.] [Each general was\nalso trying to get the emperor into his hands.] [Several times the last\nemperor of the Later Han dynasty, Hsien Ti (190-220), was captured by\none or another of the generals.] [As the successful general was usually\nunable to maintain his hold on the capital, he dragged the poor emperor\nwith him from place to place until he finally had to give him up to\nanother general.] [The point of this chase after the emperor was that\naccording to the idea introduced earlier by Wang Mang the first ruler of\na new dynasty had to receive the imperial seals from the last emperor\nof the previous dynasty.] [The last emperor must abdicate in proper form.] [Accordingly, each general had to get possession of the emperor to begin\nwith, in order at the proper time to take over the seals.] [By about A.D. 200 the new conditions had more or less crystallized.] [There remained only three great parties.] [The most powerful was that of\nTs'ao Ts'ao, who controlled the north and was able to keep permanent\nhold of the emperor.] [In the west, in the province of Szechwan, Liu Pei\nhad established himself, and in the south-east Sun Ts'e's brother.] [But we must not limit our view to these generals' struggles.] [At this\ntime there were two other series of events of equal importance with\nthose.] [The incessant struggles of the cliques against each other\ncontinued at the expense of the people, who had to fight them and pay\nfor them.] [Thus, after A.D. 150 the distress of the country population\ngrew beyond all limits.] [Conditions were as disastrous as in the time of\nWang Mang.] [And once more, as then, a popular movement broke out, that of\nthe so-called \"Yellow Turbans\".] [This was the first of the two important\nevents.] [This popular movement had a characteristic which from now on\nbecame typical of all these risings of the people.] [The intellectual\nleaders of the movement, Chang Ling and others, were members of a\nparticular religious sect.] [This sect was influenced by Iranian Mazdaism\non the one side and by certain ideas from Lao Tz[)u] on the other side;\nand these influences were superimposed on popular rural as well as,\nperhaps, local tribal religious beliefs and superstitions.] [The sect had\nroots along the coastal settlements of Eastern China, where it seems to\nhave gained the support of the peasantry and their local priests.] [These\npriests of the people were opposed to the representatives of the\nofficial religion, that is to say the officials drawn from the gentry.] [In small towns and villages the temples of the gods of the fruits of the\nfield, of the soil, and so on, were administered by authorized local\nofficials, and these officials also carried out the prescribed\nsacrifices.] [The old temples of the people were either done away with (we\nhave many edicts of the Han period concerning the abolition of popular\nforms of religious worship), or their worship was converted into an\nofficial cult: the all-powerful gentry extended their domination over\nreligion as well as all else.] [But the peasants regarded their local\nunauthorized priests as their natural leaders against the gentry and\nagainst gentry forms of religion.] [One branch, probably the main branch\nof this movement, developed a stronghold in Eastern Szechwan province,\nwhere its members succeeded to create a state of their own which\nretained its independence for a while.] [It is the only group which\ndeveloped real religious communities in which men and women\nparticipated, extensive welfare schemes existed and class differences\nwere discouraged.] [It had a real church organization with dioceses,\ncommunal friendship meals and a confession ritual; in short, real piety\ndeveloped as it could not develop in the official religions.] [After the\nannihilation of this state, remnants of the organization can be traced\nthrough several centuries, mainly in central and south China.] [It may\nwell be that the many \"Taoistic\" traits which can be found in the\nreligions of late and present-day Mongolian and Tibetan tribes, can be\nderived from this movement of the Yellow Turbans.] [The rising of the Yellow Turbans began in 184; all parties, cliques and\ngenerals alike, were equally afraid of the revolutionaries, since these\nwere a threat to the gentry as such, and so to all parties.] [Consequently\na combined army of considerable size was got together and sent against\nthe rebels.] [The Yellow Turbans were beaten.] [During these struggles it became evident that Ts'ao Ts'ao with his\ntroops had become the strongest of all the generals.] [His troops seem to\nhave consisted not of Chinese soldiers alone, but also of Hsiung-nu.] [It\nis understandable that the annals say nothing about this, and it can\nonly be inferred from the facts.] [It appears that in order to reinforce\ntheir armies the generals recruited not only Chinese but foreigners.] [The\ngenerals operating in the region of the present-day Peking had soldiers\nof the Wu-huan and Hsien-pi, and even of the Ting-ling; Liu Pei, in the\nwest, made use of Tanguts, and Ts'ao Ts'ao clearly went farthest of all\nin this direction; he seems to have been responsible for settling\nnineteen tribes of Hsiung-nu in the Chinese province of Shansi between\n180 and 200, in return for their armed aid.] [In this way Ts'ao Ts'ao\ngained permanent power in the empire by means of these troops, so that\nimmediately after his death his son Ts'ao P'ei, with the support of\npowerful allied families, was able to force the emperor to abdicate and\nto found a new dynasty, the Wei dynasty (A.D. 220).] [This meant, however, that a part of China which for several centuries\nhad been Chinese was given up to the Hsiung-nu.] [This was not, of course,\nwhat Ts'ao Ts'ao had intended; he had given the Hsiung-nu some area of\npasturage in Shansi with the idea that they should be controlled and\nadministered by the officials of the surrounding district.] [His plan had\nbeen similar to what the Chinese had often done with success: aliens\nwere admitted into the territory of the empire in a body, but then the\ninfluence of the surrounding administrative centres was steadily\nextended over them, until the immigrants completely lost their own\nnationality and became Chinese.] [The nineteen tribes of Hsiung-nu,\nhowever, were much too numerous, and after the prolonged struggles in\nChina the provincial administration proved much too weak to be able to\ncarry out the plan.] [Thus there came into existence here, within China, a\nsmall Hsiung-nu realm ruled by several _shan-yue_.] [This was the second\nmajor development, and it became of the utmost importance to the history\nof the next four centuries.] [10 _Literature and Art_\n\nWith the development of the new class of the gentry in the Han period,\nthere was an increase in the number of those who were anxious to\nparticipate in what had been in the past an exclusively aristocratic\npossession--education.] [Thus it is by no mere chance that in this period\nmany encyclopaedias were compiled.] [Encyclopaedias convey knowledge in an\neasily grasped and easily found form.] [The first compilation of this sort\ndates from the third century B.C.] [It was the work of Lue Pu wei, the\nmerchant who was prime minister and regent during the minority of Shih\nHuang-ti.] [It contains general information concerning ceremonies,\ncustoms, historic events, and other things the knowledge of which was\npart of a general education.] [Soon afterwards other encyclopaedias\nappeared, of which the best known is the Book of the Mountains and Seas\n(_Shan Hai Ching_).] [This book, arranged according to regions of the\nworld, contains everything known at the time about geography, natural\nphilosophy, and the animal and plant world, and also about popular\nmyths.] [This tendency to systemization is shown also in the historical\nworks.] [The famous _Shih Chi_, one of our main sources for Chinese\nhistory, is the first historical work of the modern type, that is to\nsay, built up on a definite plan, and it was also the model for all\nlater official historiography.] [Its author, Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien (born 135\nB.C.), and his father, made use of the material in the state archives\nand of private documents, old historical and philosophical books,\ninscriptions, and the results of their own travels.] [The philosophical\nand historical books of earlier times (with the exception of those of\nthe nature of chronicles) consisted merely of a few dicta or reports of\nparticular events, but the _Shih Chi_ is a compendium of a mass of\nsource-material.] [The documents were abbreviated, but the text of the\nextracts was altered as little as possible, so that the general result\nretains in a sense the value of an original source.] [In its arrangement\nthe _Shih Chi_ became a model for all later historians: the first part\nis in the form of annals, and there follow tables concerning the\noccupants of official posts and fiefs, and then biographies of various\nimportant personalities, though the type of the comprehensive biography\ndid not appear till later.] [The _Shih Chi_ also, like later historical\nworks, contains many monographs dealing with particular fields of\nknowledge, such as astronomy, the calendar, music, economics, official\ndress at court, and much else.] [The whole type of construction differs\nfundamentally from such works as those of Thucydides or Herodotus.] [The\nChinese historical works have the advantage that the section of annals\ngives at once the events of a particular year, the monographs describe\nthe development of a particular field of knowledge, and the biographical\nsection offers information concerning particular personalities.] [The\nmental attitude is that of the gentry: shortly after the time of\nSs[)u]-ma Ch'ien an historical department was founded, in which members\nof the gentry worked as historians upon the documents prepared by\nrepresentatives of the gentry in the various government offices.] [In addition to encyclopaedias and historical works, many books of\nphilosophy were written in the Han period, but most of them offer no\nfundamentally new ideas.] [They were the product of the leisure of rich\nmembers of the gentry, and only three of them are of importance.] [One is\nthe work of Tung Chung-shu, already mentioned.] [The second is a book by\nLiu An called _Huai-nan Tz[)u]_.] [Prince Liu An occupied himself with\nTaoism and allied problems, gathered around him scholars of different\nschools, and carried on discussions with them.] [Many of his writings are\nlost, but enough is extant to show that he was one of the earliest\nChinese alchemists.] [The question has not yet been settled, but it is\nprobable that alchemy first appeared in China, together with the cult of\nthe \"art\" of prolonging life, and was later carried to the West, where\nit flourished among the Arabs and in medieval Europe.] [The third important book of the Han period was the _Lun Heng_ (Critique\nof Opinions) of Wang Ch'ung, which appeared in the first century of the\nChristian era.] [Wang Ch'ung advocated rational thinking and tried to pave\nthe way for a free natural science, in continuation of the beginnings\nwhich the natural philosophers of the later Chou period had made.] [The\nbook analyses reports in ancient literature and customs of daily life,\nand shows how much they were influenced by superstition and by ignorance\nof the facts of nature.] [From this attitude a modern science might have\ndeveloped, as in Europe towards the end of the Middle Ages; but the\ngentry had every reason to play down this tendency which, with its\ncriticism of all that was traditional, might have proceeded to an attack\non the dominance of the gentry and their oppression especially of the\nmerchants and artisans.] [It is fascinating to observe how it was the\nneeds of the merchants and seafarers of Asia Minor and Greece that\nprovided the stimulus for the growth of the classic sciences, and how on\nthe contrary the growth of Chinese science was stifled because the\ngentry were so strongly hostile to commerce and navigation, though both\nhad always existed.] [There were great literary innovations in the field of poetry.] [The\nsplendour and elegance at the new imperial court of the Han dynasty\nattracted many poets who sang the praises of the emperor and his court\nand were given official posts and dignities.] [These praises were in the\nform of grandiloquent, overloaded poetry, full of strange similes and\nallusions, but with little real feeling.] [In contrast, the many women\nsingers and dancers at the court, mostly slaves from southern China,\nintroduced at the court southern Chinese forms of song and poem, which\nwere soon adopted and elaborated by poets.] [Poems and dance songs were\ncomposed which belonged to the finest that Chinese poetry can show--full\nof natural feeling, simple in language, moving in content.] [Our knowledge of the arts is drawn from two sources--literature, and the\nactual discoveries in the excavations.] [Thus we know that most of the\npainting was done on silk, of which plenty came into the market through\nthe control of silk-producing southern China.] [Paper had meanwhile been\ninvented in the second century B.C., by perfecting the techniques of\nmaking bark-cloth and felt.] [Unfortunately nothing remains of the actual\nworks that were the first examples of what the Chinese everywhere were\nbeginning to call \"art\".] [\"People\", that is to say the gentry, painted as\na social pastime, just as they assembled together for poetry,\ndiscussion, or performances of song and dance; they painted as an\naesthetic pleasure and rarely as a means of earning.] [We find philosophic\nideas or greetings, emotions, and experiences represented by\npaintings--paintings with fanciful or ideal landscapes; paintings\nrepresenting life and environment of the cultured class in idealized\nform, never naturalistic either in fact or in intention.] [Until recently\nit was an indispensable condition in the Chinese view that an artist\nmust be \"cultured\" and be a member of the gentry--distinguished,\nunoccupied, wealthy.] [A man who was paid for his work, for instance for a\nportrait for the ancestral cult, was until late time regarded as a\ncraftsman, not as an artist.] [Yet, these \"craftsmen\" have produced in Han\ntime and even earlier, many works which, in our view, undoubtedly belong\nto the realm of art.] [In the tombs have been found reliefs whose\ntechnique is generally intermediate between simple outline engraving and\nintaglio.] [The lining-in is most frequently executed in scratched lines.] [The representations, mostly in strips placed one above another, are of\nlively historical scenes, scenes from the life of the dead, great ritual\nceremonies, or adventurous scenes from mythology.] [Bronze vessels have\nrepresentations in inlaid gold and silver, mostly of animals.] [The most\nimportant documents of the painting of the Han period have also been\nfound in tombs.] [We see especially ladies and gentlemen of society, with\nrichly ornamented, elegant, expensive clothing that is very reminiscent\nof the clothing customary to this day in Japan.] [There are also artistic\nrepresentations of human figures on lacquer caskets.] [While sculpture was\nnot strongly developed, the architecture of the Han must have been\nmagnificent and technically highly complex.] [Sculpture and temple\narchitecture received a great stimulus with the spread of Buddhism in\nChina.] [According to our present knowledge, Buddhism entered China from\nthe south coast and through Central Asia at latest in the first century\nB.C.; it came with foreign merchants from India or Central Asia.] [According to Indian customs, Brahmans, the Hindu caste providing all\nHindu priests, could not leave their homes.] [As merchants on their trips\nwhich lasted often several years, did not want to go without religious\nservices, they turned to Buddhist priests as well as to priests of Near\nEastern religions.] [These priests were not prevented from travelling and\nused this opportunity for missionary purposes.] [Thus, for a long time\nafter the first arrival of Buddhists, the Buddhist priests in China were\nforeigners who served foreign merchant colonies.] [The depressed\nconditions of the people in the second century A.D. drove members of the\nlower classes into their arms, while the parts of Indian science which\nthese priests brought with them from India aroused some interest in\ncertain educated circles.] [Buddhism, therefore, undeniably exercised an\ninfluence at the end of the Han dynasty, although no Chinese were\npriests and few, if any, gentry members were adherents of the religious\nteachings.] [With the end of the Han period a further epoch of Chinese history comes\nto its close.] [The Han period was that of the final completion and\nconsolidation of the social order of the gentry.] [The period that\nfollowed was that of the conflicts of the Chinese with the populations\non their northern borders.] [Chapter Seven\n\n\nTHE EPOCH OF THE FIRST DIVISION OF CHINA (A.D. 220-580)\n\n\n(A) The three kingdoms (220-265)\n\n1 _Social, intellectual, and economic problems during the first\ndivision_\n\nThe end of the Han period was followed by the three and a half centuries\nof the first division of China into several kingdoms, each with its own\ndynasty.] [In fact, once before during the period of the Contending\nStates, China had been divided into a number of states, but at least in\ntheory they had been subject to the Chou dynasty, and none of the\ncontending states had made the claim to be the legitimate ruler of all\nChina.] [In this period of the \"first division\" several states claimed to\nbe legitimate rulers, and later Chinese historians tried to decide which\nof these had \"more right\" to this claim.] [At the outset (220-280) there\nwere three kingdoms (Wei, Wu, Shu Han); then came an unstable reunion\nduring twenty-seven years (280-307) under the rule of the Western Chin.] [This was followed by a still sharper division between north and south:\nwhile a wave of non-Chinese nomad dynasties poured over the north, in\nthe south one Chinese clique after another seized power, so that dynasty\nfollowed dynasty until finally, in 580, a united China came again into\nexistence, adopting the culture of the north and the traditions of the\ngentry.] [In some ways, the period from 220 to 580 can be compared with the period\nof the coincidentally synchronous breakdown of the Roman Empire: in both\ncases there was no great increase in population, although in China\nperhaps no over-all decrease in population as in the Roman Empire;\ndecrease occurred, however, in the population of the great Chinese\ncities, especially of the capital; furthermore we witness, in both\nempires, a disorganization of the monetary system, i.e. in China the\nreversal to a predominance of natural economy after some 400 years of\nmoney economy.] [Yet, this period cannot be simply dismissed as a\ntransition period, as was usually done by the older European works on\nChina.] [The social order of the gentry, whose birth and development\ninside China we followed, had for the first time to defend itself\nagainst views and systems entirely opposed to it; for the Turkish and\nMongol peoples who ruled northern China brought with them their\ntraditions of a feudal nobility with privileges of birth and all that\nthey implied.] [Thus this period, socially regarded, is especially that of\nthe struggle between the Chinese gentry and the northern nobility, the\ngentry being excluded at first as a direct political factor in the\nnorthern and more important part of China.] [In the south the gentry\ncontinued in the old style with a constant struggle between cliques, the\nonly difference being that the class assumed a sort of \"colonial\"\ncharacter through the formation of gigantic estates and through\nassociation with the merchant class.] [To throw light on the scale of events, we need to have figures of\npopulation.] [There are no figures for the years around A.D. 220, and we\nmust make do with those of 140; but in order to show the relative\nstrength of the three states it is the ratio between the figures that\nmatters.] [In 140 the regions which later belonged to Wei had roughly\n29,000,000 inhabitants; those later belonging to Wu had 11,700,000;\nthose which belonged later to Shu Han had a bare 7,500,000.] [(The figures\ntake no account of the primitive native population, which was not yet\nincluded in the taxation lists.] [) The Hsiung-nu formed only a small part\nof the population, as there were only the nineteen tribes which had\nabandoned one of the parts, already reduced, of the Hsiung-nu empire.] [The whole Hsiung-nu empire may never have counted more than some\n3,000,000.] [At the time when the population of what became the Wei\nterritory totalled 29,000,000 the capital with its immediate environment\nhad over a million inhabitants.] [The figure is exclusive of most of the\nofficials and soldiers, as these were taxable in their homes and so were\ncounted there.] [It is clear that this was a disproportionate\nconcentration round the capital.] [It was at this time that both South and North China felt the influence\nof Buddhism, which until A.D. 220 had no more real effect on China than\nhad, for instance, the penetration of European civilization between 1580\nand 1842.] [Buddhism offered new notions, new ideals, foreign science, and\nmany other elements of culture, with which the old Chinese philosophy\nand science had to contend.] [At the same time there came with Buddhism\nthe first direct knowledge of the great civilized countries west of\nChina.] [Until then China had regarded herself as the only existing\ncivilized country, and all other countries had been regarded as\nbarbaric, for a civilized country was then taken to mean a country with\nurban industrial crafts and agriculture.] [In our present period, however,\nChina's relations with the Middle East and with southern Asia were so\nclose that the existence of civilized countries outside China had to be\nadmitted.] [Consequently, when alien dynasties ruled in northern China and\na new high civilization came into existence there, it was impossible to\nspeak of its rulers as barbarians any longer.] [Even the theory that the\nChinese emperor was the Son of Heaven and enthroned at the centre of the\nworld was no longer tenable.] [Thus a vast widening of China's\nintellectual horizon took place.] [Economically, our present period witnessed an adjustment in South China\nbetween the Chinese way of life, which had penetrated from the north,\nand that of the natives of the south.] [Large groups of Chinese had to\nturn over from wheat culture in dry fields to rice culture in wet\nfields, and from field culture to market gardening.] [In North China the\nconflict went on between Chinese agriculture and the cattle breeding of\nCentral Asia.] [Was the will of the ruler to prevail and North China to\nbecome a country of pasturage, or was the country to keep to the\nagrarian tradition of the people under this rule?] [The Turkish and Mongol\nconquerors had recently given up their old supplementary agriculture and\nhad turned into pure nomads, obtaining the agricultural produce they\nneeded by raiding or trade.] [The conquerors of North China were now faced\nwith a different question: if they were to remain nomads, they must\neither drive the peasants into the south, or make them into slave\nherdsmen, or exterminate them.] [There was one more possibility: they\nmight install themselves as a ruling upper class, as nobles over the\nsubjugated native peasants.] [The same question was faced much later by\nthe Mongols, and at first they answered it differently from the peoples\nof our present period.] [Only by attention to this problem shall we be in\na position to explain why the rule of the Turkish peoples did not last,\nwhy these peoples were gradually absorbed and disappeared.] [2 _Status of the two southern Kingdoms_\n\nWhen the last emperor of the Han period had to abdicate in favour of\nTs'ao P'ei and the Wei dynasty began, China was in no way a unified\nrealm.] [Almost immediately, in 221, two other army commanders, who had\nlong been independent, declared themselves emperors.] [In the south-west\nof China, in the present province of Szechwan, the Shu Han dynasty was\nfounded in this way, and in the south-east, in the region of the present\nNanking, the Wu dynasty.] [The situation of the southern kingdom of Shu Han (221-263) corresponded\nmore or less to that of the Chungking regime in the Second World War.] [West of it the high Tibetan mountains towered up; there was very little\nreason to fear any major attack from that direction.] [In the north and\neast the realm was also protected by difficult mountain country.] [The\nsouth lay relatively open, but at that time there were few Chinese\nliving there, but only natives with a relatively low civilization.] [The\nkingdom could only be seriously attacked from two corners--through the\nnorth-west, where there was a negotiable plateau, between the Ch'in-ling\nmountains in the north and the Tibetan mountains in the west, a plateau\ninhabited by fairly highly developed Tibetan tribes; and secondly\nthrough the south-east corner, where it would be possible to penetrate\nup the Yangtze.] [There was in fact incessant fighting at both these\ndangerous corners.] [Economically, Shu Han was not in a bad position.] [The country had long\nbeen part of the Chinese wheat lands, and had a fairly large Chinese\npeasant population in the well irrigated plain of Ch'engtu.] [There was\nalso a wealthy merchant class, supplying grain to the surrounding\nmountain peoples and buying medicaments and other profitable Tibetan\nproducts.] [And there were trade routes from here through the present\nprovince of Yuennan to India.] [Shu Han's difficulty was that its population was not large enough to be\nable to stand against the northern State of Wei; moreover, it was\ndifficult to carry out an offensive from Shu Han, though the country\ncould defend itself well.] [The first attempt to find a remedy was a\ncampaign against the native tribes of the present Yuennan.] [The purpose of\nthis was to secure manpower for the army and also slaves for sale; for\nthe south-west had for centuries been a main source for traffic in\nslaves.] [Finally it was hoped to gain control over the trade to India.] [All these things were intended to strengthen Shu Han internally, but in\nspite of certain military successes they produced no practical result,\nas the Chinese were unable in the long run to endure the climate or to\nhold out against the guerrilla tactics of the natives.] [Shu Han tried to\nbuy the assistance of the Tibetans and with their aid to carry out a\ndecisive attack on Wei, whose dynastic legitimacy was not recognized by\nShu Han.] [The ruler of Shu Han claimed to be a member of the imperial\nfamily of the deposed Han dynasty, and therefore to be the rightful,\nlegitimate ruler over China.] [His descent, however, was a little\ndoubtful, and in any case it depended on a link far back in the past.] [Against this the Wei of the north declared that the last ruler of the\nHan dynasty had handed over to them with all due form the seals of the\nstate and therewith the imperial prerogative.] [The controversy was of no\ngreat practical importance, but it played a big part in the Chinese\nConfucianist school until the twelfth century, and contributed largely\nto a revision of the old conceptions of legitimacy.] [The political plans of Shu Han were well considered and far-seeing.] [They\nwere evolved by the premier, a man from Shantung named Chu-ko Liang; for\nthe ruler died in 226 and his successor was still a child.] [But Chu-ko\nLiang lived only for a further eight years, and after his death in 234\nthe decline of Shu Han began.] [Its political leaders no longer had a\nsense of what was possible.] [Thus Wei inflicted several defeats on Shu\nHan, and finally subjugated it in 263.] [The situation of the state of Wu was much less favourable than that of\nShu Han, though this second southern kingdom lasted from 221 to 280.] [Its\ncountry consisted of marshy, water-logged plains, or mountains with\nnarrow valleys.] [Here Tai peoples had long cultivated their rice, while\nin the mountains Yao tribes lived by hunting and by simple agriculture.] [Peasants immigrating from the north found that their wheat and pulse did\nnot thrive here, and slowly they had to gain familiarity with rice\ncultivation.] [They were also compelled to give up their sheep and cattle\nand in their place to breed pigs and water buffaloes, as was done by the\nformer inhabitants of the country.] [The lower class of the population was\nmainly non-Chinese; above it was an upper class of Chinese, at first\nrelatively small, consisting of officials, soldiers, and merchants in a\nfew towns and administrative centres.] [The country was poor, and its only\nimportant economic asset was the trade in metals, timber, and other\nsouthern products; soon there came also a growing overseas trade with\nIndia and the Middle East, bringing revenues to the state in so far as\nthe goods were re-exported from Wu to the north.] [Wu never attempted to conquer the whole of China, but endeavoured to\nconsolidate its own difficult territory with a view to building up a\nstate on a firm foundation.] [In general, Wu played mainly a passive part\nin the incessant struggles between the three kingdoms, though it was\nactive in diplomacy.] [The Wu kingdom entered into relations with a man\nwho in 232 had gained control of the present South Manchuria and shortly\nafterwards assumed the title of king.] [This new ruler of \"Yen\", as he\ncalled his kingdom, had determined to attack the Wei dynasty, and hoped,\nby putting pressure on it in association with Wu, to overrun Wei from\nnorth and south.] [Wei answered this plan very effectively by recourse to\ndiplomacy and it began by making Wu believe that Wu had reason to fear\nan attack from its western neighbour Shu Han.] [A mission was also\ndispatched from Wei to negotiate with Japan.] [Japan was then emerging\nfrom its stone age and introducing metals; there were countless small\nprincipalities and states, of which the state of Yamato, then ruled by a\nqueen, was the most powerful.] [Yamato had certain interests in Korea,\nwhere it already ruled a small coastal strip in the east.] [Wei offered\nYamato the prospect of gaining the whole of Korea if it would turn\nagainst the state of Yen in South Manchuria.] [Wu, too, had turned to\nJapan, but the negotiations came to nothing, since Wu, as an ally of\nYen, had nothing to offer.] [The queen of Yamato accordingly sent a\nmission to Wei; she had already decided in favour of that state.] [Thus\nWei was able to embark on war against Yen, which it annihilated in 237.] [This wrecked Wu's diplomatic projects, and no more was heard of any\nambitious plans of the kingdom of Wu.] [The two southern states had a common characteristic: both were\ncondottiere states, not built up from their own population but conquered\nby generals from the north and ruled for a time by those generals and\ntheir northern troops.] [Natives gradually entered these northern armies\nand reduced their percentage of northerners, but a gulf remained between\nthe native population, including its gentry, and the alien military\nrulers.] [This reduced the striking power of the southern states.] [On the other hand, this period had its positive element.] [For the first\ntime there was an emperor in south China, with all the organization that\nimplied.] [A capital full of officials, eunuchs, and all the satellites of\nan imperial court provided incentives to economic advance, because it\nrepresented a huge market.] [The peasants around it were able to increase\ntheir sales and grew prosperous.] [The increased demand resulted in an\nincrease of tillage and a thriving trade.] [Soon the transport problem had\nto be faced, as had happened long ago in the north, and new means of\ntransport, especially ships, were provided, and new trade routes opened\nwhich were to last far longer than the three kingdoms; on the other\nhand, the costs of transport involved fresh taxation burdens for the\npopulation.] [The skilled staff needed for the business of administration\ncame into the new capital from the surrounding districts, for the\nconquerors and new rulers of the territory of the two southern dynasties\nhad brought with them from the north only uneducated soldiers and\nalmost equally uneducated officers.] [The influx of scholars and\nadministrators into the chief cities produced cultural and economic\ncentres in the south, a circumstance of great importance to China's\nlater development.] [3 _The northern State of Wei_\n\nThe situation in the north, in the state of Wei (220-265) was anything\nbut rosy.] [Wei ruled what at that time were the most important and\nrichest regions of China, the plain of Shensi in the west and the great\nplain east of Loyang, the two most thickly populated areas of China.] [But\nthe events at the end of the Han period had inflicted great economic\ninjury on the country.] [The southern and south-western parts of the Han\nempire had been lost, and though parts of Central Asia still gave\nallegiance to Wei, these, as in the past, were economically more of a\nburden than an asset, because they called for incessant expenditure.] [At\nleast the trade caravans were able to travel undisturbed from and to\nChina through Turkestan.] [Moreover, the Wei kingdom, although much\nsmaller than the empire of the Han, maintained a completely staffed\ncourt at great expense, because the rulers, claiming to rule the whole\nof China, felt bound to display more magnificence than the rulers of the\nsouthern dynasties.] [They had also to reward the nineteen tribes of the\nHsiung-nu in the north for their military aid, not only with cessions of\nland but with payments of money.] [Finally, they would not disarm but\nmaintained great armies for the continual fighting against the southern\nstates.] [The Wei dynasty did not succeed, however, in closely\nsubordinating the various army commanders to the central government.] [Thus the commanders, in collusion with groups of the gentry, were able\nto enrich themselves and to secure regional power.] [The inadequate\nstrength of the central government of Wei was further undermined by the\nrivalries among the dominant gentry.] [The imperial family (Ts'ao Pei, who\nreigned from 220 to 226, had taken as emperor the name of Wen Ti) was\ndescended from one of the groups of great landowners that had formed in\nthe later Han period.] [The nucleus of that group was a family named\nTs'ui, of which there is mention from the Han period onward and which\nmaintained its power down to the tenth century; but it remained in the\nbackground and at first held entirely aloof from direct intervention in\nhigh policy.] [Another family belonging to this group was the Hsia-hou\nfamily which was closely united to the family of Wen Ti by adoption; and\nvery soon there was also the Ss[)u]-ma family.] [Quite naturally Wen Ti,\nas soon as he came into power, made provision for the members of these\npowerful families, for only thanks to their support had he been able to\nascend the throne and to maintain his hold on the throne.] [Thus we find\nmany members of the Hsia-hou and Ss[)u]-ma families in government\npositions.] [The Ss[)u]-ma family especially showed great activity, and at\nthe end of Wen Ti's reign their power had so grown that a certain\nSs[)u]-ma I was in control of the government, while the new emperor Ming\nTi (227-233) was completely powerless.] [This virtually sealed the fate of\nthe Wei dynasty, so far as the dynastic family was concerned.] [The next\nemperor was installed and deposed by the Ss[)u]-ma family; dissensions\narose within the ruling family, leading to members of the family\nassassinating one another.] [In 264 a member of the Ss[)u]-ma family\ndeclared himself king; when he died and was succeeded by his son\nSs[)u]-ma Yen, the latter, in 265, staged a formal act of renunciation\nof the throne of the Wei dynasty and made himself the first ruler of the\nnew Chin dynasty.] [There is nothing to gain by detailing all the\nintrigues that led up to this event: they all took place in the\nimmediate environment of the court and in no way affected the people,\nexcept that every item of expenditure, including all the bribery, had to\ncome out of the taxes paid by the people.] [With such a situation at court, with the bad economic situation in the\ncountry, and with the continual fighting against the two southern\nstates, there could be no question of any far-reaching foreign policy.] [Parts of eastern Turkestan still showed some measure of allegiance to\nWei, but only because at the time it had no stronger opponent.] [The\nHsiung-nu beyond the frontier were suffering from a period of depression\nwhich was at the same time a period of reconstruction.] [They were\nbeginning slowly to form together with Mongol elements a new unit, the\nJuan-juan, but at this time were still politically inactive.] [The\nnineteen tribes within north China held more and more closely together\nas militarily organized nomads, but did not yet represent a military\npower and remained loyal to the Wei.] [The only important element of\ntrouble seems to have been furnished by the Hsien-pi tribes, who had\njoined with Wu-huan tribes and apparently also with vestiges of the\nHsiung-nu in eastern Mongolia, and who made numerous raids over the\nfrontier into the Wei empire.] [The state of Yen, in southern Manchuria,\nhad already been destroyed by Wei in 238 thanks to Wei's good relations\nwith Japan.] [Loose diplomatic relations were maintained with Japan in the\nperiod that followed; in that period many elements of Chinese\ncivilization found their way into Japan and there, together with\nsettlers from many parts of China, helped to transform the culture of\nancient Japan.] [(B) The Western Chin dynasty (A.D. 265-317)\n\n1 _Internal situation in the Chin empire_\n\nThe change of dynasty in the state of Wei did not bring any turn in\nChina's internal history.] [Ss[)u]-ma Yen, who as emperor was called Wu Ti\n(265-289), had come to the throne with the aid of his clique and his\nextraordinarily large and widely ramified family.] [To these he had to\ngive offices as reward.] [There began at court once more the same\nspectacle as in the past, except that princes of the new imperial family\nnow played a greater part than under the Wei dynasty, whose ruling house\nhad consisted of a small family.] [It was now customary, in spite of the\nabolition of the feudal system, for the imperial princes to receive\nlarge regions to administer, the fiscal revenues of which represented\ntheir income.] [The princes were not, however, to exercise full authority\nin the style of the former feudal lords: their courts were full of\nimperial control officials.] [In the event of war it was their duty to\ncome forward, like other governors, with an army in support of the\ncentral government.] [The various Chin princes succeeded, however, in\nmaking other governors, beyond the frontiers of their regions, dependent\non them.] [Also, they collected armies of their own independently of the\ncentral government and used those armies to pursue personal policies.] [The members of the families allied with the ruling house, for their\npart, did all they could to extend their own power.] [Thus the first ruler\nof the dynasty was tossed to and fro between the conflicting interests\nand was himself powerless.] [But though intrigue was piled on intrigue,\nthe ruler who, of course, himself had come to the head of the state by\nmeans of intrigues, was more watchful than the rulers of the Wei dynasty\nhad been, and by shrewd counter-measures he repeatedly succeeded in\nplaying off one party against another, so that the dynasty remained in\npower.] [Numerous widespread and furious risings nevertheless took place,\nusually led by princes.] [Thus during this period the history of the\ndynasty was of an extraordinarily dismal character.] [In spite of this, the Chin troops succeeded in overthrowing the second\nsouthern state, that of Wu (A.D. 280), and in so restoring the unity of\nthe empire, the Shu Han realm having been already conquered by the Wei.] [After the destruction of Wu there remained no external enemy that\nrepresented a potential danger, so that a general disarmament was\ndecreed (280) in order to restore a healthy economic and financial\nsituation.] [This disarmament applied, of course, to the troops directly\nunder the orders of the dynasty, namely the troops of the court and the\ncapital and the imperial troops in the provinces.] [Disarmament could\nnot, however, be carried out in the princes' regions, as the princes\ndeclared that they needed personal guards.] [The dismissal of the troops\nwas accompanied by a decree ordering the surrender of arms.] [It may be\nassumed that the government proposed to mint money with the metal of the\nweapons surrendered, for coin (the old coin of the Wei dynasty) had\nbecome very scarce; as we indicated previously, money had largely been\nreplaced by goods so that, for instance, grain and silks were used for\nthe payment of salaries.] [China, from _c_. 200 A.D. on until the eighth\ncentury, remained in a period of such partial \"natural economy\".] [Naturally the decree for the surrender of weapons remained a\ndead-letter.] [The discharged soldiers kept their weapons at first and\nthen preferred to sell them.] [A large part of them was acquired by the\nHsiung-nu and the Hsien-pi in the north of China; apparently they\nusually gave up land in return.] [In this way many Chinese soldiers,\nthough not all by any means, went as peasants to the regions in the\nnorth of China and beyond the frontier.] [They were glad to do so, for the\nHsiung-nu and the Hsien-pi had not the efficient administration and\nrigid tax collection of the Chinese; and above all, they had no great\nlandowners who could have organized the collection of taxes.] [For their\npart, the Hsiung-nu and the Hsien-pi had no reason to regret this\nimmigration of peasants, who could provide them with the farm produce\nthey needed.] [And at the same time they were receiving from them large\nquantities of the most modern weapons.] [This ineffective disarmament was undoubtedly the most pregnant event of\nthe period of the western Chin dynasty.] [The measure was intended to save\nthe cost of maintaining the soldiers and to bring them back to the land\nas peasants (and taxpayers); but the discharged men were not given land\nby the government.] [The disarmament achieved nothing, not even the\ndesired increase in the money in circulation; what did happen was that\nthe central government lost all practical power, while the military\nstrength both of the dangerous princes within the country and also of\nthe frontier people was increased.] [The results of these mistaken\nmeasures became evident at once and compelled the government to arm\nanew.] [2 _Effect on the frontier peoples_\n\nFour groups of frontier peoples drew more or less advantage from the\ndemobilization law--the people of the Toba, the Tibetans, and the\nHsien-pi in the north, and the nineteen tribes of the Hsiung-nu within\nthe frontiers of the empire.] [In the course of time all sorts of\ncomplicated relations developed among those ascending peoples as well\nas between them and the Chinese.] [The Toba (T'o-pa) formed a small group in the north of the present\nprovince of Shansi, north of the city of Tat'ungfu, and they were about\nto develop their small state.] [They were primarily of Turkish origin, but\nhad absorbed many tribes of the older Hsiung-nu and the Hsien-pi.] [In\nconsidering the ethnical relationships of all these northern peoples we\nmust rid ourselves of our present-day notions of national unity.] [Among\nthe Toba there were many Turkish tribes, but also Mongols, and probably\na Tungus tribe, as well as perhaps others whom we cannot yet analyse.] [These tribes may even have spoken different languages, much as later not\nonly Mongol but also Turkish was spoken in the Mongol empire.] [The\npolitical units they formed were tribal unions, not national states.] [Such a union or federation can be conceived of, structurally, as a cone.] [At the top point of the cone there was the person of the ruler of the\nfederation.] [He was a member of the leading family or clan of the leading\ntribe (the two top layers of the cone).] [If we speak of the Toba as of\nTurkish stock, we mean that according to our present knowledge, this\nleading tribe (_a_) spoke a language belonging to the Turkish language\nfamily and (_b_) exhibited a pattern of culture which belonged to the\ntype called above in Chapter One as \"North-western Culture\".] [The next\nlayer of the cone represented the \"inner circle of tribes\", i.e. such\ntribes as had joined with the leading tribe at an early moment.] [The\nleading family of the leading tribe often took their wives from the\nleading families of the \"inner tribes\", and these leaders served as\nadvisors and councillors to the leader of the federation.] [The next lower\nlayer consisted of the \"outer tribes\", i.e. tribes which had joined the\nfederation only later, often under strong pressure; their number was\nalways much larger than the number of the \"inner tribes\", but their\npolitical influence was much weaker.] [Every layer below that of the\n\"outer tribes\" was regarded as inferior and more or less \"unfree\".] [There\nwas many a tribe which, as a tribe, had to serve a free tribe; and there\nwere others who, as tribes, had to serve the whole federation.] [In\naddition, there were individuals who had quit or had been forced to quit\ntheir tribe or their home and had joined the federation leader as his\npersonal \"bondsmen\"; further, there were individual slaves and, finally,\nthere were the large masses of agriculturists who had been conquered by\nthe federation.] [When such a federation was dissolved, by defeat or inner\ndissent, individual tribes or groups of tribes could join a new\nfederation or could resume independent life.] [Typically, such federations exhibited two tendencies.] [In the case of\nthe Hsiung-nu we indicated already previously that the leader of the\nfederation repeatedly attempted to build up a kind of bureaucratic\nsystem, using his bondsmen as a nucleus.] [A second tendency was to\nreplace the original tribal leaders by members of the family of the\nfederation leader.] [If this initial step, usually first taken when \"outer\ntribes\" were incorporated, was successful, a reorganization was\nattempted: instead of using tribal units in war, military units on the\nbasis of \"Groups of Hundred\", \"Groups of Thousand\", etc., were created\nand the original tribes were dissolved into military regiments.] [In the\ncourse of time, and especially at the time of the dissolution of a\nfederation, these military units had gained social coherence and\nappeared to be tribes again; we are probably correct in assuming that\nall \"tribes\" which we find from this time on were already \"secondary\"\ntribes of this type.] [A secondary tribe often took its name from its\nleader, but it could also revive an earlier \"primary tribe\" name.] [The Toba represented a good example for this \"cone\" structure of\npastoral society.] [Also the Hsiung-nu of this time seem to have had a\nsimilar structure.] [Incidentally, we will from now on call the Hsiung-nu\n\"Huns\" because Chinese sources begin to call them \"Hu\", a term which\nalso had a more general meaning (all non-Chinese in the north and west\nof China) as well as a more special meaning (non-Chinese in Central Asia\nand India).] [The Tibetans fell apart into two sub-groups, the Ch'iang and the Ti.] [Both names appeared repeatedly as political conceptions, but the\nTibetans, like all other state-forming groups of peoples, sheltered in\ntheir realms countless alien elements.] [In the course of the third and\nsecond centuries B.C. the group of the Ti, mainly living in the\nterritory of the present Szechwan, had mixed extensively with remains of\nthe Yueeh-chih; the others, the Ch'iang, were northern Tibetans or\nso-called Tanguts; that is to say, they contained Turkish and Mongol\nelements.] [In A.D. 296 there began a great rising of the Ti, whose leader\nCh'i Wan-nien took on the title emperor.] [The Ch'iang rose with them, but\nit was not until later, from 312, that they pursued an independent\npolicy.] [The Ti State, however, though it had a second emperor, very soon\nlost importance, so that we shall be occupied solely with the Ch'iang.] [As the tribal structure of Tibetan groups was always weak and as\nleadership developed among them only in times of war, their states\nalways show a military rather than a tribal structure, and the\ncontinuation of these states depended strongly upon the personal\nqualities of their leaders.] [Incidentally, Tibetans fundamentally were\nsheep-breeders and not horse-breeders and, therefore, they always\nshowed inclination to incorporate infantry into their armies.] [Thus,\nTibetan states differed strongly from the aristocratically organized\n\"Turkish\" states as well as from the tribal, non-aristocratic \"Mongol\"\nstates of that period.] [The Hsien-pi, according to our present knowledge, were under \"Mongol\"\nleadership, i.e. we believe that the language of the leading group\nbelonged to the family of Mongolian languages and that their culture\nbelonged to the type described above as \"Northern culture\".] [They had, in\naddition, a strong admixture of Hunnic tribes.] [Throughout the period\nduring which they played a part in history, they never succeeded in\nforming any great political unit, in strong contrast to the Huns, who\nexcelled in state formation.] [The separate groups of the Hsien-pi pursued\na policy of their own; very frequently Hsien-pi fought each other, and\nthey never submitted to a common leadership.] [Thus their history is\nentirely that of small groups.] [As early as the Wei period there had been\nsmall-scale conflicts with the Hsien-pi tribes, and at times the tribes\nhad some success.] [The campaigns of the Hsien-pi against North China now\nincreased, and in the course of them the various tribes formed firmer\ngroupings, among which the Mu-jung tribes played a leading part.] [In 281,\nthe year after the demobilization law, this group marched south into\nChina, and occupied the region round Peking.] [After fierce fighting, in\nwhich the Mu-jung section suffered heavy losses, a treaty was signed in\n289, under which the Mu-jung tribe of the Hsien-pi recognized Chinese\noverlordship.] [The Mu-jung were driven to this step mainly because they\nhad been continually attacked from southern Manchuria by another\nHsien-pi tribe, the Yue-wen, the tribe most closely related to them.] [The\nMu-jung made use of the period of their so-called subjection to organize\ntheir community in North China.] [South of the Toba were the nineteen tribes of the Hsiung-nu or Huns, as\nwe are now calling them.] [Their leader in A.D. 287, Liu Yuean, was one of\nthe principal personages of this period.] [His name is purely Chinese, but\nhe was descended from the Hun _shan-yue_, from the family and line of Mao\nTun.] [His membership of that long-famous noble line and old ruling family\nof Huns gave him a prestige which he increased by his great organizing\nability.] [3 _Struggles for the throne_\n\nWe shall return to Liu Yuean later; we must now cast another glance at\nthe official court of the Chin.] [In that court a family named Yang had\nbecome very powerful, a daughter of this family having become empress.] [When, however, the emperor died, the wife of the new emperor Hui Ti\n(290-306) secured the assassination of the old empress Yang and of her\nwhole family.] [Thus began the rule at court of the Chia family.] [In 299\nthe Chia family got rid of the heir to the throne, to whom they\nobjected, assassinating this prince and another one.] [This event became\nthe signal for large-scale activity on the part of the princes, each of\nwhom was supported by particular groups of families.] [The princes had not\ncomplied with the disarmament law of 280 and so had become militarily\nsupreme.] [The generals newly appointed in the course of the imperial\nrearmament at once entered into alliance with the princes, and thus were\nquite unreliable as officers of the government.] [Both the generals and\nthe princes entered into agreements with the frontier peoples to assure\ntheir aid in the struggle for power.] [The most popular of these\nauxiliaries were the Hsien-pi, who were fighting for one of the princes\nwhose territory lay in the east.] [Since the Toba were the natural enemies\nof the Hsien-pi, who were continually contesting their hold on their\nterritory, the Toba were always on the opposite side to that supported\nby the Hsien-pi, so that they now supported generals who were ostensibly\nloyal to the government.] [The Huns, too, negotiated with several generals\nand princes and received tempting offers.] [Above all, all the frontier\npeoples were now militarily well equipped, continually receiving new war\nmaterial from the Chinese who from time to time were co-operating with\nthem.] [In A.D. 300 Prince Lun assassinated the empress Chia and removed her\ngroup.] [In 301 he made himself emperor, but in the same year he was\nkilled by the prince of Ch'i.] [This prince was killed in 302 by the\nprince of Ch'ang-sha, who in turned was killed in 303 by the prince of\nTung-hai.] [The prince of Ho-chien rose in 302 and was killed in 306; the\nprince of Ch'engtu rose in 303, conquered the capital in 305, and then,\nin 306, was himself removed.] [I mention all these names and dates only to\nshow the disunion within the ruling groups.] [4 _Migration of Chinese_\n\nAll these struggles raged round the capital, for each of the princes\nwanted to secure full power and to become emperor.] [Thus the border\nregions remained relatively undisturbed.] [Their population suffered much\nless from the warfare than the unfortunate people in the neighbourhood\nof the central government.] [For this reason there took place a mass\nmigration of Chinese from the centre of the empire to its periphery.] [This process, together with the shifting of the frontier peoples, is one\nof the most important events of that epoch.] [A great number of Chinese\nmigrated especially into the present province of Kansu, where a governor\nwho had originally been sent there to fight the Hsien-pi had created a\nsort of paradise by his good administration and maintenance of peace.] [The territory ruled by this Chinese, first as governor and then in\nincreasing independence, was surrounded by Hsien-pi, Tibetans, and other\npeoples, but thanks to the great immigration of Chinese and to its\nsituation on the main caravan route to Turkestan, it was able to hold\nits own, to expand, and to become prosperous.] [Other groups of Chinese peasants migrated southward into the\nterritories of the former state of Wu.] [A Chinese prince of the house of\nthe Chin was ruling there, in the present Nanking.] [His purpose was to\norganize that territory, and then to intervene in the struggles of the\nother princes.] [We shall meet him again at the beginning of the Hun rule\nover North China in 317, as founder and emperor of the first south\nChinese dynasty, which was at once involved in the usual internal and\nexternal struggles.] [For the moment, however, the southern region was\nrelatively at peace, and was accordingly attracting settlers.] [Finally, many Chinese migrated northward, into the territories of the\nfrontier peoples, not only of the Hsien-pi but especially of the Huns.] [These alien peoples, although in the official Chinese view they were\nstill barbarians, at least maintained peace in the territories they\nruled, and they left in peace the peasants and craftsmen who came to\nthem, even while their own armies were involved in fighting inside\nChina.] [Not only peasants and craftsmen came to the north but more and\nmore educated persons.] [Members of families of the gentry that had\nsuffered from the fighting, people who had lost their influence in\nChina, were welcomed by the Huns and appointed teachers and political\nadvisers of the Hun nobility.] [5 _Victory of the Huns.] [The Hun Han dynasty (later renamed the Earlier\nChao dynasty_)\n\nWith its self-confidence thus increased, the Hun council of nobles\ndeclared that in future the Huns should no longer fight now for one and\nnow for another Chinese general or prince.] [They had promised loyalty to\nthe Chinese emperor, but not to any prince.] [No one doubted that the\nChinese emperor was a complete nonentity and no longer played any part\nin the struggle for power.] [It was evident that the murders would\ncontinue until one of the generals or princes overcame the rest and made\nhimself emperor.] [Why should not the Huns have the same right?] [Why should\nnot they join in this struggle for the Chinese imperial throne?] [There were two arguments against this course, one of which was already\nout of date.] [The Chinese had for many centuries set down the Huns as\nuncultured barbarians; but the inferiority complex thus engendered in\nthe Huns had virtually been overcome, because in the course of time\ntheir upper class had deliberately acquired a Chinese education and so\nranked culturally with the Chinese.] [Thus the ruler Liu Yuean, for\nexample, had enjoyed a good Chinese education and was able to read all\nthe classical texts.] [The second argument was provided by the rigid\nconceptions of legitimacy to which the Turkish-Hunnic aristocratic\nsociety adhered.] [The Huns asked themselves: \"Have we, as aliens, any\nright to become emperors and rulers in China, when we are not descended\nfrom an old Chinese family?] [\" On this point Liu Yuean and his advisers\nfound a good answer.] [They called Liu Yuean's dynasty the \"Han dynasty\",\nand so linked it with the most famous of all the Chinese dynasties,\npointing to the pact which their ancestor Mao Tun had concluded five\nhundred years earlier with the first emperor of the Han dynasty and\nwhich had described the two states as \"brethren\".] [They further recalled\nthe fact that the rulers of the Huns were closely related to the Chinese\nruling family, because Mao Tun and his successors had married Chinese\nprincesses.] [Finally, Liu Yuean's Chinese family name, Liu, had also been\nthe family name of the rulers of the Han dynasty.] [Accordingly the Hun\nLius came forward not as aliens but as the rightful successors in\ncontinuation of the Han dynasty, as legitimate heirs to the Chinese\nimperial throne on the strength of relationship and of treaties.] [Thus the Hun Liu Yuean had no intention of restoring the old empire of\nMao Tun, the empire of the nomads; he intended to become emperor of\nChina, emperor of a country of farmers.] [In this lay the fundamental\ndifference between the earlier Hun empire and this new one.] [The question\nwhether the Huns should join in the struggle for the Chinese imperial\nthrone was therefore decided among the Huns themselves in 304 in the\naffirmative, by the founding of the \"Hun Han dynasty\".] [All that remained\nwas the practical question of how to hold out with their small army of\n50,000 men if serious opposition should be offered to the \"barbarians\".] [Meanwhile Liu Yuean provided himself with court ceremonial on the Chinese\nmodel, in a capital which, after several changes, was established at\nP'ing-ch'eng in southern Shansi.] [He attracted more and more of the\nChinese gentry, who were glad to come to this still rather barbaric but\nwell-organized court.] [In 309 the first attack was made on the Chinese\ncapital, Loyang.] [Liu Yuean died in the following year, and in 311, under\nhis successor Liu Ts'ung (310-318), the attack was renewed and Loyang\nfell.] [The Chin emperor, Huai Ti, was captured and kept a prisoner in\nP'ing-ch'eng until in 313 a conspiracy in his favour was brought to\nlight in the Hun empire, and he and all his supporters were killed.] [Meanwhile the Chinese clique of the Chin dynasty had hastened to make a\nprince emperor in the second capital, Ch'ang-an (Min Ti, 313-316) while\nthe princes' struggles for the throne continued.] [Nobody troubled about\nthe fate of the unfortunate emperor in his capital.] [He received no\nreinforcements, so that he was helpless in face of the next attack of\nthe Huns, and in 316 he was compelled to surrender like his predecessor.] [Now the Hun Han dynasty held both capitals, which meant virtually the\nwhole of the western part of North China, and the so-called \"Western\nChin dynasty\" thus came to its end.] [Its princes and generals and many of\nits gentry became landless and homeless and had to flee into the south.] [(C) The alien empires in North China, down to the Toba (A.D. 317-385)\n\n1 _The Later Chao dynasty in eastern North China (Hun_; 329-352)\n\nAt this time the eastern part of North China was entirely in the hands\nof Shih Lo, a former follower of Liu Yuean.] [Shih Lo had escaped from\nslavery in China and had risen to be a military leader among\ndetribalized Huns.] [In 310 he had not only undertaken a great campaign\nright across China to the south, but had slaughtered more than 100,000\nChinese, including forty-eight princes of the Chin dynasty, who had\nformed a vast burial procession for a prince.] [This achievement added\nconsiderably to Shih Lo's power, and his relations with Liu Ts'ung,\nalready tense, became still more so.] [Liu Yuean had tried to organize the\nHun state on the Chinese model, intending in this way to gain efficient\ncontrol of China; Shih Lo rejected Chinese methods, and held to the old\nwarrior-nomad tradition, making raids with the aid of nomad fighters.] [He\ndid not contemplate holding the territories of central and southern\nChina which he had conquered; he withdrew, and in the two years 314-315\nhe contented himself with bringing considerable expanses in\nnorth-eastern China, especially territories of the Hsien-pi, under his\ndirect rule, as a base for further raids.] [Many Huns in Liu Ts'ung's\ndominion found Shih Lo's method of rule more to their taste than living\nin a state ruled by officials, and they went over to Shih Lo and joined\nhim in breaking entirely with Liu Ts'ung.] [There was a further motive for\nthis: in states founded by nomads, with a federation of tribes as their\nbasis, the personal qualities of the ruler played an important part.] [The\nchiefs of the various tribes would not give unqualified allegiance to\nthe son of a dead ruler unless the son was a strong personality or gave\npromise of becoming one.] [Failing that, there would be independence\nmovements.] [Liu Ts'ung did not possess the indisputable charisma of his\npredecessor Liu Yuean; and the Huns looked with contempt on his court\nsplendour, which could only have been justified if he had conquered all\nChina.] [Liu Ts'ung had no such ambition; nor had his successor Liu Yao\n(319-329), who gave the Hun Han dynasty retroactively, from its start\nwith Liu Yuean, the new name of \"Earlier Chao dynasty\" (304-329).] [Many\ntribes then went over to Shih Lo, and the remainder of Liu Yao's empire\nwas reduced to a precarious existence.] [In 329 the whole of it was\nannexed by Shih Lo.] [Although Shih Lo had long been much more powerful than the emperors of\nthe \"Earlier Chao dynasty\", until their removal he had not ventured to\nassume the title of emperor.] [The reason for this seems to have lain in\nthe conceptions of nobility held by the Turkish peoples in general and\nthe Huns in particular, according to which only those could become\n_shan-yue_ (or, later, emperor) who could show descent from the Tu-ku\ntribe the rightful _shan-yue_ stock.] [In accordance with this conception,\nall later Hun dynasties deliberately disowned Shih Lo.] [For Shih Lo,\nafter his destruction of Liu Yao, no longer hesitated: ex-slave as he\nwas, and descended from one of the non-noble stocks of the Huns, he made\nhimself emperor of the \"Later Chao dynasty\" (329-352).] [Shih Lo was a forceful army commander, but he was a man without\nstatesmanship, and without the culture of his day.] [He had no Chinese\neducation; he hated the Chinese and would have been glad to make north\nChina a grazing ground for his nomad tribes of Huns.] [Accordingly he had\nno desire to rule all China.] [The part already subjugated, embracing the\nwhole of north China with the exception of the present province of\nKansu, sufficed for his purpose.] [The governor of that province was a loyal subject of the Chinese Chin\ndynasty, a man famous for his good administration, and himself a\nChinese.] [After the execution of the Chin emperor Huai Ti by the Huns in\n313, he regarded himself as no longer bound to the central government;\nhe made himself independent and founded the \"Earlier Liang dynasty\",\nwhich was to last until 376.] [This mainly Chinese realm was not very\nlarge, although it had admitted a broad stream of Chinese emigrants from\nthe dissolving Chin empire; but economically the Liang realm was very\nprosperous, so that it was able to extend its influence as far as\nTurkestan.] [During the earlier struggles Turkestan had been virtually in\nisolation, but now new contacts began to be established.] [Many traders\nfrom Turkestan set up branches in Liang.] [In the capital there were whole\nquarters inhabited only by aliens from western and eastern Turkestan and\nfrom India.] [With the traders came Buddhist monks; trade and Buddhism\nseemed to be closely associated everywhere.] [In the trading centres\nmonasteries were installed in the form of blocks of houses within strong\nwalls that successfully resisted many an attack.] [Consequently the\nBuddhists were able to serve as bankers for the merchants, who deposited\ntheir money in the monasteries, which made a charge for its custody; the\nmerchants also warehoused their goods in the monasteries.] [Sometimes the\nprocess was reversed, a trade centre being formed around an existing\nmonastery.] [In this case the monastery also served as a hostel for the\nmerchants.] [Economically this Chinese state in Kansu was much more like a\nTurkestan city state that lived by commerce than the agrarian states of\nthe Far East, although agriculture was also pursued under the Earlier\nLiang.] [From this trip to the remote west we will return first to the Hun\ncapital.] [From 329 onward Shih Lo possessed a wide empire, but an\nunstable one.] [He himself felt at all times insecure, because the Huns\nregarded him, on account of his humble origin, as a \"revolutionary\".] [He\nexterminated every member of the Liu family, that is to say the old\n_shan-yue_ family, of whom he could get hold, in order to remove any\npossible pretender to the throne; but he could not count on the loyalty\nof the Hun and other Turkish tribes under his rule.] [During this period\nnot a few Huns went over to the small realm of the Toba; other Hun\ntribes withdrew entirely from the political scene and lived with their\nherds as nomad tribes in Shansi and in the Ordos region.] [The general\ninsecurity undermined the strength of Shih Lo's empire.] [He died in 333,\nand there came to the throne, after a short interregnum, another\npersonality of a certain greatness, Shih Hu (334-349).] [He transferred\nthe capital to the city of Yeh, in northern Honan, where the rulers of\nthe Wei dynasty had reigned.] [There are many accounts of the magnificence\nof the court of Yeh.] [Foreigners, especially Buddhist monks, played a\ngreater part there than Chinese.] [On the one hand, it was not easy for\nShih Hu to gain the active support of the educated Chinese gentry after\nthe murders of Shih Lo and, on the other hand, Shih Hu seems to have\nunderstood that foreigners without family and without other relations to\nthe native population, but with special skills, are the most reliable\nand loyal servants of a ruler.] [Indeed, his administration seems to have\nbeen good, but the regime remained completely parasitic, with no\nsupport of the masses or the gentry.] [After Shih Hu's death there were\nfearful combats between his sons; ultimately a member of an entirely\ndifferent family of Hun origin seized power, but was destroyed in 352 by\nthe Hsien-pi, bringing to an end the Later Chao dynasty.] [2 _Earlier Yen dynasty in the north-east (proto-Mongol; 352-370), and\nthe Earlier Ch'in dynasty in all north China (Tibetan; 351-394_)\n\nIn the north, proto-Mongol Hsien-pi tribes had again made themselves\nindependent; in the past they had been subjects of Liu Yuean and then of\nShih Lo.] [A man belonging to one of these tribes, the tribe of the\nMu-jung, became the leader of a league of tribes, and in 337 founded the\nstate of Yen.] [This proto-Mongol state of the Mu-jung, which the\nhistorians call the \"Earlier Yen\" state, conquered parts of southern\nManchuria and also the state of Kao-li in Korea, and there began then an\nimmigration of Hsien-pi into Korea, which became noticeable at a later\ndate.] [The conquest of Korea, which was still, as in the past, a Japanese\nmarket and was very wealthy, enormously strengthened the state of Yen.] [Not until a little later, when Japan's trade relations were diverted to\ncentral China, did Korea's importance begin to diminish.] [Although this\n\"Earlier Yen dynasty\" of the Mu-jung officially entered on the heritage\nof the Huns, and its regime was therefore dated only from 352 (until\n370), it failed either to subjugate the whole realm of the \"Later Chao\"\nor effectively to strengthen the state it had acquired.] [This old Hun\nterritory had suffered economically from the anti-agrarian nomad\ntendency of the last of the Hun emperors; and unremunerative wars\nagainst the Chinese in the south had done nothing to improve its\nposition.] [In addition to this, the realm of the Toba was dangerously\ngaining strength on the flank of the new empire.] [But the most dangerous\nenemy was in the west, on former Hun soil, in the province of\nShensi--Tibetans, who finally came forward once more with claims to\ndominance.] [These were Tibetans of the P'u family, which later changed\nits name to Fu.] [The head of the family had worked his way up as a leader\nof Tibetan auxiliaries under the \"Later Chao\", gaining more and more\npower and following.] [When under that dynasty the death of Shih Hu marked\nthe beginning of general dissolution, he gathered his Tibetans around\nhim in the west, declared himself independent of the Huns, and made\nhimself emperor of the \"Earlier Ch'in dynasty\" (351-394).] [He died in\n355, and was followed after a short interregnum by Fu Chien (357-385),\nwho was unquestionably one of the most important figures of the fourth\ncentury.] [This Tibetan empire ultimately defeated the \"Earlier Yen\ndynasty\" and annexed the realm of the Mu-jung.] [Thus the Mu-jung Hsien-pi\ncame under the dominion of the Tibetans; they were distributed among a\nnumber of places as garrisons of mounted troops.] [The empire of the Tibetans was organized quite differently from the\nempires of the Huns and the Hsien-pi tribes.] [The Tibetan organization\nwas purely military and had nothing to do with tribal structure.] [This\nhad its advantages, for the leader of such a formation had no need to\ntake account of tribal chieftains; he was answerable to no one and\npossessed considerable personal power.] [Nor was there any need for him to\nbe of noble rank or descended from an old family.] [The Tibetan ruler Fu\nChien organized all his troops, including the non-Tibetans, on this\nsystem, without regard to tribal membership.] [Fu Chien's state showed another innovation: the armies of the Huns and\nthe Hsien-pi had consisted entirely of cavalry, for the nomads of the\nnorth were, of course, horsemen; to fight on foot was in their eyes not\nonly contrary to custom but contemptible.] [So long as a state consisted\nonly of a league of tribes, it was simply out of the question to\ntransform part of the army into infantry.] [Fu Chien, however, with his\nmilitary organization that paid no attention to the tribal element,\ncreated an infantry in addition to the great cavalry units, recruiting\nfor it large numbers of Chinese.] [The infantry proved extremely valuable,\nespecially in the fighting in the plains of north China and in laying\nsiege to fortified towns.] [Fu Chien thus very quickly achieved military\npredominance over the neighbouring states.] [As we have seen already, he\nannexed the \"Earlier Yen\" realm of the proto-Mongols (370), but he also\nannihilated the Chinese \"Earlier Liang\" realm (376) and in the same year\nthe small Turkish Toba realm.] [This made him supreme over all north China\nand stronger than any alien ruler before him.] [He had in his possession\nboth the ancient capitals, Ch'ang-an and Loyang; the whole of the rich\nagricultural regions of north China belonged to him; he also controlled\nthe routes to Turkestan.] [He himself had a Chinese education, and he\nattracted Chinese to his court; he protected the Buddhists; and he tried\nin every way to make the whole country culturally Chinese.] [As soon as Fu\nChien had all north China in his power, as Liu Yuean and his Huns had\ndone before him, he resolved, like Liu Yuean, to make every effort to\ngain the mastery over all China, to become emperor of China.] [Liu Yuean's\nsuccessors had not had the capacity for which such a venture called; Fu\nChien was to fail in it for other reasons.] [Yet, from a military point\nof view, his chances were not bad.] [He had far more soldiers under his\ncommand than the Chinese \"Eastern Chin dynasty\" which ruled the south,\nand his troops were undoubtedly better.] [In the time of the founder of\nthe Tibetan dynasty the southern empire had been utterly defeated by his\ntroops (354), and the south Chinese were no stronger now.] [Against them the north had these assets: the possession of the best\nnorthern tillage, the control of the trade routes, and \"Chinese\" culture\nand administration.] [At the time, however, these represented only\npotentialities and not tangible realities.] [It would have taken ten to\ntwenty years to restore the capacities of the north after its\ndevastation in many wars, to reorganize commerce, and to set up a really\nreliable administration, and thus to interlock the various elements and\nconsolidate the various tribes.] [But as early as 383 Fu Chien started his\ngreat campaign against the south, with an army of something like a\nmillion men.] [At first the advance went well.] [The horsemen from the\nnorth, however, were men of the mountain country, and in the soggy\nplains of the Yangtze region, cut up by hundreds of water-courses and\ncanals, they suffered from climatic and natural conditions to which they\nwere unaccustomed.] [Their main strength was still in cavalry; and they\ncame to grief.] [The supplies and reinforcements for the vast army failed\nto arrive in time; units did not reach the appointed places at the\nappointed dates.] [The southern troops under the supreme command of Hsieh\nHsuean, far inferior in numbers and militarily of no great efficiency,\nmade surprise attacks on isolated units before these were in regular\nformation.] [Some they defeated, others they bribed; they spread false\nreports.] [Fu Chien's army was seized with widespread panic, so that he\nwas compelled to retreat in haste.] [As he did so it became evident that\nhis empire had no inner stability: in a very short time it fell into\nfragments.] [The south Chinese had played no direct part in this, for in\nspite of their victory they were not strong enough to advance far to the\nnorth.] [3 _The fragmentation of north China_\n\nThe first to fall away from the Tibetan ruler was a noble of the\nMu-jung, a member of the ruling family of the \"Earlier Yen dynasty\", who\nwithdrew during the actual fighting to pursue a policy of his own.] [With\nthe vestiges of the Hsien-pi who followed him, mostly cavalry, he fought\nhis way northward into the old homeland of the Hsien-pi and there, in\ncentral Hopei, founded the \"Later Yen dynasty\" (384-409), himself\nreigning for twelve years.] [In the remaining thirteen years of the\nexistence of that dynasty there were no fewer than five rulers, the\nlast of them a member of another family.] [The history of this Hsien-pi\ndynasty, as of its predecessor, is an unedifying succession of\nintrigues; no serious effort was made to build up a true state.] [In the same year 384 there was founded, under several other Mu-jung\nprinces of the ruling family of the \"Earlier Yen dynasty\", the \"Western\nYen dynasty\" (384-394).] [Its nucleus was nothing more than a detachment\nof troops of the Hsien-pi which had been thrown by Fu Chien into the\nwest of his empire, in Shensi, in the neighbourhood of the old capital\nCh'ang-an.] [There its commanders, on learning the news of Fu Chien's\ncollapse, declared their independence.] [In western China, however, far\nremoved from all liaison with the main body of the Hsien-pi, they were\nunable to establish themselves, and when they tried to fight their way\nto the north-east they were dispersed, so that they failed entirely to\nform an actual state.] [There was a third attempt in 384 to form a state in north China.] [A\nTibetan who had joined Fu Chien with his followers declared himself\nindependent when Fu Chien came back, a beaten man, to Shensi.] [He caused\nFu Chien and almost the whole of his family to be assassinated, occupied\nthe capital, Ch'ang-an, and actually entered into the heritage of Fu\nChien.] [This Tibetan dynasty is known as the \"Later Ch'in dynasty\"\n(384-417).] [It was certainly the strongest of those founded in 384, but\nit still failed to dominate any considerable part of China and remained\nof local importance, mainly confined to the present province of Shensi.] [Fu Chien's empire nominally had three further rulers, but they did not\nexert the slightest influence on events.] [With the collapse of the state founded by Fu Chien, the tribes of\nHsien-pi who had left their homeland in the third century and migrated\nto the Ordos region proceeded to form their own state: a man of the\nHsien-pi tribe of the Ch'i-fu founded the so-called \"Western Ch'in\ndynasty\" (385-431).] [Like the other Hsien-pi states, this one was of weak\nconstruction, resting on the military strength of a few tribes and\nfailing to attain a really secure basis.] [Its territory lay in the east\nof the present province of Kansu, and so controlled the eastern end of\nthe western Asian caravan route, which might have been a source of\nwealth if the Ch'i-fu had succeeded in attracting commerce by discreet\ntreatment and in imposing taxation on it.] [Instead of this, the bulk of\nthe long-distance traffic passed through the Ordos region, a little\nfarther north, avoiding the Ch'i-fu state, which seemed to the merchants\nto be too insecure.] [The Ch'i-fu depended mainly on cattle-breeding in\nthe remote mountain country in the south of their territory, a region\nthat gave them relative security from attack; on the other hand, this\nmade them unable to exercise any influence on the course of political\nevents in western China.] [Mention must be made of one more state that rose from the ruins of Fu\nChien's empire.] [It lay in the far west of China, in the western part of\nthe present province of Kansu, and was really a continuation of the\nChinese \"Earlier Liang\" realm, which had been annexed ten years earlier\n(376) by Fu Chien.] [A year before his great march to the south, Fu Chien\nhad sent the Tibetan Lue Kuang into the \"Earlier Liang\" region in order\nto gain influence over Turkestan.] [As mentioned previously, after the\ngreat Hun rulers Fu Chien was the first to make a deliberate attempt to\nsecure cultural and political overlordship over the whole of China.] [Although himself a Tibetan, he never succumbed to the temptation of\npursuing a \"Tibetan\" policy; like an entirely legitimate ruler of China,\nhe was concerned to prevent the northern peoples along the frontier from\nuniting with the Tibetan peoples of the west for political ends.] [The\npossession of Turkestan would avert that danger, which had shown signs\nof becoming imminent of late: some tribes of the Hsien-pi had migrated\nas far as the high mountains of Tibet and had imposed themselves as a\nruling class on the still very primitive Tibetans living there.] [From\nthis symbiosis there began to be formed a new people, the so-called\nT'u-yue-hun, a hybridization of Mongol and Tibetan stock with a slight\nTurkish admixture.] [Lue Kuang had considerable success in Turkestan; he\nhad brought considerable portions of eastern Turkestan under Fu Chien's\nsovereignty and administered those regions almost independently.] [When\nthe news came of Fu Chien's end, he declared himself an independent\nruler, of the \"Later Liang\" dynasty (386-403).] [Strictly speaking, this\nwas simply a trading State, like the city-states of Turkestan: its basis\nwas the transit traffic that brought it prosperity.] [For commerce brought\ngood profit to the small states that lay right across the caravan route,\nwhereas it was of doubtful benefit, as we know, to agrarian China as a\nwhole, because the luxury goods which it supplied to the court were paid\nfor out of the production of the general population.] [This \"Later Liang\" realm was inhabited not only by a few Tibetans and\nmany Chinese, but also by Hsien-pi and Huns.] [These heterogeneous\nelements with their divergent cultures failed in the long run to hold\ntogether in this long but extremely narrow strip of territory, which was\nalmost incapable of military defence.] [As early as 397 a group of Huns in\nthe central section of the country made themselves independent, assuming\nthe name of the \"Northern Liang\" (397-439).] [These Huns quickly conquered\nother parts of the \"Later Liang\" realm, which then fell entirely to\npieces.] [Chinese again founded a state, \"West Liang\" (400-421) in western\nKansu, and the Hsien-pi founded \"South Liang\" (379-414) in eastern\nKansu.] [Thus the \"Later Liang\" fell into three parts, more or less\ndiffering ethnically, though they could not be described as ethnically\nunadulterated states.] [4 _Sociological analysis of the two great alien empires_\n\nThe two great empires of north China at the time of its division had\nbeen founded by non-Chinese--the first by the Hun Liu Yuean, the second\nby the Tibetan Fu Chien.] [Both rulers went to work on the same principle\nof trying to build up truly \"Chinese\" empires, but the traditions of\nHuns and Tibetans differed, and the two experiments turned out\ndifferently.] [Both failed, but not for the same reasons and not with the\nsame results.] [The Hun Liu Yuean was the ruler of a league of feudal\ntribes, which was expected to take its place as an upper class above the\nunchanged Chinese agricultural population with its system of officials\nand gentry.] [But Liu Yuean's successors were national reactionaries who\nstood for the maintenance of the nomad life against that new plan of\ntransition to a feudal class of urban nobles ruling an agrarian\npopulation.] [Liu Yuean's more far-seeing policy was abandoned, with the\nresult that the Huns were no longer in a position to rule an immense\nagrarian territory, and the empire soon disintegrated.] [For the various\nHun tribes this failure meant falling back into political\ninsignificance, but they were able to maintain their national character\nand existence.] [Fu Chien, as a Tibetan, was a militarist and soldier, in accordance with\nthe past of the Tibetans.] [Under him were grouped Tibetans without tribal\nchieftains; the great mass of Chinese; and dispersed remnants of tribes\nof Huns, Hsien-pi, and others.] [His organization was militaristic and,\noutside the military sphere, a militaristic bureaucracy.] [The Chinese\ngentry, so far as they still existed, preferred to work with him rather\nthan with the feudalist Huns.] [These gentry probably supported Fu Chien's\nsouthern campaign, for, in consequence of the wide ramifications of\ntheir families, it was to their interest that China should form a single\neconomic unit.] [They were, of course, equally ready to work with another\ngroup, one of southern Chinese, to attain the same end by other means,\nif those means should prove more advantageous: thus the gentry were not\na reliable asset, but were always ready to break faith.] [Among other\nthings, Fu Chien's southern campaign was wrecked by that faithlessness.] [When an essentially military state suffers military defeat, it can only\ngo to pieces.] [This explains the disintegration of that great empire\nwithin a single year into so many diminutive states, as already\ndescribed.] [5 _Sociological analysis of the petty States_\n\nThe states that took the place of Fu Chien's empire, those many\ndiminutive states (the Chinese speak of the period of the Sixteen\nKingdoms), may be divided from the economic point of view into two\ngroups--trading states and warrior states; sociologically they also fall\ninto two groups, tribal states and military states.] [The small states in the west, in Kansu (the Later Liang and the Western,\nNorthern, and Southern Liang), were trading states: they lived on the\nearnings of transit trade with Turkestan.] [The eastern states were\nwarrior states, in which an army commander ruled by means of an armed\ngroup of non-Chinese and exploited an agricultural population.] [It is\nonly logical that such states should be short-lived, as in fact they all\nwere.] [Sociologically regarded, during this period only the Southern and\nNorthern Liang were still tribal states.] [In addition to these came the\nyoung Toba realm, which began in 385 but of which mention has not yet\nbeen made.] [The basis of that state was the tribe, not the family or the\nindividual; after its political disintegration the separate tribes\nremained in existence.] [The other states of the east, however, were\nmilitary states, made up of individuals with no tribal allegiance but\nsubject to a military commandant.] [But where there is no tribal\nassociation, after the political downfall of a state founded by ethnical\ngroups, those groups sooner or later disappear as such.] [We see this in\nthe years immediately following Fu Chien's collapse: the Tibetan\nethnical group to which he himself belonged disappeared entirely from\nthe historical scene.] [The two Tibetan groups that outlasted him, also\nforming military states and not tribal states, similarly came to an end\nshortly afterwards for all time.] [The Hsien-pi groups in the various\nfragments of the empire, with the exception of the petty states in\nKansu, also continued, only as tribal fragments led by a few old ruling\nfamilies.] [They, too, after brief and undistinguished military rule, came\nto an end; they disappeared so completely that thereafter we no longer\nfind the term Hsien-pi in history.] [Not that they had been exterminated.] [When the social structure and its corresponding economic form fall to\npieces, there remain only two alternatives for its individuals.] [Either\nthey must go over to a new form, which in China could only mean that\nthey became Chinese; many Hsien-pi in this way became Chinese in the\ndecades following 384.] [Or, they could retain their old way of living in\nassociation with another stock of similar formation; this, too, happened\nin many cases.] [Both these courses, however, meant the end of the\nHsien-pi as an independent ethnical unit.] [We must keep this process and\nits reasons in view if we are to understand how a great people can\ndisappear once and for all.] [The Huns, too, so powerful in the past, were suddenly scarcely to be\nfound any longer.] [Among the many petty states there were many Hsien-pi\nkingdoms, but only a single, quite small Hun state, that of the Northern\nLiang.] [The disappearance of the Huns was, however, only apparent; at\nthis time they remained in the Ordos region and in Shansi as separate\nnomad tribes with no integrating political organization; their time had\nstill to come.] [6 _Spread of Buddhism_\n\nAccording to the prevalent Chinese view, nothing of importance was\nachieved during this period in north China in the intellectual sphere;\nthere was no culture in the north, only in the south.] [This is natural:\nfor a Confucian this period, the fourth century, was one of degeneracy\nin north China, for no one came into prominence as a celebrated\nConfucian.] [Nothing else could be expected, for in the north the gentry,\nwhich had been the class that maintained Confucianism since the Han\nperiod, had largely been destroyed; from political leadership especially\nit had been shut out during the periods of alien rule.] [Nor could we\nexpect to find Taoists in the true sense, that is to say followers of\nthe teaching of Lao Tz[)u], for these, too, had been dependent since the\nHan period on the gentry.] [Until the fourth century, these two had\nremained the dominant philosophies.] [What could take their place?] [The alien rulers had left little behind\nthem.] [Most of them had been unable to write Chinese, and in so far as\nthey were warriors they had no interest in literature or in political\nphilosophy, for they were men of action.] [Few songs and poems of theirs\nremain extant in translations from their language into Chinese, but\nthese preserve a strong alien flavour in their mental attitude and in\ntheir diction.] [They are the songs of fighting men, songs that were sung\non horseback, songs of war and its sufferings.] [These songs have nothing\nof the excessive formalism and aestheticism of the Chinese, but give\nexpression to simple emotions in unpolished language with a direct\nappeal.] [The epic of the Turkish peoples had clearly been developed\nalready, and in north China it produced a rudimentary ballad literature,\nto which four hundred years later no less attention was paid than to the\nemotional world of contemporary songs.] [The actual literature, however,\nand the philosophy of this period are Buddhist.] [How can we explain that\nBuddhism had gained such influence?] [It will be remembered that Buddhism came to China overland and by sea in\nthe Han epoch.] [The missionary monks who came from abroad with the\nforeign merchants found little approval among the Chinese gentry.] [They\nwere regarded as second-rate persons belonging, according to Chinese\nnotions, to an inferior social class.] [Thus the monks had to turn to the\nmiddle and lower classes in China.] [Among these they found widespread\nacceptance, not of their profound philosophic ideas, but of their\ndoctrine of the after life.] [This doctrine was in a certain sense\nrevolutionary: it declared that all the high officials and superiors who\ntreated the people so unjustly and who so exploited them, would in their\nnext reincarnation be born in poor circumstances or into inferior rank\nand would have to suffer punishment for all their ill deeds.] [The poor\nwho had to suffer undeserved evils would be born in their next life into\nhigh rank and would have a good time.] [This doctrine brought a ray of\nlight, a promise, to the country people who had suffered so much since\nthe later Han period of the second century A.D.] [Their situation remained\nunaltered down to the fourth century; and under their alien rulers the\nChinese country population became Buddhist.] [The merchants made use of the Buddhist monasteries as banks and\nwarehouses.] [Thus they, too, were well inclined towards Buddhism and gave\nmoney and land for its temples.] [The temples were able to settle peasants\non this land as their tenants.] [In those times a temple was a more\nreliable landlord than an individual alien, and the poorer peasants\nreadily became temple tenants; this increased their inclination towards\nBuddhism.] [The Indian, Sogdian, and Turkestani monks were readily allowed to settle\nby the alien rulers of China, who had no national prejudice against\nother aliens.] [The monks were educated men and brought some useful\nknowledge from abroad.] [Educated Chinese were scarcely to be found, for\nthe gentry retired to their estates, which they protected as well as\nthey could from their alien ruler.] [So long as the gentry had no prospect\nof regaining control of the threads of political life that extended\nthroughout China, they were not prepared to provide a class of officials\nand scholars for the anti-Confucian foreigners, who showed interest only\nin fighting and trading.] [Thus educated persons were needed at the courts\nof the alien rulers, and Buddhists were therefore engaged.] [These foreign\nBuddhists had all the important Buddhist writings translated into\nChinese, and so made use of their influence at court for religious\npropaganda.] [This does not mean that every text was translated from\nIndian languages; especially in the later period many works appeared\nwhich came not from India but from Sogdia or Turkestan, or had even been\nwritten in China by Sogdians or other natives of Turkestan, and were\nthen translated into Chinese.] [In Turkestan, Khotan in particular became\na centre of Buddhist culture.] [Buddhism was influenced by vestiges of\nindigenous cults, so that Khotan developed a special religious\natmosphere of its own; deities were honoured there (for instance, the\nking of Heaven of the northerners) to whom little regard was paid\nelsewhere.] [This \"Khotan Buddhism\" had special influence on the Buddhist\nTurkish peoples.] [Big translation bureaux were set up for the preparation of these\ntranslations into Chinese, in which many copyists simultaneously took\ndown from dictation a translation made by a \"master\" with the aid of a\nfew native helpers.] [The translations were not literal, but were\nparaphrases, most of them greatly reduced in length, glosses were\nintroduced when the translator thought fit for political or doctrinal\nreasons, or when he thought that in this way he could better adapt the\ntexts to Chinese feeling.] [Buddhism, quite apart from the special case of \"Khotan Buddhism\",\nunderwent extensive modification on its way across Central Asia.] [Its\nmain Indian form (Hinayana) was a purely individualistic religion of\nsalvation without a God--related in this respect to genuine Taoism--and\nbased on a concept of two classes of people: the monks who could achieve\nsalvation and, secondly, the masses who fed the monks but could not\nachieve salvation.] [This religion did not gain a footing in China; only\ntraces of it can be found in some Buddhistic sects in China.] [Mahayana\nBuddhism, on the other hand, developed into a true popular religion of\nsalvation.] [It did not interfere with the indigenous deities and did not\ndiscountenance life in human society; it did not recommend Nirvana at\nonce, but placed before it a here-after with all the joys worth striving\nfor.] [In this form Buddhism was certain of success in Asia.] [On its way\nfrom India to China it divided into countless separate streams, each\ncharacterized by a particular book.] [Every nuance, from profound\nphilosophical treatises to the most superficial little tracts written\nfor the simplest of souls, and even a good deal of Turkestan shamanism\nand Tibetan belief in magic, found their way into Buddhist writings, so\nthat some Buddhist monks practiced Central Asian Shamanism.] [In spite of Buddhism, the old religion of the peasants retained its\nvitality.] [Local diviners, Chinese shamans (_wu_), sorcerers, continued\ntheir practices, although from now on they sometimes used Buddhist\nphraseology.] [Often, this popular religion is called \"Taoism \", because a\nsystematization of the popular pantheon was attempted, and Lao Tz[)u]\nand other Taoists played a role in this pantheon.] [Philosophic Taoism\ncontinued in this time, aside from the church-Taoism of Chang Ling and,\nnaturally, all kinds of contacts between these three currents occurred.] [The Chinese state cult, the cult of Heaven saturated with Confucianism,\nwas another living form of religion.] [The alien rulers, in turn, had\nbrought their own mixture of worship of Heaven and shamanism.] [Their\nworship of Heaven was their official \"representative\" religion; their\nshamanism the private religion of the individual in his daily life.] [The\nalien rulers, accordingly, showed interest in the Chinese shamans as\nwell as in the shamanistic aspects of Mahayana Buddhism.] [Not\ninfrequently competitions were arranged by the rulers between priests of\nthe different religious systems, and the rulers often competed for the\npossession of monks who were particularly skilled in magic or\nsoothsaying.] [But what was the position of the \"official\" religion?] [Were the aliens to\nhold to their own worship of heaven, or were they to take over the\nofficial Chinese cult, or what else?] [This problem posed itself already\nin the fourth century, but it was left unsolved.] [(D) The Toba empire in North China (A.D. 385-550)\n\n1 _The rise of the Toba State_\n\nOn the collapse of Fu Chien's empire one more state made its appearance;\nit has not yet been dealt with, although it was the most important one.] [This was the empire of the Toba, in the north of the present province of\nShansi.] [Fu Chien had brought down the small old Toba state in 376, but\nhad not entirely destroyed it.] [Its territory was partitioned, and part\nwas placed under the administration of a Hun: in view of the old rivalry\nbetween Toba and Huns, this seemed to Fu Chien to be the best way of\npreventing any revival of the Toba.] [However, a descendant of the old\nruling family of the Toba succeeded, with the aid of related families,\nin regaining power and forming a small new kingdom.] [Very soon many\ntribes which still lived in north China and which had not been broken up\ninto military units, joined him.] [Of these there were ultimately 119,\nincluding many Hun tribes from Shansi and also many Hsien-pi tribes.] [Thus the question who the Toba were is not easy to answer.] [The leading\ntribe itself had migrated southward in the third century from the\nfrontier territory between northern Mongolia and northern Manchuria.] [After this migration the first Toba state, the so-called Tai state, was\nformed (338-376); not much is known about it.] [The tribes that, from 385\nafter the break-up of the Tibetan empire, grouped themselves round this\nruling tribe, were both Turkish and Mongol; but from the culture and\nlanguage of the Toba we think it must be inferred that the ruling tribe\nitself as well as the majority of the other tribes were Turkish; in any\ncase, the Turkish element seems to have been stronger than the\nMongolian.] [Thus the new Toba kingdom was a tribal state, not a military state.] [But\nthe tribes were no longer the same as in the time of Liu Yuean a hundred\nyears earlier.] [Their total population must have been quite small; we\nmust assume that they were but the remains of 119 tribes rather than 119\nfull-sized tribes.] [Only part of them were still living the old nomad\nlife; others had become used to living alongside Chinese peasants and\nhad assumed leadership among the peasants.] [These Toba now faced a\ndifficult situation.] [The country was arid and mountainous and did not\nyield much agricultural produce.] [For the many people who had come into\nthe Toba state from all parts of the former empire of Fu Chien, to say\nnothing of the needs of a capital and a court which since the time of\nLiu Yuean had been regarded as the indispensable entourage of a ruler who\nclaimed imperial rank, the local production of the Chinese peasants was\nnot enough.] [All the government officials, who were Chinese, and all the\nslaves and eunuchs needed grain to eat.] [Attempts were made to settle\nmore Chinese peasants round the new capital, but without success;\nsomething had to be done.] [It appeared necessary to embark on a campaign\nto conquer the fertile plain of eastern China.] [In the course of a number\nof battles the Hsien-pi of the \"Later Yen\" were annihilated and eastern\nChina conquered (409).] [Now a new question arose: what should be done with all those people?] [Nomads used to enslave their prisoners and use them for watching their\nflocks.] [Some tribal chieftains had adopted the practice of establishing\ncaptives on their tribal territory as peasants.] [There was an opportunity\nnow to subject the millions of Chinese captives to servitude to the\nvarious tribal chieftains in the usual way.] [But those captives who were\npeasants could not be taken away from their fields without robbing the\ncountry of its food; therefore it would have been necessary to spread\nthe tribes over the whole of eastern China, and this would have added\nimmensely to the strength of the various tribes and would have greatly\nweakened the central power.] [Furthermore almost all Chinese officials at\nthe court had come originally from the territories just conquered.] [They\nhad come from there about a hundred years earlier and still had all\ntheir relatives in the east.] [If the eastern territories had been placed\nunder the rule of separate tribes, and the tribes had been distributed\nin this way, the gentry in those territories would have been destroyed\nand reduced to the position of enslaved peasants.] [The Chinese officials\naccordingly persuaded the Toba emperor not to place the new territories\nunder the tribes, but to leave them to be administered by officials of\nthe central administration.] [These officials must have a firm footing in\ntheir territory, for only they could extract from the peasants the grain\nrequired for the support of the capital.] [Consequently the Toba\ngovernment did not enslave the Chinese in the eastern territory, but\nmade the local gentry into government officials, instructing them to\ncollect as much grain as possible for the capital.] [This Chinese local\ngentry worked in close collaboration with the Chinese officials at\ncourt, a fact which determined the whole fate of the Toba empire.] [The Hsien-pi of the newly conquered east no longer belonged to any\ntribe, but only to military units.] [They were transferred as soldiers to\nthe Toba court and placed directly under the government, which was thus\nnotably strengthened, especially as the millions of peasants under their\nChinese officials were also directly responsible to the central\nadministration.] [The government now proceeded to convert also its own\nToba tribes into military formations.] [The tribal men of noble rank were\nbrought to the court as military officers, and so were separated from\nthe common tribesmen and the slaves who had to remain with the herds.] [This change, which robbed the tribes of all means of independent action,\nwas not carried out without bloodshed.] [There were revolts of tribal\nchieftains which were ruthlessly suppressed.] [The central government had\ntriumphed, but it realized that more reliance could be placed on Chinese\nthan on its own people, who were used to independence.] [Thus the Toba\nwere glad to employ more and more Chinese, and the Chinese pressed more\nand more into the administration.] [In this process the differing social\norganizations of Toba and Chinese played an important part.] [The Chinese\nhave patriarchal families with often hundreds of members.] [When a member\nof a family obtains a good position, he is obliged to make provision for\nthe other members of his family and to secure good positions for them\ntoo; and not only the members of his own family but those of allied\nfamilies and of families related to it by marriage.] [In contrast the Toba\nhad a patriarchal nuclear family system; as nomad warriors with no fixed\nabode, they were unable to form extended family groups.] [Among them the\nindividual was much more independent; each one tried to do his best for\nhimself.] [No Toba thought of collecting a large clique around himself;\neverybody should be the artificer of his own fortune.] [Thus, when a\nChinese obtained an official post, he was followed by countless others;\nbut when a Toba had a position he remained alone, and so the\nsinification of the Toba empire went on incessantly.] [2 _The Hun kingdom of the Hsia (407-431_)\n\nAt the rebuilding of the Toba empire, however, a good many Hun tribes\nwithdrew westward into the Ordos region beyond the reach of the Toba,\nand there they formed the Hun \"Hsia\" kingdom.] [Its ruler, Ho-lien\nP'o-p'o, belonged to the family of Mao Tun and originally, like Liu\nYuean, bore the sinified family name Liu; but he altered this to a Hun\nname, taking the family name of Ho-lien.] [This one fact alone\ndemonstrates that the Hsia rejected Chinese culture and were\nnationalistic Hun.] [Thus there were now two realms in North China, one\nundergoing progressive sinification, the other falling back to the old\ntraditions of the Huns.] [3 _Rise of the Toba to a great Power_\n\nThe present province of Szechwan, in the west, had belonged to Fu\nChien's empire.] [At the break-up of the Tibetan state that province\npassed to the southern Chinese empire and gave the southern Chinese\naccess, though it was very difficult access, to the caravan route\nleading to Turkestan.] [The small states in Kansu, which dominated the\nroute, now passed on the traffic along two routes, one northward to the\nToba and the other alien states in north China, the other through\nnorth-west Szechwan to south China.] [In this way the Kansu states were\nstrengthened both economically and politically, for they were able to\ndirect the commerce either to the northern states or to south China as\nsuited them.] [When the South Chinese saw the break-up of Fu Chien's\nempire into numberless fragments, Liu Yue, who was then all-powerful at\nthe South Chinese court, made an attempt to conquer the whole of western\nChina.] [A great army was sent from South China into the province of\nShensi, where the Tibetan empire of the \"Later Ch'in\" was situated.] [The\nCh'in appealed to the Toba for help, but the Toba were themselves too\nhotly engaged to be able to spare troops.] [They also considered that\nSouth China would be unable to maintain these conquests, and that they\nthemselves would find them later an easy prey.] [Thus in 417 the state of\n\"Later Ch'in\" received a mortal blow from the South Chinese army.] [Large\nnumbers of the upper class fled to the Toba.] [As had been foreseen, the\nSouth Chinese were unable to maintain their hold over the conquered\nterritory, and it was annexed with ease by the Hun Ho-lien P'o-p'o.] [But\nwhy not by the Toba?] [Towards the end of the fourth century, vestiges of Hun, Hsien-pi, and\nother tribes had united in Mongolia to form the new people of the\nJuan-juan (also called Ju-juan or Jou-jan).] [Scholars disagree as to\nwhether the Juan-juan were Turks or Mongols; European investigators\nbelieve them to have been identical with the Avars who appeared in the\nNear East in 558 and later in Europe, and are inclined, on the strength\nof a few vestiges of their language, to regard them as Mongols.] [Investigations concerning the various tribes, however, show that among\nthe Juan-juan there were both Mongol and Turkish tribes, and that the\nquestion cannot be decided in favour of either group.] [Some of the tribes\nbelonging to the Juan-juan had formerly lived in China.] [Others had lived\nfarther north or west and came into the history of the Far East now for\nthe first time.] [This Juan-juan people threatened the Toba in the rear, from the north.] [It made raids into the Toba empire for the same reasons for which the\nHuns in the past had raided agrarian China; for agriculture had made\nconsiderable progress in the Toba empire.] [Consequently, before the Toba\ncould attempt to expand southward, the Juan-juan peril must be removed.] [This was done in the end, after a long series of hard and not always\nsuccessful struggles.] [That was why the Toba had played no part in the\nfighting against South China, and had been unable to take immediate\nadvantage of that fighting.] [After 429 the Juan-juan peril no longer existed, and in the years that\nfollowed the whole of the small states of the west were destroyed, one\nafter another, by the Toba--the \"Hsia kingdom\" in 431, bringing down\nwith it the \"Western Ch'in\", and the \"Northern Liang\" in 439.] [The\nnon-Chinese elements of the population of those countries were moved\nnorthward and served the Toba as soldiers; the Chinese also, especially\nthe remains of the Kansu \"Western Liang\" state (conquered in 420), were\nenslaved, and some of them transferred to the north.] [Here again,\nhowever, the influence of the Chinese gentry made itself felt after a\nshort time.] [As we know, the Chinese of \"Western Liang\" in Kansu had\noriginally migrated there from eastern China.] [Their eastern relatives\nwho had come under Toba rule through the conquest of eastern China and\nwho through their family connections with Chinese officials of the Toba\nempire had found safety, brought their influence to bear on behalf of\nthe Chinese of Kansu, so that several families regained office and\nsocial standing.] [[Illustration: Map 4: The Toba empire (_about A.D. 500_)]\n\nTheir expansion into Kansu gave the Toba control of the commerce with\nTurkestan, and there are many mentions of tribute missions to the Toba\ncourt in the years that followed, some even from India.] [The Toba also\nspread in the east.] [And finally there was fighting with South China\n(430-431), which brought to the Toba empire a large part of the province\nof Honan with the old capital, Loyang.] [Thus about 440 the Toba must be\ndescribed as the most powerful state in the Far East, ruling the whole\nof North China.] [4 _Economic and social conditions_\n\nThe internal changes of which there had only been indications in the\nfirst period of the Toba empire now proceeded at an accelerated pace.] [There were many different factors at work.] [The whole of the civil\nadministration had gradually passed into Chinese hands, the Toba\nretaining only the military administration.] [But the wars in the south\ncalled for the services of specialists in fortification and in infantry\nwarfare, who were only to be found among the Chinese.] [The growing\ninfluence of the Chinese was further promoted by the fact that many Toba\nfamilies were exterminated in the revolts of the tribal chieftains, and\nothers were wiped out in the many battles.] [Thus the Toba lost ground\nalso in the military administration.] [The wars down to A.D. 440 had been large-scale wars of conquest,\nlightning campaigns that had brought in a great deal of booty.] [With\ntheir loot the Toba developed great magnificence and luxury.] [The\ncampaigns that followed were hard and long-drawn-out struggles,\nespecially against South China, where there was no booty, because the\nenemy retired so slowly that they could take everything with them.] [The\nToba therefore began to be impoverished, because plunder was the main\nsource of their wealth.] [In addition to this, their herds gradually\ndeteriorated, for less and less use was made of them; for instance,\nhorses were little required for the campaign against South China, and\nthere was next to no fighting in the north.] [In contrast with the\nimpoverishment of the Toba, the Chinese gentry grew not only more\npowerful but more wealthy.] [The Toba seem to have tried to prevent this development by introducing\nthe famous \"land equalization system\" (_chuen-t'ien_), one of their most\nimportant innovations.] [The direct purposes of this measure were to\nresettle uprooted farm population; to prevent further migrations of\nfarmers; and to raise production and taxes.] [The founder of this system\nwas Li An-shih, member of a Toba family and later husband of an imperial\nprincess.] [The plan was basically accepted in 477, put into action in\n485, and remained the land law until _c_. 750.] [Every man and every\nwoman had a right to receive a certain amount of land for lifetime.] [After their death, the land was redistributed.] [In addition to this\n\"personal land\" there was so-called \"mulberry land\" on which farmers\ncould plant mulberries for silk production; but they also could plant\nother crops under the trees.] [This land could be inherited from father to\nson and was not redistributed.] [Incidentally we know many similar\nregulations for trees in the Near East and Central Asia.] [As the tax was\nlevied upon the personal land in form of grain, and on the tree land in\nform of silk, this regulation stimulated the cultivation of diversified\ncrops on the tree land which then was not taxable.] [The basic idea behind\nthis law was, that all land belonged to the state, a concept for which\nthe Toba could point to the ancient Chou but which also fitted well for\na dynasty of conquest.] [The new \"_chuen-t'ien_\" system required a complete\nland and population survey which was done in the next years.] [We know\nfrom much later census fragments that the government tried to enforce\nthis equalization law, but did not always succeed; we read statements\nsuch as \"X has so and so much land; he has a claim on so and so much\nland and, therefore, has to get so and so much\"; but there are no\nrecords that X ever received the land due to him.] [One consequence of the new land law was a legal fixation of the social\nclasses.] [Already during Han time (and perhaps even earlier) a\ndistinction had been made between \"free burghers\" (_liang-min_) and\n\"commoners\" (_ch'ien-min_).] [This distinction had continued as informal\ntradition until, now, it became a legal concept.] [Only \"burghers\", i.e.\ngentry and free farmers, were real citizens with all rights of a free\nman.] [The \"commoners\" were completely or partly unfree and fell under\nseveral heads.] [Ranking as the lowest class were the real slaves (_nu_),\ndivided into state and private slaves.] [By law, slaves were regarded as\npieces of property, not as members of human society.] [They were, however,\nforced to marry and thus, as a class, were probably reproducing at a\nrate similar to that of the normal population, while slaves in Europe\nreproduced at a lower rate than the population.] [The next higher class\nwere serfs (_fan-hu_), hereditary state servants, usually descendants of\nstate slaves.] [They were obliged to work three months during the year for\nthe state and were paid for this service.] [They were not registered in\ntheir place of residence but under the control of the Ministry of\nAgriculture which distributed them to other offices, but did not use\nthem for farm work.] [Similar in status to them were the private bondsmen\n(_pu-ch'ue_), hereditarily attached to gentry families.] [These serfs\nreceived only 50 per cent of the land which a free burgher received\nunder the land law.] [Higher than these were the service families\n(_tsa-hu_), who were registered in their place of residence, but had to\nperform certain services; here we find \"tomb families\" who cared for the\nimperial tombs, \"shepherd families\", postal families, kiln families,\nsoothsayer families, medical families, and musician families.] [Each of\nthese categories of commoners had its own laws; each had to marry within\nthe category.] [No intermarriage or adoption was allowed.] [It is\ninteresting to observe that a similar fixation of the social status of\ncitizens occurred in the Roman Empire from _c_. A.D. 300 on.] [Thus in the years between 440 and 490 there were great changes not only\nin the economic but in the social sphere.] [The Toba declined in number\nand influence.] [Many of them married into rich families of the Chinese\ngentry and regarded themselves as no longer belonging to the Toba.] [In\nthe course of time the court was completely sinified.] [The Chinese at the court now formed the leading element, and they tried\nto persuade the emperor to claim dominion over all China, at least in\ntheory, by installing his capital in Loyang, the old centre of China.] [This transfer had the advantage for them personally that the territories\nin which their properties were situated were close to that capital, so\nthat the grain they produced found a ready market.] [And it was indeed no\nlonger possible to rule the great Toba empire, now covering the whole of\nNorth China from North Shansi.] [The administrative staff was so great\nthat the transport system was no longer able to bring in sufficient\nfood.] [For the present capital did not lie on a navigable river, and all\nthe grain had to be carted, an expensive and unsafe mode of transport.] [Ultimately, in 493-4, the Chinese gentry officials secured the transfer\nof the capital to Loyang.] [In the years 490 to 499 the Toba emperor Wen\nTi (471-499) took further decisive steps required by the stage reached\nin internal development.] [All aliens were prohibited from using their own\nlanguage in public life.] [Chinese became the official language.] [Chinese\nclothing and customs also became general.] [The system of administration\nwhich had largely followed a pattern developed by the Wei dynasty in the\nearly third century, was changed and took a form which became the model\nfor the T'ang dynasty in the seventh century.] [It is important to note\nthat in this period, for the first time, an office for religious affairs\nwas created which dealt mainly with Buddhistic monasteries.] [While after\nthe Toba period such an office for religious affairs disappeared again,\nthis idea was taken up later by Japan when Japan accepted a Chinese-type\nof administration.] [[Illustration: 6 Sun Ch'uean, ruler of Wu.] [_From a painting by Yen\nLi-pen (c_.] [640-680).] []\n\n[Illustration: 7 General view of the Buddhist cave-temples of Yuen-kang.] [In the foreground, the present village; in the background, the rampart.] [_Photo H.] [Hammer-Morrisson_.] []\n\nOwing to his bringing up, the emperor no longer regarded himself as Toba\nbut as Chinese; he adopted the Chinese culture, acting as he was bound\nto do if he meant to be no longer an alien ruler in North China.] [Already\nhe regarded himself as emperor of all China, so that the South Chinese\nempire was looked upon as a rebel state that had to be conquered.] [While,\nhowever, he succeeded in everything else, the campaign against the south\nfailed except for some local successes.] [The transfer of the capital to Loyang was a blow to the Toba nobles.] [Their herds became valueless, for animal products could not be carried\nover the long distance to the new capital.] [In Loyang the Toba nobles\nfound themselves parted from their tribes, living in an unaccustomed\nclimate and with nothing to do, for all important posts were occupied by\nChinese.] [The government refused to allow them to return to the north.] [Those who did not become Chinese by finding their way into Chinese\nfamilies grew visibly poorer and poorer.] [5 _Victory and retreat of Buddhism_\n\nWhat we said in regard to the religious position of the other alien\npeoples applied also to the Toba.] [As soon, however, as their empire\ngrew, they, too, needed an \"official\" religion of their own.] [For a few\nyears they had continued their old sacrifices to Heaven; then another\ncourse opened to them.] [The Toba, together with many Chinese living in\nthe Toba empire, were all captured by Buddhism, and especially by its\nshamanist element.] [One element in their preference of Buddhism was\ncertainly the fact that Buddhism accepted all foreigners alike--both the\nToba and the Chinese were \"foreign\" converts to an essentially Indian\nreligion; whereas the Confucianist Chinese always made the non-Chinese\nfeel that in spite of all their attempts they were still \"barbarians\"\nand that only real Chinese could be real Confucianists.] [Secondly, it can be assumed that the Toba rulers by fostering Buddhism\nintended to break the power of the Chinese gentry.] [A few centuries\nlater, Buddhism was accepted by the Tibetan kings to break the power of\nthe native nobility, by the Japanese to break the power of a federation\nof noble clans, and still later by the Burmese kings for the same\nreason.] [The acceptance of Buddhism by rulers in the Far East always\nmeant also an attempt to create a more autocratic, absolutistic regime.] [Mahayana Buddhism, as an ideal, desired a society without clear-cut\nclasses under one enlightened ruler; in such a society all believers\ncould strive to attain the ultimate goal of salvation.] [Throughout the early period of Buddhism in the Far East, the question\nhad been discussed what should be the relations between the Buddhist\nmonks and the emperor, whether they were subject to him or not.] [This was\nconnected, of course, with the fact that to the early fourth century the\nBuddhist monks were foreigners who, in the view prevalent in the Far\nEast, owed only a limited allegiance to the ruler of the land.] [The\nBuddhist monks at the Toba court now submitted to the emperor, regarding\nhim as a reincarnation of Buddha.] [Thus the emperor became protector of\nBuddhism and a sort of god.] [This combination was a good substitute for\nthe old Chinese theory that the emperor was the Son of Heaven; it\nincreased the prestige and the splendour of the dynasty.] [At the same\ntime the old shamanism was legitimized under a Buddhist\nreinterpretation.] [Thus Buddhism became a sort of official religion.] [The\nemperor appointed a Buddhist monk as head of the Buddhist state church,\nand through this \"Pope\" he conveyed endowments on a large scale to the\nchurch.] [T'an-yao, head of the state church since 460, induced the state\nto attach state slaves, i.e. enslaved family members of criminals, and\ntheir families to state temples.] [They were supposed to work on temple\nland and to produce for the upkeep of the temples and monasteries.] [Thus,\nthe institution of \"temple slaves\" was created, an institution which\nexisted in South Asia and Burma for a long time, and which greatly\nstrengthened the economic position of Buddhism.] [Like all Turkish peoples, the Toba possessed a myth according to which\ntheir ancestors came into the world from a sacred grotto.] [The Buddhists\ntook advantage of this conception to construct, with money from the\nemperor, the vast and famous cave-temple of Yuen-kang, in northern\nShansi.] [If we come from the bare plains into the green river valley, we\nmay see to this day hundreds of caves cut out of the steep cliffs of the\nriver bank.] [Here monks lived in their cells, worshipping the deities of\nwhom they had thousands of busts and reliefs sculptured in stone, some\nof more than life-size, some diminutive.] [The majestic impression made\ntoday by the figures does not correspond to their original effect, for\nthey were covered with a layer of coloured stucco.] [We know only few names of the artists and craftsmen who made these\nobjects.] [Probably some at least were foreigners from Turkestan, for in\nspite of the predominantly Chinese character of these sculptures, some\nof them are reminiscent of works in Turkestan and even in the Near East.] [In the past the influences of the Near East on the Far East--influences\ntraced back in the last resort to Greece--were greatly exaggerated; it\nwas believed that Greek art, carried through Alexander's campaign as far\nas the present Afghanistan, degenerated there in the hands of Indian\nimitators (the so-called Gandhara art) and ultimately passed on in more\nand more distorted forms through Turkestan to China.] [Actually, however,\nsome eight hundred years lay between Alexander's campaign and the Toba\nperiod sculptures at Yuen-kang and, owing to the different cultural\ndevelopment, the contents of the Greek and the Toba-period art were\nentirely different.] [We may say, therefore, that suggestions came from\nthe centre of the Greco-Bactrian culture (in the present Afghanistan)\nand were worked out by the Toba artists; old forms were filled with a\nnew content, and the elements in the reliefs of Yuen-kang that seem to us\nto be non-Chinese were the result of this synthesis of Western\ninspiration and Turkish initiative.] [It is interesting to observe that\nall steppe rulers showed special interest in sculpture and, as a rule,\nin architecture; after the Toba period, sculpture flourished in China in\nthe T'ang period, the period of strong cultural influence from Turkish\npeoples, and there was a further advance of sculpture and of the\ncave-dwellers' worship in the period of the \"Five Dynasties\" (906-960;\nthree of these dynasties were Turkish) and in the Mongol period.] [But not all Buddhists joined the \"Church\", just as not all Taoists had\njoined the Church of Chang Ling's Taoism.] [Some Buddhists remained in the\nsmall towns and villages and suffered oppression from the central\nChurch.] [These village Buddhist monks soon became instigators of a\nconsiderable series of attempts at revolution.] [Their Buddhism was of the\nso-called \"Maitreya school\", which promised the appearance on earth of a\nnew Buddha who would do away with all suffering and introduce a Golden\nAge.] [The Chinese peasantry, exploited by the gentry, came to the support\nof these monks whose Messianism gave the poor a hope in this world.] [The\nnomad tribes also, abandoned by their nobles in the capital and\nwandering in poverty with their now worthless herds, joined these monks.] [We know of many revolts of Hun and Toba tribes in this period, revolts\nthat had a religious appearance but in reality were simply the result of\nthe extreme impoverishment of these remaining tribes.] [In addition to these conflicts between state and popular Buddhism,\nclashes between Buddhists and representatives of organized Taoism\noccurred.] [Such fights, however, reflected more the power struggle\nbetween cliques than between religious groups.] [The most famous incident\nwas the action against the Buddhists in 446 which brought destruction to\nmany temples and monasteries and death to many monks.] [Here, a mighty\nChinese gentry faction under the leadership of the Ts'ui family had\nunited with the Taoist leader K'ou Ch'ien-chih against another faction\nunder the leadership of the crown prince.] [With the growing influence of the Chinese gentry, however, Confucianism\ngained ground again, until with the transfer of the capital to Loyang it\ngained a complete victory, taking the place of Buddhism and becoming\nonce more as in the past the official religion of the state.] [This\nprocess shows us once more how closely the social order of the gentry\nwas associated with Confucianism.] [(E) Succession States of the Toba (A.D. 550-580): Northern Ch'i dynasty,\nNorthern Chou dynasty\n\n1 _Reasons for the splitting of the Toba empire_\n\nEvents now pursued their logical course.] [The contrast between the\ncentral power, now become entirely Chinese, and the remains of the\ntribes who were with their herds mainly in Shansi and the Ordos region\nand were hopelessly impoverished, grew more and more acute.] [From 530\nonward the risings became more and more formidable.] [A few Toba who still\nremained with their old tribes placed themselves at the head of the\nrebels and conquered not only the whole of Shansi but also the capital,\nwhere there was a great massacre of Chinese and pro-Chinese Toba.] [The\nrebels were driven back; in this a man of the Kao family distinguished\nhimself, and all the Chinese and pro-Chinese gathered round him.] [The Kao\nfamily, which may have been originally a Hsien-pi family, had its\nestates in eastern China and so was closely associated with the eastern\nChinese gentry, who were the actual rulers of the Toba State.] [In 534\nthis group took the impotent emperor of their own creation to the city\nof Yeh in the east, where he reigned _de jure_ for a further sixteen\nyears.] [Then he was deposed, and Kao Yang made himself the first emperor\nof the Northern Ch'i dynasty (550-577).] [The national Toba group, on the other hand, found another man of the\nimperial family and established him in the west.] [After a short time this\npuppet was removed from the throne and a man of the Yue-wen family made\nhimself emperor, founding the \"Northern Chou dynasty\" (557-580).] [The\nHsien-pi family of Yue-wen was a branch of the Hsien-pi, but was closely\nconnected with the Huns and probably of Turkish origin.] [All the still\nexisting remains of Toba tribes who had eluded sinification moved into\nthis western empire.] [The splitting of the Toba empire into these two separate realms was the\nresult of the policy embarked on at the foundation of the empire.] [Once\nthe tribal chieftains and nobles had been separated from their tribes\nand organized militarily, it was inevitable that the two elements should\nhave different social destinies.] [The nobles could not hold their own\nagainst the Chinese; if they were not actually eliminated in one way or\nanother, they disappeared into Chinese families.] [The rest, the people of\nthe tribe, became destitute and were driven to revolt.] [The northern\npeoples had been unable to perpetuate either their tribal or their\nmilitary organization, and the Toba had been equally unsuccessful in\ntheir attempt to perpetuate the two forms of organization alongside each\nother.] [These social processes are of particular importance because the ethnical\ndisappearance of the northern peoples in China had nothing to do with\nany racial inferiority or with any particular power of assimilation; it\nwas a natural process resulting from the different economic, social, and\ncultural organizations of the northern peoples and the Chinese.] [2 _Appearance of the (Goek) Turks_\n\nThe Toba had liberated themselves early in the fifth century from the\nJuan-juan peril.] [None of the fighting that followed was of any great\nimportance.] [The Toba resorted to the old means of defence against\nnomads--they built great walls.] [Apart from that, after their move\nsouthward to Loyang, their new capital, they were no longer greatly\ninterested in their northern territories.] [When the Toba empire split\ninto the Ch'i and the Northern Chou, the remaining Juan-juan entered\ninto treaties first with one realm and then with the other: each realm\nwanted to secure the help of the Juan-juan against the other.] [Meanwhile there came unexpectedly to the fore in the north a people\ngrouped round a nucleus tribe of Huns, the tribal union of the\n\"T'u-chueeh\", that is to say the Goek Turks, who began to pursue a policy\nof their own under their khan.] [In 546 they sent a mission to the western\nempire, then in the making, of the Northern Chou, and created the first\nbonds with it, following which the Northern Chou became allies of the\nTurks.] [The eastern empire, Ch'i, accordingly made terms with the\nJuan-juan, but in 552 the latter suffered a crushing defeat at the hands\nof the Turks, their former vassals.] [The remains of the Juan-juan either\nfled to the Ch'i state or went reluctantly into the land of the Chou.] [Soon there was friction between the Juan-juan and the Ch'i, and in 555\nthe Juan-juan in that state were annihilated.] [In response to pressure\nfrom the Turks, the Juan-juan in the western empire of the Northern Chou\nwere delivered up to them and killed in the same year.] [The Juan-juan\nthen disappeared from the history of the Far East.] [They broke up into\ntheir several tribes, some of which were admitted into the Turks' tribal\nleague.] [A few years later the Turks also annihilated the Ephtalites,\nwho had been allied with the Juan-juan; this made the Turks the dominant\npower in Central Asia.] [The Ephtalites (Yeh-ta, Haytal) were a mixed\ngroup which contained elements of the old Yueeh-chih and spoke an\nIndo-European language.] [Some scholars regard them as a branch of the\nTocharians of Central Asia.] [One menace to the northern states of China\nhad disappeared--that of the Juan-juan.] [Their place was taken by a much\nmore dangerous power, the Turks.] [3 _The Northern Ch'i dynasty; the Northern Chou dynasty_\n\nIn consequence of this development the main task of the Northern Chou\nstate consisted in the attempt to come to some settlement with its\npowerful Turkish neighbours, and meanwhile to gain what it could from\nshrewd negotiations with its other neighbours.] [By means of intrigues and\ndiplomacy it intervened with some success in the struggles in South\nChina.] [One of the pretenders to the throne was given protection; he was\ninstalled in the present Hankow as a quasi-feudal lord depending on\nChou, and there he founded the \"Later Liang dynasty\" (555-587).] [In this\nway Chou had brought the bulk of South China under its control without\nitself making any real contribution to that result.] [Unlike the Chinese state of Ch'i, Chou followed the old Toba tradition.] [Old customs were revived, such as the old sacrifice to Heaven and the\nlifting of the emperor on to a carpet at his accession to the throne;\nfamily names that had been sinified were turned into Toba names again,\nand even Chinese were given Toba names; but in spite of this the inner\ncohesion had been destroyed.] [After two centuries it was no longer\npossible to go back to the old nomad, tribal life.] [There were also too\nmany Chinese in the country, with whom close bonds had been forged\nwhich, in spite of all attempts, could not be broken.] [Consequently there\nwas no choice but to organize a state essentially similar to that of the\ngreat Toba empire.] [There is just as little of importance that can be said of the internal\npolitics of the Ch'i dynasty.] [The rulers of that dynasty were thoroughly\nrepulsive figures, with no positive achievements of any sort to their\ncredit.] [Confucianism had been restored in accordance with the Chinese\ncharacter of the state.] [It was a bad time for Buddhists, and especially\nfor the followers of the popularized Taoism.] [In spite of this, about\nA.D. 555 great new Buddhist cave-temples were created in Lung-men, near\nLoyang, in imitation of the famous temples of Yuen-kang.] [The fighting with the western empire, the Northern Chou state, still\ncontinued, and Ch'i was seldom successful.] [In 563 Chou made preparations\nfor a decisive blow against Ch'i, but suffered defeat because the Turks,\nwho had promised aid, gave none and shortly afterwards began campaigns\nof their own against Ch'i.] [In 571 Ch'i had some success in the west\nagainst Chou, but then it lost parts of its territory to the South\nChinese empire, and finally in 576-7 it was defeated by Chou in a great\ncounter-offensive.] [Thus for some three years all North China was once\nmore under a single rule, though of nothing approaching the strength of\nthe Toba at the height of their power.] [For in all these campaigns the\nTurks had played an important part, and at the end they annexed further\nterritory in the north of Ch'i, so that their power extended far into\nthe east.] [Meanwhile intrigue followed intrigue at the court of Chou; the mutual\nassassinations within the ruling group were as incessant as in the last\nyears of the great Toba empire, until the real power passed from the\nemperor and his Toba entourage to a Chinese family, the Yang.] [Yang\nChien's daughter was the wife of a Chou emperor; his son was married to\na girl of the Hun family Tu-ku; her sister was the wife of the father of\nthe Chou emperor.] [Amid this tangled relationship in the imperial house\nit is not surprising that Yang Chien should attain great power.] [The\nTu-ku were a very old family of the Hun nobility; originally the name\nbelonged to the Hun house from which the _shan-yue_ had to be descended.] [This family still observed the traditions of the Hun rulers, and\nrelationship with it was regarded as an honour even by the Chinese.] [Through their centuries of association with aristocratically organized\nforeign peoples, some of the notions of nobility had taken root among\nthe Chinese gentry; to be related with old ruling houses was a welcome\nmeans of evidencing or securing a position of special distinction among\nthe gentry.] [Yang Chien gained useful prestige from his family\nconnections.] [After the leading Chinese cliques had regained predominance\nin the Chou empire, much as had happened before in the Toba empire, Yang\nChien's position was strong enough to enable him to massacre the members\nof the imperial family and then, in 581, to declare himself emperor.] [Thus began the Sui dynasty, the first dynasty that was once more to rule\nall China.] [But what had happened to the Toba?] [With the ending of the Chou empire\nthey disappeared for all time, just as the Juan-juan had done a little\nearlier.] [So far as the tribes did not entirely disintegrate, the people\nof the tribes seem during the last years of Toba and Chou to have joined\nTurkish and other tribes.] [In any case, nothing more is heard of them as\na people, and they themselves lived on under the name of the tribe that\nled the new tribal league.] [Most of the Toba nobility, on the other hand, became Chinese.] [This\nprocess can be closely followed in the Chinese annals.] [The tribes that\nhad disintegrated in the time of the Toba empire broke up into families\nof which some adopted the name of the tribe as their family name, while\nothers chose Chinese family names.] [During the centuries that followed,\nin some cases indeed down to modern times, these families continue to\nappear, often playing an important part in Chinese history.] [(F) The Southern Empires\n\n1 _Economic and social situation in the south_\n\nDuring the 260 years of alien rule in North China, the picture of South\nChina also was full of change.] [When in 317 the Huns had destroyed the\nChinese Chin dynasty in the north, a Chin prince who normally would not\nhave become heir to the throne declared himself, under the name Yuean Ti,\nthe first emperor of the \"Eastern Chin dynasty\" (317-419).] [The capital\nof this new southern empire adjoined the present Nanking.] [Countless\nmembers of the Chinese gentry had fled from the Huns at that time and\nhad come into the southern empire.] [They had not done so out of loyalty\nto the Chinese dynasty or out of national feeling, but because they saw\nlittle prospect of attaining rank and influence at the courts of the\nalien rulers, and because it was to be feared that the aliens would turn\nthe fields into pasturage, and also that they would make an end of the\neconomic and monetary system which the gentry had evolved for their own\nbenefit.] [But the south was, of course, not uninhabited.] [There were already two\ngroups living there--the old autochthonous population, consisting of\nYao, Tai and Yueeh, and the earlier Chinese immigrants from the north,\nwho had mainly arrived in the time of the Three Kingdoms, at the\nbeginning of the third century A.D.] [The countless new immigrants now\ncame into sharp conflict with the old-established earlier immigrants.] [Each group looked down on the other and abused it.] [The two immigrant\ngroups in particular not only spoke different dialects but had developed\ndifferently in respect to manners and customs.] [A look for example at\nFormosa in the years after 1948 will certainly help in an understanding\nof this situation: analogous tensions developed between the new\nrefugees, the old Chinese immigrants, and the native Formosan\npopulation.] [But let us return to the southern empires.] [The two immigrant groups also differed economically and socially: the\nold immigrants were firmly established on the large properties they had\nacquired, and dominated their tenants, who were largely autochthones; or\nthey had engaged in large-scale commerce.] [In any case, they possessed\ncapital, and more capital than was usually possessed by the gentry of\nthe north.] [Some of the new immigrants, on the other hand, were military\npeople.] [They came with empty hands, and they had no land.] [They hoped\nthat the government would give them positions in the military\nadministration and so provide them with means; they tried to gain\npossession of the government and to exclude the old settlers as far as\npossible.] [The tension was increased by the effect of the influx of\nChinese in bringing more land into cultivation, thus producing a boom\nperiod such as is produced by the opening up of colonial land.] [Everyone\nwas in a hurry to grab as much land as possible.] [There was yet a further\ndifference between the two groups of Chinese: the old settlers had long\nlost touch with the remainder of their families in the north.] [They had\nbecome South Chinese, and all their interests lay in the south.] [The new\nimmigrants had left part of their families in the north under alien\nrule.] [Their interests still lay to some extent in the north.] [They were\nworking for the reconquest of the north by military means; at times\nindividuals or groups returned to the north, while others persuaded the\nrest of their relatives to come south.] [It would be wrong to suppose that\nthere was no inter-communication between the two parts into which China\nhad fallen.] [As soon as the Chinese gentry were able to regain any\nfooting in the territories under alien rule, the official relations,\noften those of belligerency, proceeded alongside unofficial intercourse\nbetween individual families and family groupings, and these latter were,\nas a rule, in no way belligerent.] [The lower stratum in the south consisted mainly of the remains of the\noriginal non-Chinese population, particularly in border and southern\nterritories which had been newly annexed from time to time.] [In the\ncentre of the southern state the way of life of the non-Chinese was very\nquickly assimilated to that of the Chinese, so that the aborigines were\nsoon indistinguishable from Chinese.] [The remaining part of the lower\nclass consisted of impoverished Chinese peasants.] [This whole lower\nsection of the population rarely took any active and visible part in\npolitics, except at times in the form of great popular risings.] [Until the third century, the south had been of no great economic\nimportance, in spite of the good climate and the extraordinary fertility\nof the Yangtze valley.] [The country had been too thinly settled, and the\nindigenous population had not become adapted to organized trade.] [After\nthe move southward of the Chin dynasty the many immigrants had made the\ncountry of the lower Yangtze more thickly populated, but not\nover-populated.] [The top-heavy court with more than the necessary number\nof officials (because there was still hope for a reconquest of the north\nwhich would mean many new jobs for administrators) was a great consumer;\nprices went up and stimulated local rice production.] [The estates of the\nsouthern gentry yielded more than before, and naturally much more than\nthe small properties of the gentry in the north where, moreover, the\nclimate is far less favourable.] [Thus the southern landowners were able\nto acquire great wealth, which ultimately made itself felt in the\ncapital.] [One very important development was characteristic in this period in the\nsouth, although it also occurred in the north.] [Already in pre-Han times,\nsome rulers had gardens with fruit trees.] [The Han emperors had large\nhunting parks which were systematically stocked with rare animals; they\nalso had gardens and hot-houses for the production of vegetables for the\ncourt.] [These \"gardens\" (_yuean_) were often called \"manors\" (_pieh-yeh_)\nand consisted of fruit plantations with luxurious buildings.] [We hear\nsoon of water-cooled houses for the gentry, of artificial ponds for\npleasure and fish breeding, artificial water-courses, artificial\nmountains, bamboo groves, and parks with parrots, ducks, and large\nanimals.] [Here, the wealthy gentry of both north and south, relaxed from\ngovernment work, surrounded by their friends and by women.] [These manors\ngrew up in the hills, on the \"village commons\" where formerly the\nvillagers had collected their firewood and had grazed their animals.] [Thus, the village commons begin to disappear.] [The original farm land was\ntaxed, because it produced one of the two products subject to taxation,\nnamely grain or mulberry leaves for silk production.] [But the village\ncommon had been and remained tax-free because it did not produce taxable\nthings.] [While land-holdings on the farmland were legally restricted in\ntheir size, the \"gardens\" were unrestricted.] [Around A.D. 500 the ruler\nallowed high officials to have manors of three hundred mou size, while\nin the north a family consisting of husband and wife and children below\nfifteen years of age were allowed a farm of sixty mou only; but we hear\nof manors which were many times larger than the allowed size of three\nhundred.] [These manors began to play an important economic role, too:\nthey were cultivated by tenants and produced fishes, vegetables, fruit\nand bamboo for the market, thus they gave more income than ordinary rice\nor wheat land.] [With the creation of manors the total amount of land under cultivation\nincreased, though not the amount of grain-producing land.] [We gain the\nimpression that from _c_. the third century A.D. on to the eleventh\ncentury the intensity of cultivation was generally lower than in the\nperiod before.] [The period from _c_. A.D. 300 on also seems to be the time of the second\nchange in Chinese dietary habits.] [The first change occurred probably\nbetween 400 and 100 B.C. when the meat-eating Chinese reduced their meat\nintake greatly, gave up eating beef and mutton and changed over to some\npork and dog meat.] [This first change was the result of increase of\npopulation and decrease of available land for pasturage.] [Cattle breeding\nin China was then reduced to the minimum of one cow or water-buffalo per\nfarm for ploughing.] [Wheat was the main staple for the masses of the\npeople.] [Between A.D. 300 and 600 rice became the main staple in the\nsouthern states although, theoretically, wheat could have been grown and\nsome wheat probably was grown in the south.] [The vitamin and protein\ndeficiencies which this change from wheat to rice brought forth, were\nmade up by higher consumption of vegetables, especially beans, and\npartially also by eating of fish and sea food.] [In the north, rice became\nthe staple food of the upper class, while wheat remained the main food\nof the lower classes.] [However, new forms of preparation of wheat, such\nas dumplings of different types, were introduced.] [The foreign rulers\nconsumed more meat and milk products.] [Chinese had given up the use of\nmilk products at the time of the first change, and took to them to some\nextent only in periods of foreign rule.] [2 _Struggles between cliques under the Eastern Chin dynasty_ (A.D.\n317-419)\n\nThe officials immigrating from the north regarded the south as colonial\ncountry, and so as more or less uncivilized.] [They went into its\nprovinces in order to get rich as quickly as possible, and they had no\ndesire to live there for long: they had the same dislike of a provincial\nexistence as had the families of the big landowners.] [Thus as a rule the\nbulk of the families remained in the capital, close to the court.] [Thither the products accumulated in the provinces were sent, and they\nfound a ready sale, as the capital was also a great and long-established\ntrading centre with a rich merchant class.] [Thus in the capital there was\nevery conceivable luxury and every refinement of civilization.] [The\npeople of the gentry class, who were maintained in the capital by\nrelatives serving in the provinces as governors or senior officers,\nthemselves held offices at court, though these gave them little to do.] [They had time at their disposal, and made use of it--in much worse\nintrigues than ever before, but also in music and poetry and in the\nsocial life of the harems.] [There is no question at all that the highest\nrefinement of the civilization of the Far East between the fourth and\nthe sixth century was to be found in South China, but the accompaniments\nof this over-refinement were terrible.] [We cannot enter into all the intrigues recorded at this time.] [The\ndetails are, indeed, historically unimportant.] [They were concerned only\nwith the affairs of the court and its entourage.] [Not a single ruler of\nthe Eastern Chin dynasty possessed personal or political qualities of\nany importance.] [The rulers' power was extremely limited because, with\nthe exception of the founder of the state, Yuean Ti, who had come rather\nearlier, they belonged to the group of the new immigrants, and so had no\nfirm footing and were therefore caught at once in the net of the newly\nre-grouping gentry class.] [The emperor Yuean Ti lived to see the first great rising.] [This rising\n(under Wang Tun) started in the region of the present Hankow, a region\nthat today is one of the most important in China; it was already a\ncentre of special activity.] [To it lead all the trade routes from the\nwestern provinces of Szechwan and Kweichow and from the central\nprovinces of Hupei, Hunan, and Kiangsi.] [Normally the traffic from those\nprovinces comes down the Yangtze, and thus in practice this region is\nunited with that of the lower Yangtze, the environment of Nanking, so\nthat Hankow might just as well have been the capital as Nanking.] [For\nthis reason, in the period with which we are now concerned the region of\nthe present Hankow was several times the place of origin of great\nrisings whose aim was to gain control of the whole of the southern\nempire.] [Wang Tun had grown rich and powerful in this region; he also had near\nrelatives at the imperial court; so he was able to march against the\ncapital.] [The emperor in his weakness was ready to abdicate but died\nbefore that stage was reached.] [His son, however, defeated Wang Tun with\nthe aid of General Yue Liang (A.D. 323).] [Yue Liang was the empress's\nbrother; he, too, came from a northern family.] [Yuean Ti's successor also\ndied early, and the young son of Yue Liang's sister came to the throne as\nEmperor Ch'eng (326-342); his mother ruled as regent, but Yue Liang\ncarried on the actual business of government.] [Against this clique rose\nSu Chuen, another member of the northern gentry, who had made himself\nleader of a bandit gang in A.D. 300 but had then been given a military\ncommand by the dynasty.] [In 328 he captured the capital and kidnapped the\nemperor, but then fell before the counterthrust of the Yue Liang party.] [The domination of Yue Liang's clique continued after the death of the\ntwenty-one-years-old emperor.] [His twenty-year-old brother was set in\nhis place; he, too, died two years later, and his two-year-old son\nbecame emperor (Mu Ti, 345-361).] [Meanwhile this clique was reinforced by the very important Huan family.] [This family came from the same city as the imperial house and was a very\nold gentry family of that city.] [One of the family attained a high post\nthrough personal friendship with Yue Liang: on his death his son Huan Wen\ncame into special prominence as military commander.] [Huan Wen, like Wang Tun and others before him, tried to secure a firm\nfoundation for his power, once more in the west.] [In 347 he reconquered\nSzechwan and deposed the local dynasty.] [Following this, Huan Wen and the\nYue family undertook several joint campaigns against northern states--the\nfirst reaction of the south against the north, which in the past had\nalways been the aggressor.] [The first fighting took place directly to the\nnorth, where the collapse of the \"Later Chao\" seemed to make\nintervention easy.] [The main objective was the regaining of the regions\nof eastern Honan, northern Anhui and Kiangsu, in which were the family\nseats of Huan's and the emperor's families, as well as that of the Hsieh\nfamily which also formed an important group in the court clique.] [The\npurpose of the northern campaigns was not, of course, merely to defend\nprivate interests of court cliques: the northern frontier was the weak\nspot of the southern empire, for its plains could easily be overrun.] [It\nwas then observed that the new \"Earlier Ch'in\" state was trying to\nspread from the north-west eastwards into this plain, and Ch'in was\nattacked in an attempt to gain a more favourable frontier territory.] [These expeditions brought no important practical benefit to the south;\nand they were not embarked on with full force, because there was only\nthe one court clique at the back of them, and that not whole-heartedly,\nsince it was too much taken up with the politics of the court.] [Huan Wen's power steadily grew in the period that followed.] [He sent his\nbrothers and relatives to administer the regions along the upper\nYangtze; those fertile regions were the basis of his power.] [In 371 he\ndeposed the reigning emperor and appointed in his place a frail old\nprince who died a year later, as required, and was replaced by a child.] [The time had now come when Huan Wen might have ascended the throne\nhimself, but he died.] [None of his family could assemble as much power as\nHuan Wen had done.] [The equality of strength of the Huan and the Hsieh\nsaved the dynasty for a time.] [In 383 came the great assault of the Tibetan Fu Chien against the\nsouth.] [As we know, the defence was carried out more by the methods of\ndiplomacy and intrigue than by military means, and it led to the\ndisaster in the north already described.] [The successes of the southern\nstate especially strengthened the Hsieh family, whose generals had come\nto the fore.] [The emperor (Hsiao Wu Ti, 373-396), who had come to the\nthrone as a child, played no part in events at any time during his\nreign.] [He occupied himself occasionally with Buddhism, and otherwise\nonly with women and wine.] [He was followed by his five-year-old son.] [At\nthis time there were some changes in the court clique.] [In the Huan\nfamily Huan Hsuean, a son of Huan Wen, came especially into prominence.] [He parted from the Hsieh family, which had been closest to the emperor,\nand united with the Wang (the empress's) and Yin families.] [The Wang, an\nold Shansi family, had already provided two empresses, and was therefore\nstrongly represented at court.] [The Yin had worked at first with the\nHsieh, especially as the two families came from the same region, but\nafterwards the Yin went over to Huan Hsuean.] [At first this new clique had\nsuccess, but later one of its generals, Liu Lao-chih, went over to the\nHsieh clique, and its power declined.] [Wang Kung was killed, and Yin\nChung-k'an fell away from Huan Hsuean and was killed by him in 399.] [Huan\nHsuean himself, however, held his own in the regions loyal to him.] [Liu\nLao-chih had originally belonged to the Hsieh clique, and his family\ncame from a region not far from that of the Hsieh.] [He was very\nambitious, however, and always took the side which seemed most to his\nown interest.] [For a time he joined Huan Hsuean; then he went over to the\nHsieh, and finally returned to Huan Hsuean in 402 when the latter reached\nthe height of his power.] [At that moment Liu Lao-chih was responsible for\nthe defence of the capital from Huan Hsuean, but instead he passed over\nto him.] [Thus Huan Hsuean conquered the capital, deposed the emperor, and\nbegan a dynasty of his own.] [Then came the reaction, led by an earlier\nsubordinate of Liu Lao-chih, Liu Yue.] [It may be assumed that these two\narmy commanders were in some way related, though the two branches of\ntheir family must have been long separated.] [Liu Yue had distinguished\nhimself especially in the suppression of a great popular rising which,\naround the year 400, had brought wide stretches of Chinese territory\nunder the rebels' power, beginning with the southern coast.] [This rising\nwas the first in the south.] [It was led by members of a secret society\nwhich was a direct continuation of the \"Yellow Turbans\" of the latter\npart of the second century A.D. and of organized church-Taoism.] [The\nwhole course of this rising of the exploited and ill-treated lower\nclasses was very similar to that of the popular rising of the \"Yellow\nTurbans\".] [The movement spread as far as the neighbourhood of Canton,\nbut in the end it was suppressed, mainly by Liu Yue.] [Through these achievements Liu Yue's military power and political\ninfluence steadily increased; he became the exponent of all the cliques\nworking against the Huan clique.] [He arranged for his supporters to\ndispose of Huan Hsuean's chief collaborators; and then, in 404, he\nhimself marched on the capital.] [Huan Hsuean had to flee, and in his\nflight he was killed in the upper Yangtze region.] [The emperor was\nrestored to his throne, but he had as little to say as ever, for the\nreal power was Liu Yue's.] [Before making himself emperor, Liu Yue began his great northern campaign,\naimed at the conquest of the whole of western China.] [The Toba had\npromised to remain neutral, and in 415 he was able to conquer the \"Later\nCh'in\" in Shensi.] [The first aim of this campaign was to make more\naccessible the trade routes to Central Asia, which up to now had led\nthrough the difficult mountain passes of Szechwan; to this end treaties\nof alliance had been concluded with the states in Kansu against the\n\"Later Ch'in\".] [In the second place, this war was intended to increase Liu\nYue's military strength to such an extent that the imperial crown would\nbe assured to him; and finally he hoped to cut the claws of pro-Huan\nHsuean elements in the \"Later Ch'in\" kingdom who, for the sake of the\nlink with Turkestan, had designs on Szechwan.] [3 _The Liu-Sung dynasty_ (A.D. 420-478) _and the Southern Ch'i dynasty_\n(479-501)\n\nAfter his successes in 416-17 in Shensi, Liu Yue returned to the capital,\nand shortly after he lost the chief fruits of his victory to Ho-lien\nP'o-p'o, the Hun ruler in the north, while Liu Yue himself was occupied\nwith the killing of the emperor (419) and the installation of a puppet.] [In 420 the puppet had to abdicate and Liu Yue became emperor.] [He called\nhis dynasty the Sung dynasty, but to distinguish it from another and\nmore famous Sung dynasty of later time his dynasty is also called the\nLiu-Sung dynasty.] [The struggles and intrigues of cliques against each other continued as\nbefore.] [We shall pass quickly over this period after a glance at the\nnature of these internal struggles.] [Part of the old imperial family and its following fled northward from\nLiu Yue and surrendered to the Toba.] [There they agitated for a campaign\nof vengeance against South China, and they were supported at the court\nof the Toba by many families of the gentry with landed interests in the\nsouth.] [Thus long-continued fighting started between Sung and Toba,\nconcerned mainly with the domains of the deposed imperial family and\nits following.] [This fighting brought little success to south China, and\nabout 450 it produced among the Toba an economic and social crisis that\nbrought the wars to a temporary close.] [In this pause the Sung turned to\nthe extreme south, and tried to gain influence there and in Annam.] [The\nmerchant class and the gentry families of the capital who were allied\nwith it were those chiefly interested in this expansion.] [About 450 began the Toba policy of shifting the central government to\nthe region of the Yellow River, to Loyang; for this purpose the frontier\nhad to be pushed farther south.] [Their great campaign brought the Toba in\n450 down to the Yangtze.] [The Sung suffered a heavy defeat; they had to\npay tribute, and the Toba annexed parts of their northern territory.] [The Sung emperors who followed were as impotent as their predecessors\nand personally much more repulsive.] [Nothing happened at court but\ndrinking, licentiousness, and continual murders.] [From 460 onward there were a number of important risings of princes; in\nsome of them the Toba had a hand.] [They hoped by supporting one or\nanother of the pretenders to gain overlordship over the whole of the\nsouthern empire.] [In these struggles in the south the Hsiao family,\nthanks mainly to General Hsiao Tao-ch'eng, steadily gained in power,\nespecially as the family was united by marriage with the imperial house.] [In 477 Hsiao Tao-ch'eng finally had the emperor killed by an accomplice,\nthe son of a shamaness; he set a boy on the throne and made himself\nregent.] [Very soon after this the boy emperor and all the members of the\nimperial family were murdered, and Hsiao Tao-ch'eng created the\n\"Southern Ch'i\" dynasty (479-501).] [Once more the remaining followers of\nthe deposed dynasty fled northward to the Toba, and at once fighting\nbetween Toba and the south began again.] [This fighting ended with a victory for the Toba and with the final\nestablishment of the Toba in the new capital of Loyang.] [South China was\nheavily defeated again and again, but never finally conquered.] [There\nwere intervals of peace.] [In the years between 480 and 490 there was less\ndisorder in the south, at all events in internal affairs.] [Princes were\nmore often appointed to governorships, and the influence of the cliques\nwas thus weakened.] [In spite of this, a stable regime was not built up,\nand in 494 a prince rose against the youthful emperor.] [This prince, with\nthe help of his clique including the Ch'en family, which later attained\nimportance, won the day, murdered the emperor, and became emperor\nhimself.] [All that is recorded about him is that he fought unsuccessfully\nagainst the Toba, and that he had the whole of his own family killed out\nof fear that one of its members might act exactly as he had done.] [After\nhis death there were conflicts between the emperor's few remaining\nrelatives; in these the Toba again had a hand.] [The victor was a person\nnamed Hsiao Yen; he removed the reigning emperor in the usual way and\nmade himself emperor.] [Although he belonged to the imperial family, he\naltered the name of the dynasty, and reigned from 502 as the first\nemperor of the \"Liang dynasty\".] [[Illustration: 8 Detail from the Buddhist cave-reliefs of Lung-men.] [_From a print in the author's possession_.] []\n\n[Illustration: 9 Statue of Mi-lo (Maitreya, the next future Buddha), in\nthe 'Great Buddha Temple' at Chengting (Hopei).] [_Photo H.] [Hammer-Morrisson_.] []\n\n4 _The Liang dynasty_ (A.D. 502-556)\n\nThe fighting with the Toba continued until 515.] [As a rule the Toba were\nthe more successful, not at least through the aid of princes of the\ndeposed \"Southern Ch'i dynasty\" and their followers.] [Wars began also in\nthe west, where the Toba tried to cut off the access of the Liang to the\ncaravan routes to Turkestan.] [In 507, however, the Toba suffered an\nimportant defeat.] [The southern states had tried at all times to work\nwith the Kansu states against the northern states; the Toba now followed\nsuit and allied themselves with a large group of native chieftains of\nthe south, whom they incited to move against the Liang.] [This produced\ngreat native unrest, especially in the provinces by the upper Yangtze.] [The natives, who were steadily pushed back by the Chinese peasants, were\nreduced to migrating into the mountain country or to working for the\nChinese in semi-servile conditions; and they were ready for revolt and\nvery glad to work with the Toba.] [The result of this unrest was not\ndecisive, but it greatly reduced the strength of the regions along the\nupper Yangtze.] [Thus the main strength of the southern state was more\nthan ever confined to the Nanking region.] [The first emperor of the Liang dynasty, who assumed the name Wu Ti\n(502-549), became well known in the Western world owing to his love of\nliterature and of Buddhism.] [After he had come to the throne with the aid\nof his followers, he took no further interest in politics; he left that\nto his court clique.] [From now on, however, the political initiative\nreally belonged to the north.] [At this time there began in the Toba\nempire the risings of tribal leaders against the government which we\nhave fully described above.] [One of these leaders, Hou Ching, who had\nbecome powerful as a military leader in the north, tried in 547 to\nconclude a private alliance with the Liang to strengthen his own\nposition.] [At the same time the ruler of the northern state of the\n\"Northern Ch'i\", then in process of formation, himself wanted to\nnegotiate an alliance with the Liang, in order to be able to get rid of\nHou Ching.] [There was indecision in Liang.] [Hou Ching, who had been\ngetting into difficulties, now negotiated with a dissatisfied prince in\nLiang, invaded the country in 548 with the prince's aid, captured the\ncapital in 549, and killed Emperor Wu.] [Hou Ching now staged the usual\nspectacle: he put a puppet on the imperial throne, deposed him eighteen\nmonths later and made himself emperor.] [This man of the Toba on the throne of South China was unable, however,\nto maintain his position; he had not sufficient backing.] [He was at war\nwith the new rulers in the northern empire, and his own army, which was\nnot very large, melted away; above all, he proceeded with excessive\nharshness against the helpers who had gained access for him to the\nLiang, and thereafter he failed to secure a following from among the\nleading cliques at court.] [In 552 he was driven out by a Chinese army led\nby one of the princes and was killed.] [The new emperor had been a prince in the upper Yangtze region, and his\nclosest associates were engaged there.] [They did not want to move to the\ndistant capital, Nanking, because their private financial interests\nwould have suffered.] [The emperor therefore remained in the city now\ncalled Hankow.] [He left the eastern territory in the hands of two\npowerful generals, one of whom belonged to the Ch'en family, which he no\nlonger had the strength to remove.] [In this situation the generals in the\neast made themselves independent, and this naturally produced tension at\nonce between the east and the west of the Liang empire; this tension was\nnow exploited by the leaders of the Chou state then in the making in the\nnorth.] [On the invitation of a clique in the south and with its support,\nthe Chou invaded the present province of Hupei and in 555 captured the\nLiang emperor's capital.] [They were now able to achieve their old\nambition: a prince of the Chou dynasty was installed as a feudatory of\nthe north, reigning until 587 in the present Hankow.] [He was permitted to\ncall his quasi-feudal territory a kingdom and his dynasty, as we know\nalready, the \"Later Liang dynasty\".] [5 _The Ch'en dynasty (A.D. 557-588) and its ending by the Sui_\n\nThe more important of the independent generals in the east, Ch'en\nPa-hsien, installed a shadow emperor, forced him to abdicate, and made\nhimself emperor.] [The Ch'en dynasty which thus began was even feebler\nthan the preceding dynasties.] [Its territory was confined to the lower\nYangtze valley.] [Once more cliques and rival pretenders were at work and\nprevented any sort of constructive home policy.] [Abroad, certain\nadvantages were gained in north China over the Northern Ch'i dynasty,\nbut none of any great importance.] [Meanwhile in the north Yang Chien had brought into power the Chinese\nSui dynasty.] [It began by liquidating the quasi-feudal state of the\n\"Later Liang\".] [Then followed, in 588-9, the conquest of the Ch'en\nempire, almost without any serious resistance.] [This brought all China\nonce more under united rule, and a period of 360 years of division was\nended.] [6 _Cultural achievements of the south_\n\nFor nearly three hundred years the southern empire had witnessed\nunceasing struggles between important cliques, making impossible any\npeaceful development within the country.] [Culturally, however, the period\nwas rich in achievement.] [The court and the palaces of wealthy members of\nthe gentry attracted scholars and poets, and the gentry themselves had\ntime for artistic occupations.] [A large number of the best-known Chinese\npoets appeared in this period, and their works plainly reflect the\nconditions of that time: they are poems for the small circle of scholars\namong the gentry and for cultured patrons, spiced with quotations and\nallusions, elaborate in metre and construction, masterpieces of\naesthetic sensitivity--but unintelligible except to highly educated\nmembers of the aristocracy.] [The works were of the most artificial type,\nfar removed from all natural feeling.] [Music, too, was never so assiduously cultivated as at this time.] [But the\nold Chinese music disappeared in the south as in the north, where\ndancing troupes and women musicians in the Sogdian commercial colonies\nof the province of Kansu established the music of western Turkestan.] [Here in the south, native courtesans brought the aboriginal, non-Chinese\nmusic to the court; Chinese poets wrote songs in Chinese for this music,\nand so the old Chinese music became unfashionable and was forgotten.] [The\nupper class, the gentry, bought these girls, often in large numbers, and\norganized them in troupes of singers and dancers, who had to appear on\nfestal occasions and even at the court.] [For merchants and other people\nwho lacked full social recognition there were brothels, a quite natural\nfeature wherever there were considerable commercial colonies or\ncollections of merchants, including the capital of the southern empire.] [In their ideology, as will be remembered, the Chinese gentry were always\nin favour of Confucianism.] [Here in the south, however, the association\nwith Confucianism was less serious, the southern gentry, with their\nrelations with the merchant class, having acquired the character of\n\"colonial\" gentry.] [They were brought up as Confucians, but were\ninterested in all sorts of different religious movements, and\nespecially in Buddhism.] [A different type of Buddhism from that in the\nnorth had spread over most of the south, a meditative Buddhism that was\nvery close ideologically to the original Taoism, and so fulfilled the\nsame social functions as Taoism.] [Those who found the official life with\nits intrigues repulsive, occupied themselves with meditative Buddhism.] [The monks told of the sad fate of the wicked in the life to come, and\nindustriously filled the gentry with apprehension, so that they tried to\nmake up for their evil deeds by rich gifts to the monasteries.] [Many\nemperors in this period, especially Wu Ti of the Liang dynasty, inclined\nto Buddhism.] [Wu Ti turned to it especially in his old age, when he was\nshut out entirely from the tasks of a ruler and was no longer satisfied\nwith the usual pleasures of the court.] [Several times he instituted\nBuddhist ceremonies of purification on a large scale in the hope of so\nsecuring forgiveness for the many murders he had committed.] [Genuine Taoism also came to the fore again, and with it the popular\nreligion with its magic, now amplified with the many local deities that\nhad been taken over from the indigenous population of the south.] [For a\ntime it became the fashion at court to pass the time in learned\ndiscussions between Confucians, Buddhists, and Taoists, which were quite\nsimilar to the debates between learned men centuries earlier at the\nwealthy little Indian courts.] [For the court clique this was more a\nmatter of pastime than of religious controversy.] [It seems thoroughly in\nharmony with the political events that here, for the first time in the\nhistory of Chinese philosophy, materialist currents made their\nappearance, running parallel with Machiavellian theories of power for\nthe benefit of the wealthiest of the gentry.] [Principal dynasties of North and South China\n\n _North and South_\n\n Western Chin dynasty (A.D. 265-317)\n\n _North_ _South_\n\n 1.] [Earlier Chao (Hsiung-nu) 304-329 1.] [Eastern Chin (Chinese) 317-419\n 2.] [Later Chao (Hsiung-nu) 328-352\n 3.] [Earlier Ch'in (Tibetans) 351-394\n 4.] [Later Ch'in (Tibetans) 384-417\n 5.] [Western Ch'in (Hsiung-nu)385-431\n 6.] [Earlier Yen (Hsien-pi) 352-370\n 7.] [Later Yen (Hsien-pi) 384-409\n 8.] [Western Yen (Hsien-pi) 384-395\n 9.] [Southern Yen (Hsien-pi) 398-410\n 10.] [Northern Yen (Hsien-pi) 409-436\n 11.] [Tai (Toba) 338-376\n 12.] [Earlier Liang (Chinese) 313-376\n 13.] [Northern Liang (Hsiung-nu)\n 397-439\n 14.] [Western Liang (Chinese?] [) 400-421\n 15.] [Later Liang (Tibetans) 386-403\n 16.] [Southern Liang (Hsien-pi)\n 379-414\n 17.] [Hsia (Hsiung-nu) 407-431\n 18.] [Toba (Turks) 385-550\n 2.] [Liu-Sung 420-478\n 3.] [Southern Ch'i 479-501\n 19.] [Northern Ch'i (Chinese?] [)550-576 4.] [Liang 502-556\n 20.] [Northern Chou (Toba) 557-579 5.] [Ch'en 557-588\n 21.] [Sui (Chinese) 580-618 6.] [Sui 580-618\n\n\n\nChapter Eight\n\n\nTHE EMPIRES OF THE SUI AND THE T'ANG\n\n\n(A) The Sui dynasty (A.D. 580-618)\n\n1 _Internal situation in the newly unified empire_\n\nThe last of the northern dynasties, the Northern Chou, had been brought\nto an end by Yang Chien: rapid campaigns had made an end of the\nremaining petty states, and thus the Sui dynasty had come into power.] [China, reunited after 360 years, was again under Chinese rule.] [This\nevent brought about a new epoch in the history of the Far East.] [But the\nhappenings of 360 years could not be wiped out by a change of dynasty.] [The short Sui period can only be described as a period of transition to\nunified forms.] [In the last resort the union of the various parts of China proceeded\nfrom the north.] [The north had always, beyond question, been militarily\nsuperior, because its ruling class had consisted of warlike peoples.] [Yet\nit was not a northerner who had united China but a Chinese though, owing\nto mixed marriages, he was certainly not entirely unrelated to the\nnorthern peoples.] [The rule, however, of the actual northern peoples was\nat an end.] [The start of the Sui dynasty, while the Chou still held the\nnorth, was evidence, just like the emergence in the north-east some\nthirty years earlier of the Northern Ch'i dynasty, that the Chinese\ngentry with their landowning basis had gained the upper hand over the\nwarrior nomads.] [The Chinese gentry had not come unchanged out of that struggle.] [Culturally they had taken over many things from the foreigners,\nbeginning with music and the style of their clothing, in which they had\nentirely adopted the northern pattern, and including other elements of\ndaily life.] [Among the gentry were now many formerly alien families who\nhad gradually become entirely Chinese.] [On the other hand, the\nforeigners' feudal outlook had influenced the gentry, so that a sense\nof distinctions of rank had developed among them.] [There were Chinese\nfamilies who regarded themselves as superior to the rest, just as had\nbeen the case among the northern peoples, and who married only among\nthemselves or with the ruling house and not with ordinary families of\nthe gentry.] [They paid great attention to their genealogies, had the\nstate keep records of them and insisted that the dynastic histories\nmentioned their families and their main family members.] [Lists of\nprominent gentry families were set up which mentioned the home of each\nclan, so that pretenders could easily be detected.] [The rules of giving\npersonal names were changed so that it became possible to identify a\nperson's genealogical position within the family.] [At the same time the\ncontempt of the military underwent modification; the gentry were even\nready to take over high military posts, and also to profit by them.] [The new Sui empire found itself faced with many difficulties.] [During the\nthree and a half centuries of division, north and south had developed in\ndifferent ways.] [They no longer spoke the same language in everyday life\n(we distinguish to this day between a Nanking and Peking \"High Chinese\",\nto say nothing of dialects).] [The social and economic structures were\nvery different in the two parts of the country.] [How could unity be\nrestored in these things?] [Then there was the problem of population.] [The north-eastern plain had\nalways been thickly populated; it had early come under Toba rule and had\nbeen able to develop further.] [The region round the old northern capital\nCh'ang-an, on the other hand, had suffered greatly from the struggles\nbefore the Toba period and had never entirely recovered.] [Meanwhile, in\nthe south the population had greatly increased in the region north of\nNanking, while the regions south of the Yangtze and the upper Yangtze\nvalley were more thinly peopled.] [The real South, i.e. the modern\nprovinces of Fukien, Kwangtung and Kwangsi, was still underdeveloped,\nmainly because of the malaria there.] [In the matter of population the\nnorth unquestionably remained prominent.] [The founder of the Sui dynasty, known by his reign name of Wen Ti\n(589-604), came from the west, close to Ch'ang-an.] [There he and his\nfollowing had their extensive domains.] [Owing to the scanty population\nthere and the resulting shortage of agricultural labourers, these\nproperties were very much less productive than the small properties in\nthe north-east.] [This state of things was well known in the south, and it\nwas expected, with good reason, that the government would try to\ntransfer parts of the population to the north-west, in order to settle a\npeasantry round the capital for the support of its greatly increasing\nstaff of officials, and to satisfy the gentry of the region.] [This\nproduced several revolts in the south.] [As an old soldier who had long been a subject of the Toba, Wen Ti had no\ngreat understanding of theory: he was a practical man.] [He was\nanti-intellectual and emotionally attached to Buddhism; he opposed\nConfucianism for emotional reasons and believed that it could give him\nno serviceable officials of the sort he wanted.] [He demanded from his\nofficials the same obedience and sense of duty as from his soldiers; and\nhe was above all thrifty, almost miserly, because he realized that the\nfinances of his state could only be brought into order by the greatest\nexertions.] [The budget had to be drawn up for the vast territory of the\nempire without any possibility of saying in advance whether the revenues\nwould come in and whether the transport of dues to the capital would\nfunction.] [This cautious calculation was entirely justified, but it aroused great\nopposition.] [Both east and south were used to a much better style of\nliving; yet the gentry of both regions were now required to cut down\ntheir consumption.] [On top of this they were excluded from the conduct of\npolitical affairs.] [In the past, under the Northern Ch'i empire in the\nnorth-east and under the Ch'en empire in the south, there had been\nthousands of positions at court in which the whole of the gentry could\nfind accommodation of some kind.] [Now the central government was far in\nthe west, and other people were its administrators.] [In the past the\ngentry had a profitable and easily accessible market for their produce\nin the neighbouring capital; now the capital was far away, entailing\nlong-distance transport at heavy risk with little profit.] [The dissatisfied circles of the gentry in the north-east and in the\nsouth incited Prince Kuang to rebellion.] [The prince and his followers\nmurdered the emperor and set aside the heir-apparent; and Kuang came to\nthe throne, assuming the name of Yang Ti.] [His first act was to transfer\nthe capital back to the east, to Loyang, close to the grain-producing\nregions.] [His second achievement was to order the construction of great\ncanals, to facilitate the transport of grain to the capital and to\nprovide a valuable new market for the producers in the north-east and\nthe south.] [It was at this time that the first forerunner of the famous\n\"Imperial Canal\" was constructed, the canal that connects the Yangtze\nwith the Yellow River.] [Small canals, connecting various streams, had\nlong been in existence, so that it was possible to travel from north to\nsouth by water, but these canals were not deep enough or broad enough to\ntake large freight barges.] [There are records of lighters of 500 and even\n800 tons capacity!] [These are dimensions unheard of in the West in those\ntimes.] [In addition to a serviceable canal to the south, Yang Ti made\nanother that went north almost to the present Peking.] [Hand in hand with these successes of the north-eastern and southern\ngentry went strong support for Confucianism, and a reorganization of the\nConfucian examination system.] [As a rule, however, the examinations were\ncircumvented as an unimportant formality; the various governors were\nordered each to send annually to the capital three men with the required\neducation, for whose quality they were held personally responsible;\nmerchants and artisans were expressly excluded.] [2 _Relations with Turks and with Korea_\n\nIn foreign affairs an extraordinarily fortunate situation for the Sui\ndynasty had come into existence.] [The T'u-chueeh, the Turks, much the\nstrongest people of the north, had given support now to one and now to\nanother of the northern kingdoms, and this, together with their many\narmed incursions, had made them the dominant political factor in the\nnorth.] [But in the first year of the Sui period (581) they split into two\nsections, so that the Sui had hopes of gaining influence over them.] [At\nfirst both sections of the Turks had entered into alliance with China,\nbut this was not a sufficient safeguard for the Sui, for one of the\nTurkish khans was surrounded by Toba who had fled from the vanished\nstate of the Northern Chou, and who now tried to induce the Turks to\nundertake a campaign for the reconquest of North China.] [The leader of\nthis agitation was a princess of the Yue-wen family, the ruling family of\nthe Northern Chou.] [The Chinese fought the Turks several times; but much\nmore effective results were gained by their diplomatic missions, which\nincited the eastern against the western Turks and vice versa, and also\nincited the Turks against the Toba clique.] [In the end one of the\nsections of Turks accepted Chinese overlordship, and some tribes of the\nother section were brought over to the Chinese side; also, fresh\ndisunion was sown among the Turks.] [Under the emperor Yang Ti, P'ei Chue carried this policy further.] [He\ninduced the Toeloes tribes to attack the T'u-yue-hun, and then himself\nattacked the latter, so destroying their power.] [The T'u-yue-hun were a\npeople living in the extreme north of Tibet, under a ruling class\napparently of Hsien-pi origin; the people were largely Tibetan.] [The\npurpose of the conquest of the T'u-yue-hun was to safeguard access to\nCentral Asia.] [An effective Turkestan policy was, however, impossible so\nlong as the Turks were still a formidable power.] [Accordingly, the\nintrigues that aimed at keeping the two sections of Turks apart were\ncontinued.] [In 615 came a decisive counter-attack from the Turks.] [Their\nkhan, Shih-pi, made a surprise assault on the emperor himself, with all\nhis following, in the Ordos region, and succeeded in surrounding them.] [They were in just the same desperate situation as when, eight centuries\nearlier, the Chinese emperor had been beleaguered by Mao Tun.] [But the\nChinese again saved themselves by a trick.] [The young Chinese commander,\nLi Shih-min, succeeded in giving the Turks the impression that large\nreinforcements were on the way; a Chinese princess who was with the\nTurks spread the rumour that the Turks were to be attacked by another\ntribe--and Shih-pi raised the siege, although the Chinese had been\nentirely defeated.] [In the Sui period the Chinese were faced with a further problem.] [Korea\nor, rather, the most important of the three states in Korea, had\ngenerally been on friendly terms with the southern state during the\nperiod of China's division, and for this reason had been more or less\nprotected from its North Chinese neighbours.] [After the unification of\nChina, Korea had reason for seeking an alliance with the Turks, in order\nto secure a new counterweight against China.] [A Turco-Korean alliance would have meant for China a sort of\nencirclement that might have grave consequences.] [The alliance might be\nextended to Japan, who had certain interests in Korea.] [Accordingly the\nChinese determined to attack Korea, though at the same time negotiations\nwere set on foot.] [The fighting, which lasted throughout the Sui period,\ninvolved technical difficulties, as it called for combined land and sea\nattacks; in general it brought little success.] [3 _Reasons for collapse_\n\nThe continual warfare entailed great expense, and so did the intrigues,\nbecause they depended for their success on bribery.] [Still more expensive\nwere the great canal works.] [In addition to this, the emperor Yang Ti,\nunlike his father, was very extravagant.] [He built enormous palaces and\nundertook long journeys throughout the empire with an immense following.] [All this wrecked the prosperity which his father had built up and had\ntried to safeguard.] [The only productive expenditure was that on the\ncanals, and they could not begin to pay in so short a period.] [The\nemperor's continual journeys were due, no doubt, in part simply to the\npursuit of pleasure, though they were probably intended at the same time\nto hinder risings and to give the emperor direct control over every part\nof the country.] [But the empire was too large and too complex for its\nadministration to be possible in the midst of journeying.] [[Illustration: Map 5: The T'ang realm (_about A.D. 750_)]\n\nThe whole of the chancellery had to accompany the emperor, and all the\ntransport necessary for the feeding of the emperor and his government\nhad continually to be diverted to wherever he happened to be staying.] [All this produced disorder and unrest.] [The gentry, who at first had so\nstrongly supported the emperor and had been able to obtain anything they\nwanted from him, now began to desert him and set up pretenders.] [From 615\nonward, after the defeat at the hands of the Turks, risings broke out\neverywhere.] [The emperor had to establish his government in the south,\nwhere he felt safer.] [There, however, in 618, he was assassinated by\nconspirators led by Toba of the Yue-wen family.] [Everywhere now\nindependent governments sprang up, and for five years China was split up\ninto countless petty states.] [(B) The T'ang dynasty (A.D. 618-906)\n\n1 _Reforms and decentralization_\n\nThe hero of the Turkish siege, Li Shih-min, had allied himself with the\nTurks in 615-16.] [There were special reasons for his ability to do this.] [In his family it had been a regular custom to marry women belonging to\nToba families, so that he naturally enjoyed the confidence of the Toba\nparty among the Turks.] [There are various theories as to the origin of\nhis family, the Li.] [The family itself claimed to be descended from the\nruling family of the Western Liang.] [It is doubtful whether that family\nwas purely Chinese, and in any case Li Shih-min's descent from it is a\nmatter of doubt.] [It is possible that his family was a sinified Toba\nfamily, or at least came from a Toba region.] [However this may be, Li\nShih-min continued the policy which had been pursued since the beginning\nof the Sui dynasty by the members of the deposed Toba ruling family of\nthe Northern Chou--the policy of collaboration with the Turks in the\neffort to remove the Sui.] [The nominal leadership in the rising that now began lay in the hands of\nLi Shih-min's father, Li Yuean; in practice Li Shih-min saw to\neverything.] [At the end of 617 he was outside the first capital of the\nSui, Ch'ang-an, with a Turkish army that had come to his aid on the\nstrength of the treaty of alliance.] [After capturing Ch'ang-an he\ninstalled a puppet emperor there, a grandson of Yang Ti.] [In 618 the\npuppet was dethroned and Li Yuean, the father, was made emperor, in the\nT'ang dynasty.] [Internal fighting went on until 623, and only then was\nthe whole empire brought under the rule of the T'ang.] [Great reforms then began.] [A new land law aimed at equalizing ownership,\nso that as far as possible all peasants should own the same amount of\nland and the formation of large estates be prevented.] [The law aimed also\nat protecting the peasants from the loss of their land.] [The law was,\nhowever, nothing but a modification of the Toba land law (_chuen-t'ien_),\nand it was hoped that now it would provide a sound and solid economic\nfoundation for the empire.] [From the first, however, members of the\ngentry who were connected with the imperial house were given a\nprivileged position; then officials were excluded from the prohibition\nof leasing, so that there continued to be tenant farmers in addition to\nthe independent peasants.] [Moreover, the temples enjoyed special\ntreatment, and were also exempted from taxation.] [All these exceptions\nbrought grist to the mills of the gentry, and so did the failure to\ncarry into effect many of the provisions of the law.] [Before long a new\ngentry had been formed, consisting of the old gentry together with those\nwho had directly aided the emperor's ascent to the throne.] [From the\nbeginning of the eighth century there were repeated complaints that\npeasants were \"disappearing\".] [They were entering the service of the\ngentry as tenant farmers or farm workers, and owing to the privileged\nposition of the gentry in regard to taxation, the revenue sank in\nproportion as the number of independent peasants decreased.] [One of the\nreasons for the flight of farmers may have been the corvee laws\nconnected with the \"equal land\" system: small families were much less\naffected by the corvee obligation than larger families with many sons.] [It may be, therefore, that large families or at least sons of the sons\nin large families moved away in order to escape these obligations.] [In\norder to prevent irregularities, the T'ang renewed the old \"_pao-chia_\"\nsystem, as a part of a general reform of the administration in 624.] [In\nthis system groups of five families were collectively responsible for\nthe payment of taxes, the corvee, for crimes committed by individuals\nwithin one group, and for loans from state agencies.] [Such a system is\nattested for pre-Christian times already; it was re-activated in the\neleventh century and again from time to time, down to the present.] [Yet the system of land equalization soon broke down and was abolished\nofficially around A.D. 780.] [But the classification of citizens into\ndifferent classes, first legalized under the Toba, was retained and even\nmore refined.] [As early as in the Han period there had been a dual administration--the\ncivil and, independent of it, the military administration.] [One and the\nsame area would belong to a particular administrative prefecture\n(_chuen_) and at the same time to a particular military prefecture\n(_chou_).] [This dual organization had persisted during the Toba period\nand, at first, remained unchanged in the beginning of the T'ang.] [The backbone of the military power in the seventh century was the\nmilitia, some six hundred units of an average of a thousand men,\nrecruited from the general farming population for short-term service:\none month in five in the areas close to the capital.] [These men formed a\npart of the emperor's guards and were under the command of members of\nthe Shensi gentry.] [This system which had its direct parallels in the Han\ntime and evolved out of a Toba system, broke down when short offensive\nwars were no longer fought.] [Other imperial guards were staffed with\nyoung sons of the gentry who were stationed in the most delicate parts\nof the palaces.] [The emperor T'ai-tsung had his personal bodyguard, a\npart of his own army of conquest, consisting of his former bondsmen\n(_pu-ch'ue_).] [The ranks of the Army of conquest were later filled by\ndescendants of the original soldiers and by orphans.] [In the provinces, the armies of the military prefectures gradually lost\ntheir importance when wars became longer and militiamen proved\ninsufficient.] [Many of the soldiers here were convicts and exiles.] [It is\ninteresting to note that the title of the commander of these armies,\n_tu-tu_, in the fourth century meant a commander in the church-Taoist\norganization; it was used by the Toba and from the seventh century on\nbecame widely accepted as title among the Uighurs, Tibetans, Sogdians,\nTurks and Khotanese.] [When the prefectural armies and the militia forces weakened, special\nregional armies were created (from 678 on); this institution had existed\namong the Toba, but they had greatly reduced these armies after 500.] [The\ncommanders of these new T'ang armies soon became more important than the\ncivil administrators, because they commanded a number of districts\nmaking up a whole province.] [This assured a better functioning of the\nmilitary machine, but put the governors-general in a position to pursue\na policy of their own, even against the central government.] [In addition\nto this, the financial administration of their commands was put under\nthem, whereas in the past it had been in the hands of the civil\nadministration of the various provinces.] [The civil administration was\nalso reorganized (see the table on pages 83-84).] [Towards the end of the T'ang period the state secretariat was set up in\ntwo parts: it was in possession of all information about the economic\nand political affairs of the empire, and it made the actual decisions.] [Moreover, a number of technical departments had been created--in all, a\nsystem that might compare favourably with European systems of the\neighteenth century.] [At the end of the T'ang period there was added to\nthis system a section for economic affairs, working quite independently\nof it and directly under the emperor; it was staffed entirely with\neconomic or financial experts, while for the staffing of the other\ndepartments no special qualification was demanded besides the passing of\nthe state examinations.] [In addition to these, at the end of the T'ang\nperiod a new department was in preparation, a sort of Privy Council, a\nmainly military organization, probably intended to control the generals\n(section 3 of the table on page 83), just as the state secretariat\ncontrolled the civil officials.] [The Privy Council became more and more\nimportant in the tenth century and especially in the Mongol epoch.] [Its\nabsence in the early T'ang period gave the military governors much too\ngreat freedom, ultimately with baneful results.] [At first, however, the reforms of A.D. 624 worked well.] [The\nadministration showed energy, and taxes flowed in.] [In the middle of the\neighth century the annual budget of the state included the following\nitems: over a million tons of grain for the consumption of the capital\nand the palace and for salaries of civil and military officials;\ntwenty-seven million pieces of textiles, also for the consumption of\ncapital and palace and army, and for supplementary purchases of grain;\ntwo million strings of money (a string nominally held a thousand copper\ncoins) for salaries and for the army.] [This was much more than the state\nbudget of the Han period.] [The population of the empire had also\nincreased; it seems to have amounted to some fifty millions.] [In the\ncapital a large staff of officials had been created to meet all\nadministrative needs.] [The capital grew enormously, at times containing\ntwo million people.] [Great numbers of young members of the gentry\nstreamed into the capital for the examinations held under the Confucian\nsystem.] [The crowding of people into the capital and the accumulation of\nresources there promoted a rich cultural life.] [We know of many poets of\nthat period whose poems were real masterpieces; and artists whose works\nwere admired centuries later.] [These poets and artists were the pioneers\nof the flourishing culture of the later T'ang period.] [Hand in hand with\nthis went luxury and refinement of manners.] [For those who retired from\nthe bustle of the capital to work on their estates and to enjoy the\nsociety of their friends, there was time to occupy themselves with\nTaoism and Buddhism, especially meditative Buddhism.] [Everyone, of\ncourse, was Confucian, as was fitting for a member of the gentry, but\nConfucianism was so taken for granted that it was not discussed.] [It was\nthe basis of morality for the gentry, but held no problems.] [It no longer\ncontained anything of interest.] [Conditions had been much the same once before, at the court of the Han\nemperors, but with one great difference: at that time everything of\nimportance took place in the capital; now, in addition to the actual\ncapital, Ch'ang-an, there was the second capital, Loyang, in no way\ninferior to the other in importance; and the great towns in the south\nalso played their part as commercial and cultural centres that had\ndeveloped in the 360 years of division between north and south.] [There\nthe local gentry gathered to lead a cultivated life, though not quite in\nthe grand style of the capital.] [If an official was transferred to the\nYangtze, it no longer amounted to a punishment as in the past; he would\nnot meet only uneducated people, but a society resembling that of the\ncapital.] [The institution of governors-general further promoted this\ndecentralization: the governor-general surrounded himself with a little\ncourt of his own, drawn from the local gentry and the local\nintelligentsia.] [This placed the whole edifice of the empire on a much\nbroader foundation, with lasting results.] [2 _Turkish policy_\n\nThe foreign policy of this first period of the T'ang, lasting until\nabout 690, was mainly concerned with the Turks and Turkestan.] [There were\nstill two Turkish realms in the Far East, both of considerable strength\nbut in keen rivalry with each other.] [The T'ang had come into power with\nthe aid of the eastern Turks, but they admitted the leader of the\nwestern Turks to their court; he had been at Ch'ang-an in the time of\nthe Sui.] [He was murdered, however, by Chinese at the instigation of the\neastern Turks.] [The next khan of the eastern Turks nevertheless turned\nagainst the T'ang, and gave his support to a still surviving pretender\nto the throne representing the Sui dynasty; the khan contended that the\nold alliance of the eastern Turks had been with the Sui and not with the\nT'ang.] [The T'ang therefore tried to come to terms once more with the\nwestern Turks, who had been affronted by the assassination; but the\nnegotiations came to nothing in face of an approach made by the eastern\nTurks to the western, and of the distrust of the Chinese with which all\nthe Turks were filled.] [About 624 there were strong Turkish invasions,\ncarried right up to the capital.] [Suddenly, however, for reasons not\ndisclosed by the Chinese sources, the Turks withdrew, and the T'ang were\nable to conclude a fairly honourable peace.] [This was the time of the\nmaximum power of the eastern Turks.] [Shortly afterwards disturbances\nbroke out (627), under the leadership of Turkish Uighurs and their\nallies.] [The Chinese took advantage of these disturbances, and in a great\ncampaign in 629-30 succeeded in overthrowing the eastern Turks; the khan\nwas taken to the imperial court in Ch'ang-an, and the Chinese emperor\nmade himself \"Heavenly Khan\" of the Turks.] [In spite of the protest of\nmany of the ministers, who pointed to the result of the settlement\npolicy of the Later Han dynasty, the eastern Turks were settled in the\nbend of the upper Hwang-ho and placed more or less under the\nprotectorate of two governors-general.] [Their leaders were admitted into\nthe Chinese army, and the sons of their nobles lived at the imperial\ncourt.] [No doubt it was hoped in this way to turn the Turks into Chinese,\nas had been done with the Toba, though for entirely different reasons.] [More than a million Turks were settled in this way, and some of them\nactually became Chinese later and gained important posts.] [In general, however, this in no way broke the power of the Turks.] [The\ngreat Turkish empire, which extended as far as Byzantium, continued to\nexist.] [The Chinese success had done no more than safeguard the frontier\nfrom a direct menace and frustrate the efforts of the supporters of the\nSui dynasty and the Toba dynasty, who had been living among the eastern\nTurks and had built on them.] [The power of the western Turks remained a\nlasting menace to China, especially if they should succeed in\nco-operating with the Tibetans.] [After the annihilation of the T'u-yue-hun\nby the Sui at the very beginning of the seventh century, a new political\nunit had formed in northern Tibet, the T'u-fan, who also seem to have\nhad an upper class of Turks and Mongols and a Tibetan lower class.] [Just\nas in the Han period, Chinese policy was bound to be directed to\npreventing a union between Turks and Tibetans.] [This, together with\ncommercial interests, seems to have been the political motive of the\nChinese Turkestan policy under the T'ang.] [3 _Conquest of Turkestan and Korea.] [Summit of power_\n\nThe Turkestan wars began in 639 with an attack on the city-state of\nKao-ch'ang (Khocho).] [This state had been on more or less friendly terms\nwith North China since the Toba period, and it had succeeded again and\nagain in preserving a certain independence from the Turks.] [Now, however,\nKao-ch'ang had to submit to the western Turks, whose power was\nconstantly increasing.] [China made that submission a pretext for war.] [By\n640 the whole basin of Turkestan was brought under Chinese dominance.] [The whole campaign was really directed against the western Turks, to\nwhom Turkestan had become subject.] [The western Turks had been crippled\nby two internal events, to the advantage of the Chinese: there had been\na tribal rising, and then came the rebellion and the rise of the Uighurs\n(640-650).] [These events belong to Turkish history, and we shall confine\nourselves here to their effects on Chinese history.] [The Chinese were\nable to rely on the Uighurs; above all, they were furnished by the Toeloes\nTurks with a large army, with which they turned once more against\nTurkestan in 647-48, and now definitely established their rule there.] [The active spirit at the beginning of the T'ang rule had not been the\nemperor but his son Li Shih-min, who was not, however, named as heir to\nthe throne because he was not the eldest son.] [The result of this was\ntension between Li Shih-min and his father and brothers, especially the\nheir to the throne.] [When the brothers learned that Li Shih-min was\nclaiming the succession, they conspired against him, and in 626, at the\nvery moment when the western Turks had made a rapid incursion and were\nonce more threatening the Chinese capital, there came an armed collision\nbetween the brothers, in which Li Shih-min was the victor.] [The brothers\nand their families were exterminated, the father compelled to abdicate,\nand Li Shih-min became emperor, assuming the name T'ai Tsung (627-649).] [His reign marked the zenith of the power of China and of the T'ang\ndynasty.] [Their inner struggles and the Chinese penetration of Turkestan\nhad weakened the position of the Turks; the reorganization of the\nadministration and of the system of taxation, the improved transport\nresulting from the canals constructed under the Sui, and the useful\nresults of the creation of great administrative areas under strong\nmilitary control, had brought China inner stability and in consequence\nexternal power and prestige.] [The reputation which she then obtained as\nthe most powerful state of the Far East endured when her inner stability\nhad begun to deteriorate.] [Thus in 638 the Sassanid ruler Jedzgerd sent a\nmission to China asking for her help against the Arabs.] [Three further\nmissions came at intervals of a good many years.] [The Chinese declined,\nhowever, to send a military expedition to such a distance; they merely\nconferred on the ruler the title of a Chinese governor; this was of\nlittle help against the Arabs, and in 675 the last ruler, Peruz, fled to\nthe Chinese court.] [The last years of T'ai Tsung's reign were filled with a great war\nagainst Korea, which represented a continuation of the plans of the Sui\nemperor Yang Ti.] [This time Korea came firmly into Chinese possession.] [In\n661, under T'ai Tsung's son, the Korean fighting was resumed, this time\nagainst Japanese who were defending their interests in Korea.] [This was\nthe period of great Japanese enthusiasm for China.] [The Chinese system of\nadministration was copied, and Buddhism was adopted, together with every\npossible element of Chinese culture.] [This meant increased trade with\nJapan, bringing in large profits to China, and so the Korean middleman\nwas to be eliminated.] [T'ai Tsung's son, Kao Tsung (650-683), merely carried to a conclusion\nwhat had been begun.] [Externally China's prestige continued at its\nzenith.] [The caravans streamed into China from western and central Asia,\nbringing great quantities of luxury goods.] [At this time, however, the\nforeign colonies were not confined to the capital but were installed in\nall the important trading ports and inland trade centres.] [The whole\ncountry was covered by a commercial network; foreign merchants who had\ncome overland to China met others who had come by sea.] [The foreigners\nset up their own counting-houses and warehouses; whole quarters of the\ncapital were inhabited entirely by foreigners who lived as if they were\nin their own country.] [They brought with them their own religions:\nManichaeism, Mazdaism, and Nestorian Christianity.] [The first Jews came\ninto China, apparently as dealers in fabrics, and the first Arabian\nMohammedans made their appearance.] [In China the foreigners bought\nsilkstuffs and collected everything of value that they could find,\nespecially precious metals.] [Culturally this influx of foreigners\nenriched China; economically, as in earlier periods, it did not; its\ndisadvantages were only compensated for a time by the very beneficial\nresults of the trade with Japan, and this benefit did not last long.] [4 _The reign of the empress Wu: Buddhism and capitalism_\n\nThe pressure of the western Turks had been greatly weakened in this\nperiod, especially as their attention had been diverted to the west,\nwhere the advance of Islam and of the Arabs was a new menace for them.] [On the other hand, from 650 onward the Tibetans gained immensely in\npower, and pushed from the south into the Tarim basin.] [In 678 they\ninflicted a heavy defeat on the Chinese, and it cost the T'ang decades\nof diplomatic effort before they attained, in 699, their aim of breaking\nup the Tibetans' realm and destroying their power.] [In the last year of\nKao Tsung's reign, 683, came the first of the wars of liberation of the\nnorthern Turks, known until then as the western Turks, against the\nChinese.] [And with the end of Kao Tsung's reign began the decline of the\nT'ang regime.] [Most of the historians attribute it to a woman, the later\nempress Wu.] [She had been a concubine of T'ai Tsung, and after his death\nhad become a Buddhist nun--a frequent custom of the time--until Kao\nTsung fell in love with her and made her a concubine of his own.] [In the\nend he actually divorced the empress and made the concubine empress\n(655).] [She gained more and more influence, being placed on a par with\nthe emperor and soon entirely eliminating him in practice; in 680 she\nremoved the rightful heir to the throne and put her own son in his\nplace; after Kao Tsung's death in 683 she became regent for her son.] [Soon afterward she dethroned him in favour of his twenty-two-year-old\nbrother; in 690 she deposed him too and made herself empress in the\n\"Chou dynasty\" (690-701).] [This officially ended the T'ang dynasty.] [Matters, however, were not so simple as this might suggest.] [For\notherwise on the empress's deposition there would not have been a mass\nof supporters moving heaven and earth to treat the new empress Wei\n(705-712) in the same fashion.] [There is every reason to suppose that\nbehind the empress Wu there was a group opposing the ruling clique.] [In\nspite of everything, the T'ang government clique was very pro-Turkish,\nand many Turks and members of Toba families had government posts and,\nabove all, important military commands.] [No campaign of that period was\nundertaken without Turkish auxiliaries.] [The fear seems to have been felt\nin some quarters that this T'ang group might pursue a military policy\nhostile to the gentry.] [The T'ang group had its roots mainly in western\nChina; thus the eastern Chinese gentry were inclined to be hostile to\nit.] [The first act of the empress Wu had been to transfer the capital to\nLoyang in the east.] [Thus, she tried to rely upon the co-operation of the\neastern gentry which since the Northern Chou and Sui dynasties had been\nout of power.] [While the western gentry brought their children into\ngovernment positions by claiming family privileges (a son of a high\nofficial had the right to a certain position without having passed the\nregular examinations), the sons of the eastern gentry had to pass\nthrough the examinations.] [Thus, there were differences in education and\noutlook between both groups which continued long after the death of the\nempress.] [In addition, the eastern gentry, who supported the empress Wu\nand later the empress Wei, were closely associated with the foreign\nmerchants of western Asia and the Buddhist Church to which they adhered.] [In gratitude for help from the Buddhists, the empress Wu endowed them\nwith enormous sums of money, and tried to make Buddhism a sort of state\nreligion.] [A similar development had taken place in the Toba and also in\nthe Sui period.] [Like these earlier rulers, the empress Wu seems to have\naimed at combining spiritual leadership with her position as ruler of\nthe empire.] [In this epoch Buddhism helped to create the first beginnings of\nlarge-scale capitalism.] [In connection with the growing foreign trade,\nthe monasteries grew in importance as repositories of capital; the\ntemples bought more and more land, became more and more wealthy, and so\ngained increasing influence over economic affairs.] [They accumulated\nlarge quantities of metal, which they stored in the form of bronze\nfigures of Buddha, and with these stocks they exercised controlling\ninfluence over the money market.] [There is a constant succession of\nrecords of the total weight of the bronze figures, as an indication of\nthe money value they represented.] [It is interesting to observe that\ntemples and monasteries acquired also shops and had rental income from\nthem.] [They further operated many mills, as did the owners of private\nestates (now called \"_chuang_\") and thus controlled the price of flour,\nand polished rice.] [The cultural influence of Buddhism found expression in new and improved\ntranslations of countless texts, and in the passage of pilgrims along\nthe caravan routes, helped by the merchants, as far as western Asia and\nIndia, like the famous Hsuean-tsang.] [Translations were made not only from\nIndian or other languages into Chinese, but also, for instance, from\nChinese into the Uighur and other Turkish tongues, and into Tibetan,\nKorean, and Japanese.] [The attitude of the Turks can only be understood when we realize that\nthe background of events during the time of empress Wu was formed by the\nactivities of groups of the eastern Chinese gentry.] [The northern Turks,\nwho since 630 had been under Chinese overlordship, had fought many wars\nof liberation against the Chinese; and through the conquest of\nneighbouring Turks they had gradually become once more, in the\ndecade-and-a-half after the death of Kao Tsung, a great Turkish realm.] [In 698 the Turkish khan, at the height of his power, demanded a Chinese\nprince for his daughter--not, as had been usual in the past, a princess\nfor his son.] [His intention, no doubt, was to conquer China with the\nprince's aid, to remove the empress Wu, and to restore the T'ang\ndynasty--but under Turkish overlordship!] [Thus, when the empress Wu sent\na member of her own family, the khan rejected him and demanded the\nrestoration of the deposed T'ang emperor.] [To enforce this demand, he\nembarked on a great campaign against China.] [In this the Turks must have\nbeen able to rely on the support of a strong group inside China, for\nbefore the Turkish attack became dangerous the empress Wu recalled the\ndeposed emperor, at first as \"heir to the throne\"; thus she yielded to\nthe khan's principal demand.] [In spite of this, the Turkish attacks did not cease.] [After a series of\nimbroglios within the country in which a group under the leadership of\nthe powerful Ts'ui gentry family had liquidated the supporters of the\nempress Wu shortly before her death, a T'ang prince finally succeeded in\nkilling empress Wei and her clique.] [At first, his father ascended the\nthrone, but was soon persuaded to abdicate in favour of his son, now\ncalled emperor Hsueang Tsung (713-755), just as the first ruler of the\nT'ang dynasty had done.] [The practice of abdicating--in contradiction\nwith the Chinese concept of the ruler as son of Heaven and the duties of\na son towards his father--seems to have impressed Japan where similar\nsteps later became quite common.] [With Hsuean Tsung there began now a\nperiod of forty-five years, which the Chinese describe as the second\nblossoming of T'ang culture, a period that became famous especially for\nits painting and literature.] [5 _Second blossoming of T'ang culture_\n\nThe T'ang literature shows the co-operation of many favourable factors.] [The ancient Chinese classical style of official reports and decrees\nwhich the Toba had already revived, now led to the clear prose style of\nthe essayists, of whom Han Yue (768-825) and Liu Tsung-yuean (747-796)\ncall for special mention.] [But entirely new forms of sentences make their\nappearance in prose writing, with new pictures and similes brought from\nIndia through the medium of the Buddhist translations.] [Poetry was also\nenriched by the simple songs that spread in the north under Turkish\ninfluence, and by southern influences.] [The great poets of the T'ang\nperiod adopted the rules of form laid down by the poetic art of the\nsouth in the fifth century; but while at that time the writing of poetry\nwas a learned pastime, precious and formalistic, the T'ang poets brought\nto it genuine feeling.] [Widespread fame came to Li T'ai-po (701-762) and\nTu Fu (712-770); in China two poets almost equal to these two in\npopularity were Po Chue-i (772-846) and Yuean Chen (779-831), who in their\nworks kept as close as possible to the vernacular.] [New forms of poetry rarely made their appearance in the T'ang period,\nbut the existing forms were brought to the highest perfection.] [Not until\nthe very end of the T'ang period did there appear the form of a \"free\"\nversification, with lines of no fixed length.] [This form came from the\nindigenous folk-songs of south-western China, and was spread through the\nagency of the _filles de joie_ in the tea-houses.] [Before long it became\nthe custom to string such songs together in a continuous series--the\nfirst step towards opera.] [For these song sequences were sung by way of\naccompaniment to the theatrical productions.] [The Chinese theatre had\ndeveloped from two sources--from religious games, bullfights and\nwrestling, among Turkish and Mongol peoples, which developed into\ndancing displays; and from sacrificial games of South Chinese origin.] [Thus the Chinese theatre, with its union with music, should rather be\ncalled opera, although it offers a sort of pantomimic show.] [What\namounted to a court conservatoire trained actors and musicians as early\nas in the T'ang period for this court opera.] [These actors and musicians\nwere selected from the best-looking \"commoners\", but they soon tended to\nbecome a special caste with a legal status just below that of\n\"burghers\".] [In plastic art there are fine sculptures in stone and bronze, and we\nhave also technically excellent fabrics, the finest of lacquer, and\nremains of artistic buildings; but the principal achievement of the\nT'ang period lies undoubtedly in the field of painting.] [As in poetry, in\npainting there are strong traces of alien influences; even before the\nT'ang period, the painter Hsieh Ho laid down the six fundamental laws of\npainting, in all probability drawn from Indian practice.] [Foreigners were\ncontinually brought into China as decorators of Buddhist temples, since\nthe Chinese could not know at first how the new gods had to be\npresented.] [The Chinese regarded these painters as craftsmen, but admired\ntheir skill and their technique and learned from them.] [The most famous Chinese painter of the T'ang period is Wu Tao-tz[)u],\nwho was also the painter most strongly influenced by Central Asian\nworks.] [As a pious Buddhist he painted pictures for temples among others.] [Among the landscape painters, Wang Wei (721-759) ranks first; he was\nalso a famous poet and aimed at uniting poem and painting into an\nintegral whole.] [With him begins the great tradition of Chinese landscape\npainting, which attained its zenith later, in the Sung epoch.] [Porcelain had been invented in China long ago.] [There was as yet none of\nthe white porcelain that is preferred today; the inside was a\nbrownish-yellow; but on the whole it was already technically and\nartistically of a very high quality.] [Since porcelain was at first\nproduced only for the requirements of the court and of high\ndignitaries--mostly in state factories--a few centuries later the T'ang\nporcelain had become a great rarity.] [But in the centuries that followed,\nporcelain became an important new article of Chinese export.] [The Chinese\nprisoners taken by the Arabs in the great battle of Samarkand (751), the\nfirst clash between the world of Islam and China, brought to the West\nthe knowledge of Chinese culture, of several Chinese crafts, of the art\nof papermaking, and also of porcelain.] [The emperor Hsuean Tsung gave active encouragement to all things\nartistic.] [Poets and painters contributed to the elegance of his\nmagnificent court ceremonial.] [As time went on he showed less and less\ninterest in public affairs, and grew increasingly inclined to Taoism and\nmysticism in general--an outcome of the fact that the conduct of matters\nof state was gradually taken out of his hands.] [On the whole, however,\nBuddhism was pushed into the background in favour of Confucianism, as a\nreaction from the unusual privileges that had been accorded to the\nBuddhists in the past fifteen years under the empress Wu.] [6 _Revolt of a military governor_\n\nAt the beginning of Hsuean Tsung's reign the capital had been in the east\nat Loyang; then it was transferred once more to Ch'ang-an in the west\ndue to pressure of the western gentry.] [The emperor soon came under the\ninfluence of the unscrupulous but capable and energetic Li Lin-fu, a\ndistant relative of the ruler.] [Li was a virtual dictator at the court\nfrom 736 to 752, who had first advanced in power by helping the\nconcubine Wu, a relative of the famous empress Wu, and by continually\nplaying the eastern against the western gentry.] [After the death of the\nconcubine Wu, he procured for the emperor a new concubine named Yang, of\na western family.] [This woman, usually called \"Concubine Yang\" (Yang\nKui-fei), became the heroine of countless stage-plays and stories and\neven films; all the misfortunes that marked the end of Hsuean Tsung's\nreign were attributed solely to her.] [This is incorrect, as she was but a\nlink in the chain of influences that played upon the emperor.] [Naturally\nshe found important official posts for her brothers and all her\nrelatives; but more important than these was a military governor named\nAn Lu-shan (703-757).] [His mother was a Turkish shamaness, his father, a\nforeigner probably of Sogdian origin.] [An Lu-shan succeeded in gaining\nfavour with the Li clique, which hoped to make use of him for its own\nends.] [Chinese sources describe him as a prodigy of evil, and it will be\nvery difficult today to gain a true picture of his personality.] [In any\ncase, he was certainly a very capable officer.] [His rise started from a\nvictory over the Kitan in 744.] [He spent some time establishing relations\nwith the court and then went back to resume operations against the\nKitan.] [He made so much of the Kitan peril that he was permitted a larger\narmy than usual, and he had command of 150,000 troops in the\nneighbourhood of Peking.] [Meanwhile Li Lin-fu died.] [He had sponsored An\nas a counterbalance against the western gentry.] [When now, within the\nclique of Li Lin-fu, the Yang family tried to seize power, they turned\nagainst An Lu-shan.] [But he marched against the capital, Ch'ang-an, with\n200,000 men; on his way he conquered Loyang and made himself emperor\n(756: Yen dynasty).] [T'ang troops were sent against him under the\nleadership of the Chinese Kuo Tz[)u]-i, a Kitan commander, and a Turk,\nKo-shu Han.] [The first two generals had considerable success, but Ko-shu Han, whose\ntask was to prevent access to the western capital, was quickly defeated\nand taken prisoner.] [The emperor fled betimes, and An Lu-shan captured\nCh'ang-an.] [The emperor now abdicated; his son, emperor Su Tsung\n(756-762), also fled, though not with him into Szechwan, but into\nnorth-western Shensi.] [There he defended himself against An Lu-shan and\nhis capable general Shih Ss[)u]-ming (himself a Turk), and sought aid in\nCentral Asia.] [A small Arab troop came from the caliph Abu-Jafar, and\nalso small bands from Turkestan; of more importance was the arrival of\nUighur cavalry in substantial strength.] [At the end of 757 there was a\ngreat battle in the neighbourhood of the capital, in which An Lu-shan\nwas defeated by the Uighurs; shortly afterwards he was murdered by one\nof his eunuchs.] [His followers fled; Loyang was captured and looted by\nthe Uighurs.] [The victors further received in payment from the T'ang\ngovernment 10,000 rolls of silk with a promise of 20,000 rolls a year;\nthe Uighur khan was given a daughter of the emperor as his wife.] [An\nLu-shan's general, the Turk Shih Ss[)u]-ming, entered into An Lu-shan's\nheritage, and dominated so large a part of eastern China that the\nChinese once more made use of the Uighurs to bring him down.] [The\ncommanders in the fighting against Shih Ss[)u]-ming this time were once\nmore Kuo Tz[)u]-i and the Kitan general, together with P'u-ku Huai-en, a\nmember of a Toeloes family that had long been living in China.] [At first\nShih Ss[)u]-ming was victorious, and he won back Loyang, but then he was\nmurdered by his own son, and only by taking advantage of the\ndisturbances that now arose were the government troops able to quell the\ndangerous rising.] [In all this, two things seem interesting and important.] [To begin with,\nAn Lu-shan had been a military governor.] [His rising showed that while\nthis new office, with its great command of power, was of value in\nattacking external enemies, it became dangerous, especially if the\ncentral power was weak, the moment there were no external enemies of any\nimportance.] [An Lu-shan's rising was the first of many similar ones in\nthe later T'ang period.] [The gentry of eastern China had shown themselves\nentirely ready to support An Lu-shan against the government, because\nthey had hoped to gain advantage as in the past from a realm with its\ncentre once more in the east.] [In the second place, the important part\nplayed by aliens in events within China calls for notice: not only were\nthe rebels An Lu-shan and Shih Ss[)u]-ming non-Chinese, but so also were\nmost of the generals opposed to them.] [But they regarded themselves as\nChinese, not as members of another national group.] [The Turkish Uighurs\nbrought in to help against them were fighting actually against Turks,\nthough they regarded those Turks as Chinese.] [We must not bring to the\ncircumstances of those times the present-day notions with regard to\nnational feeling.] [7 _The role of the Uighurs.] [Confiscation of the capital of the\nmonasteries_\n\nThis rising and its sequels broke the power of the dynasty, and also of\nthe empire.] [The extremely sanguinary wars had brought fearful suffering\nupon the population.] [During the years of the rising, no taxes came in\nfrom the greater part of the empire, but great sums had to be paid to\nthe peoples who had lent aid to the empire.] [And the looting by\ngovernment troops and by the auxiliaries injured the population as much\nas the war itself did.] [When the emperor Su Tsung died, in 762, Tengri, the khan of the Uighurs,\ndecided to make himself ruler over China.] [The events of the preceding\nyears had shown him that China alone was entirely defenceless.] [Part of\nthe court clique supported him, and only by the intervention of P'u-ku\nHuai-en, who was related to Tengri by marriage, was his plan frustrated.] [Naturally there were countless intrigues against P'u-ku Huai-en.] [He\nentered into alliance with the Tibetan T'u-fan, and in this way the\nunion of Turks and Tibetans, always feared by the Chinese, had come into\nexistence.] [In 763 the Tibetans captured and burned down the western\ncapital, while P'u-ku Huai-en with the Uighurs advanced from the north.] [Undoubtedly this campaign would have been successful, giving an entirely\ndifferent turn to China's destiny, if P'u-ku Huai-en had not died in 765\nand the Chinese under Kuo Tz[)u]-i had not succeeded in breaking up the\nalliance.] [The Uighurs now came over into an alliance with the Chinese,\nand the two allies fell upon the Tibetans and robbed them of their\nbooty.] [China was saved once more.] [Friendship with the Uighurs had to be paid for this time even more\ndearly.] [They crowded into the capital and compelled the Chinese to buy\nhorses, in payment for which they demanded enormous quantities of\nsilkstuffs.] [They behaved in the capital like lords, and expected to be\nmaintained at the expense of the government.] [The system of military\ngovernors was adhered to in spite of the country's experience of them,\nwhile the difficult situation throughout the empire, and especially\nalong the western and northern frontiers, facing the Tibetans and the\nmore and more powerful Kitan, made it necessary to keep considerable\nnumbers of soldiers permanently with the colours.] [This made the military\ngovernors stronger and stronger; ultimately they no longer remitted any\ntaxes to the central government, but spent them mainly on their armies.] [Thus from 750 onward the empire consisted of an impotent central\ngovernment and powerful military governors, who handed on their\npositions to their sons as a further proof of their independence.] [When\nin 781 the government proposed to interfere with the inheriting of the\nposts, there was a great new rising, which in 783 again extended as far\nas the capital; in 784 the T'ang government at last succeeded in\novercoming it.] [A compromise was arrived at between the government and\nthe governors, but it in no way improved the situation.] [Life became more\nand more difficult for the central government.] [In 780, the \"equal land\"\nsystem was finally officially given up and with it a tax system which\nwas based upon the idea that every citizen had the same amount of land\nand, therefore, paid the same amount of taxes.] [The new system tried to\nequalize the tax burden and the corvee obligation, but not the land.] [This change may indicate a step towards greater freedom for private\nenterprise.] [Yet it did not benefit the government, as most of the tax\nincome was retained by the governors and was used for their armies and\ntheir own court.] [In the capital, eunuchs ruled in the interests of various cliques.] [Several emperors fell victim to them or to the drinking of \"elixirs of\nlong life\".] [Abroad, the Chinese lost their dominion over Turkestan, for which\nUighurs and Tibetans competed.] [There is nothing to gain from any full\ndescription of events at court.] [The struggle between cliques soon became\na struggle between eunuchs and literati, in much the same way as at the\nend of the second Han dynasty.] [Trade steadily diminished, and the state\nbecame impoverished because no taxes were coming in and great armies had\nto be maintained, though they did not even obey the government.] [Events that exerted on the internal situation an influence not to be\nbelittled were the break-up of the Uighurs (from 832 onward) the\nappearance of the Turkish Sha-t'o, and almost at the same time, the\ndissolution of the Tibetan empire (from 842).] [Many other foreigners had\nplaced themselves under the Uighurs living in China, in order to be able\nto do business under the political protection of the Uighur embassy, but\nthe Uighurs no longer counted, and the T'ang government decided to seize\nthe capital sums which these foreigners had accumulated.] [It was hoped in\nthis way especially to remedy the financial troubles of the moment,\nwhich were partly due to a shortage of metal for minting.] [As the trading\ncapital was still placed with the temples as banks, the government\nattacked the religion of the Uighurs, Manichaeism, and also the\nreligions of the other foreigners, Mazdaism, Nestorianism, and\napparently also Islam.] [In 843 alien religions were prohibited; aliens\nwere also ordered to dress like Chinese.] [This gave them the status of\nChinese citizens and no longer of foreigners, so that Chinese justice\nhad a hold over them.] [That this law abolishing foreign religions was\naimed solely at the foreigners' capital is shown by the proceedings at\nthe same time against Buddhism which had long become a completely\nChinese Church.] [Four thousand, six hundred Buddhist temples, 40,000\nshrines and monasteries were secularized, and all statues were required\nto be melted down and delivered to the government, even those in private\npossession.] [Two hundred and sixty thousand, five hundred monks were to\nbecome ordinary citizens once more.] [Until then monks had been free of\ntaxation, as had millions of acres of land belonging to the temples and\nleased to tenants or some 150,000 temple slaves.] [Thus the edict of 843 must not be described as concerned with religion:\nit was a measure of compulsion aimed at filling the government coffers.] [All the property of foreigners and a large part of the property of the\nBuddhist Church came into the hands of the government.] [The law was not\napplied to Taoism, because the ruling gentry of the time were, as so\noften before, Confucianist and at the same time Taoist.] [As early as 846\nthere came a reaction: with the new emperor, Confucians came into power\nwho were at the same time Buddhists and who now evicted some of the\nTaoists.] [From this time one may observe closer co-operation between\nConfucianism and Buddhism; not only with meditative Buddhism (Dhyana) as\nat the beginning of the T'ang epoch and earlier, but with the main\nbranch of Buddhism, monastery Buddhism (Vinaya).] [From now onward the\nBuddhist doctrines of transmigration and retribution, which had been\nreally directed against the gentry and in favour of the common people,\nwere turned into an instrument serving the gentry: everyone who was\nunfortunate in this life must show such amenability to the government\nand the gentry that he would have a chance of a better existence at\nleast in the next life.] [Thus the revolutionary Buddhist doctrine of\nretribution became a reactionary doctrine that was of great service to\nthe gentry.] [One of the Buddhist Confucians in whose works this revised\nversion makes its appearance most clearly was Niu Seng-yu, who was at\nonce summoned back to court in 846 by the new emperor.] [Three new large\nBuddhist sects came into existence in the T'ang period.] [One of them, the\nschool of the Pure Land (_Ching-t'u tsung_, since 641) required of its\nmainly lower class adherents only the permanent invocation of the Buddha\nAmithabha who would secure them a place in the \"Western Paradise\"--a\nplace without social classes and economic troubles.] [The cult of\nMaitreya, which was always more revolutionary, receded for a while.] [8 _First successful peasant revolt.] [Collapse of the empire_\n\nThe chief sufferers from the continual warfare of the military\ngovernors, the sanguinary struggles between the cliques, and the\nuniversal impoverishment which all this fighting produced, were, of\ncourse, the common people.] [The Chinese annals are filled with records of\npopular risings, but not one of these had attained any wide extent, for\nwant of organization.] [In 860 began the first great popular rising, a\nrevolt caused by famine in the province of Chekiang.] [Government troops\nsuppressed it with bloodshed.] [Further popular risings followed.] [In 874\nbegan a great rising in the south of the present province of Hopei, the\nchief agrarian region.] [The rising was led by a peasant, Wang Hsien-chih, together with Huang\nCh'ao, a salt merchant, who had fallen into poverty and had joined the\nhungry peasants, forming a fighting group of his own.] [It is important to\nnote that Huang was well educated.] [It is said that he failed in the\nstate examination.] [Huang is not the first merchant who became rebel.] [An\nLu-shan, too, had been a businessman for a while.] [It was pointed out\nthat trade had greatly developed in the T'ang period; of the lower\nYangtze region people it was said that \"they were so much interested in\nbusiness that they paid no attention to agriculture\".] [Yet merchants were\nsubject to many humiliating conditions.] [They could not enter the\nexaminations, except by illegal means.] [In various periods, from the Han\ntime on, they had to wear special dress.] [Thus, a law from _c_. A.D. 300\nrequired them to wear a white turban on which name and type of business\nwas written, and to wear one white and one black shoe.] [They were subject\nto various taxes, but were either not allowed to own land, or were\nallotted less land than ordinary citizens.] [Thus they could not easily\ninvest in land, the safest investment at that time.] [Finally, the\ngovernment occasionally resorted to the method which was often used in\nthe Near East: when in 782 the emperor ran out of money, he requested\nthe merchants of the capital to \"loan\" him a large sum--a request which\nin fact was a special tax.] [Wang and Huang both proved good organizers of the peasant masses, and in\na short time they had captured the whole of eastern China, without the\nmilitary governors being able to do anything against them, for the\nprovincial troops were more inclined to show sympathy to the peasant\narmies than to fight them.] [The terrified government issued an order to\narm the people of the other parts of the country against the rebels;\nnaturally this helped the rebels more than the government, since the\npeasants thus armed went over to the rebels.] [Finally Wang was offered a\nhigh office.] [But Huang urged him not to betray his own people, and Wang\ndeclined the offer.] [In the end the government, with the aid of the\ntroops of the Turkish Sha-t'o, defeated Wang and beheaded him (878).] [Huang Ch'ao now moved into the south-east and the south, where in 879 he\ncaptured and burned down Canton; according to an Arab source, over\n120,000 foreign merchants lost their lives in addition to the Chinese.] [From Canton Huang Ch'ao returned to the north, laden with loot from that\nwealthy commercial city.] [His advance was held up again by the Sha-t'o\ntroops; he turned away to the lower Yangtze, and from there marched\nnorth again.] [At the end of 880 he captured the eastern capital.] [The\nemperor fled from the western capital, Ch'ang-an, into Szechwan, and\nHuang Ch'ao now captured with ease the western capital as well, and\nremoved every member of the ruling family on whom he could lay hands.] [He\nthen made himself emperor, in a Ch'i dynasty.] [It was the first time that\na peasant rising had succeeded against the gentry.] [There was still, however, the greatest disorder in the empire.] [There\nwere other peasant armies on the move, armies that had deserted their\ngovernors and were fighting for themselves; finally, there were still a\nfew supporters of the imperial house and, above all, the Turkish\nSha-t'o, who had a competent commander with the sinified name of Li\nK'o-yung.] [The Sha-t'o, who had remained loyal to the government,\nrevolted the moment the government had been overthrown.] [They ran the\nrisk, however, of defeat at the hands of an alien army of the Chinese\ngovernment's, commanded by an Uighur, and they therefore fled to the\nTatars.] [In spite of this, the Chinese entered again into relations with\nthe Sha-t'o, as without them there could be no possibility of getting\nrid of Huang Ch'ao.] [At the end of 881 Li K'o-yung fell upon the capital;\nthere was a fearful battle.] [Huang Ch'ao was able to hold out, but a\nfurther attack was made in 883 and he was defeated and forced to flee;\nin 884 he was killed by the Sha-t'o.] [This popular rising, which had only been overcome with the aid of\nforeign troops, brought the end of the T'ang dynasty.] [In 885 the T'ang\nemperor was able to return to the capital, but the only question now was\nwhether China should be ruled by the Sha-t'o under Li K'o-yung or by\nsome other military commander.] [In a short time Chu Ch'uean-chung, a\nformer follower of Huang Ch'ao, proved to be the strongest of the\ncommanders.] [In 890 open war began between the two leaders.] [Li K'o-yung\nwas based on Shansi; Chu Ch'uean-chung had control of the plains in the\neast.] [Meanwhile the governors of Szechwan in the west and Chekiang in\nthe south-east made themselves independent.] [Both declared themselves\nkings or emperors and set up dynasties of their own (from 895).] [Within the capital, the emperor was threatened several times by revolts,\nso that he had to flee and place himself in the hands of Li K'o-yung as\nthe only leader on whose loyalty he could count.] [Soon after this,\nhowever, the emperor fell into the hands of Chu Ch'uean-chung, who killed\nthe whole entourage of the emperor, particularly the eunuchs; after a\ntime he had the emperor himself killed, set a puppet--as had become\ncustomary--on the throne, and at the beginning of 907 took over the rule\nfrom him, becoming emperor in the \"Later Liang dynasty\".] [That was the end of the T'ang dynasty, at the beginning of which China\nhad risen to unprecedented power.] [Its downfall had been brought about by\nthe military governors, who had built up their power and had become\nindependent hereditary satraps, exploiting the people for their own\npurposes, and by their continual mutual struggles undermining the\neconomic structure of the empire.] [In addition to this, the empire had\nbeen weakened first by its foreign trade and then by the dependence on\nforeigners, especially Turks, into which it had fallen owing to internal\nconditions.] [A large part of the national income had gone abroad.] [Such is\nthe explanation of the great popular risings which ultimately brought\nthe dynasty to its end.] [MODERN TIMES\n\n\n\n Chapter Nine\n\n\nTHE EPOCH OF THE SECOND DIVISION OF CHINA\n\n(A) The period of transition: the Five Dynasties (A.D. 906-960)\n\n1 _Beginning of a new epoch_\n\nThe rebellion of Huang Ch'ao in fact meant the end of the T'ang dynasty\nand the division of China into a number of independent states.] [Only for\nreasons of convenience we keep the traditional division into dynasties\nand have our new period begin with the official end of the T'ang dynasty\nin 906.] [We decided to call the new thousand years of Chinese history\n\"Modern Times\" in order to indicate that from _c_. 860 on changes in\nChina's social structure came about which set this epoch off from the\nearlier thousand years which we called \"The Middle Ages\".] [Any division\ninto periods is arbitrary as changes do not happen from one year to the\nnext.] [The first beginnings of the changes which lead to the \"Modern\nTimes\" actually can be seen from the end of An Lu-shan's rebellion on,\nfrom _c_. A.D. 780 on, and the transformation was more or less completed\nonly in the middle of the eleventh century.] [If we want to characterize the \"Modern Times\" by one concept, we would\nhave to call this epoch the time of the emergence of a middle class, and\nit will be remembered that the growth of the middle class in Europe was\nalso the decisive change between the Middle Ages and Modern Times in\nEurope.] [The parallelism should, however, not be overdone.] [The gentry\ncontinued to play a role in China during the Modern Times, much more\nthan the aristocracy did in Europe.] [The middle class did not ever really\nget into power during the whole period.] [While we will discuss the individual developments later in some detail,\na few words about the changes in general might be given already here.] [The wars which followed Huang Ch'ao's rebellion greatly affected the\nruling gentry.] [A number of families were so strongly affected that they\nlost their importance and disappeared.] [Commoners from the followers of\nHuang Ch'ao or other armies succeeded to get into power, to acquire\nproperty and to enter the ranks of the gentry.] [At about A.D. 1000 almost\nhalf of the gentry families were new families of low origin.] [The state,\noften ruled by men who had just moved up, was no more interested in the\naristocratic manners of the old gentry families, especially no more\ninterested in their genealogies.] [When conditions began to improve after\nA.D. 1000, and when the new families felt themselves as real gentry\nfamilies, they tried to set up a mechanism to protect the status of\ntheir families.] [In the eleventh century private genealogies began to be\nkept, so that any claim against the clan could be checked.] [Clans set up\nrules of behaviour and procedure to regulate all affairs of the clan\nwithout the necessity of asking the state to interfere in case of\nconflict.] [Many such \"clan rules\" exist in China and also in Japan which\ntook over this innovation.] [Clans set apart special pieces of land as\nclan land; the income of this land was to be used to secure a minimum of\nsupport for every clan member and his own family, so that no member ever\ncould fall into utter poverty.] [Clan schools which were run by income\nfrom special pieces of clan land were established to guarantee an\neducation for the members of the clan, again in order to make sure that\nthe clan would remain a part of the _elite_.] [Many clans set up special\nmarriage rules for clan members, and after some time cross-cousin\nmarriages between two or three families were legally allowed; such\nmarriages tended to fasten bonds between clans and to prevent the loss\nof property by marriage.] [While on the one hand, a new \"clan\nconsciousness\" grew up among the gentry families in order to secure\ntheir power, tax and corvee legislation especially in the eleventh\ncentury induced many families to split up into small families.] [It can be shown that over the next centuries, the power of the family\nhead increased.] [He was now regarded as owner of the property, not only\nmere administrator of family property.] [He got power over life and death\nof his children.] [This increase of power went together with a change of\nthe position of the ruler.] [The period transition (until _c_. A.D. 1000)\nwas followed by a period of \"moderate absolutism\" (until 1278) in which\nemperors as persons played a greater role than before, and some\nemperors, such as Shen Tsung (in 1071), even declared that they regarded\nthe welfare of the masses as more important than the profit of the\ngentry.] [After 1278, however, the personal influence of the emperors grew\nfurther towards absolutism and in times became pure despotism.] [Individuals, especially family heads, gained more freedom in \"Modern\nTimes\".] [Not only the period of transition, but also the following period\nwas a time of much greater social mobility than existed in the Middle\nAges.] [By various legal and/or illegal means people could move up into\npositions of power and wealth: we know of many merchants who succeeded\nin being allowed to enter the state examinations and thus got access to\njobs in the administration.] [Large, influential gentry families in the\ncapital protected sons from less important families and thus gave them a\nchance to move into the gentry.] [Thus, these families built up a\nclientele of lesser gentry families which assisted them and upon the\nloyalty of which they could count.] [The gentry can from now on be divided\ninto two parts.] [First, there was a \"big gentry\" which consisted of much\nfewer families than in earlier times and which directed the policy in\nthe capital; and secondly, there was a \"small gentry\" which was\noperating mainly in the provincial cities, directing local affairs and\nbound by ties of loyalty to big gentry families.] [Gentry cliques now\nextended into the provinces and it often became possible to identify a\nclique with a geographical area, which, however, usually did not\nindicate particularistic tendencies.] [Individual freedom did not show itself only in greater social mobility.] [The restrictions which, for instance, had made the craftsmen and\nartisans almost into serfs, were gradually lifted.] [From the early\nsixteenth century on, craftsmen were free and no more subject to forced\nlabour services for the state.] [Most craftsmen in this epoch still had\ntheir shops in one lane or street and lived above their shops, as they\nhad done in the earlier period.] [But from now on, they began to organize\nin guilds of an essentially religious character, as similar guilds in\nother parts of Asia at the same time also did.] [They provided welfare\nservices for their members, made some attempts towards standardization\nof products and prices, imposed taxes upon their members, kept their\nstreets clean and tried to regulate salaries.] [Apprentices were initiated\nin a kind of semi-religious ceremony, and often meetings took place in\ntemples.] [No guild, however, connected people of the same craft living in\ndifferent cities.] [Thus, they did not achieve political power.] [Furthermore, each trade had its own guild; in Peking in the nineteenth\ncentury there existed over 420 different guilds.] [Thus, guilds failed to\nachieve political influence even within individual cities.] [Probably at the same time, regional associations, the so-called\n\"_hui-kuan\"_ originated.] [Such associations united people from one city\nor one area who lived in another city.] [People of different trades, but\nmainly businessmen, came together under elected chiefs and councillors.] [Sometimes, such regional associations could function as pressure groups,\nespecially as they were usually financially stronger than the guilds.] [They often owned city property or farm land.] [Not all merchants, however,\nwere so organized.] [Although merchants remained under humiliating\nrestrictions as to the colour and material of their dress and the\nprohibition to ride a horse, they could more often circumvent such\nrestrictions and in general had much more freedom in this epoch.] [Trade, including overseas trade, developed greatly from now on.] [Soon we\nfind in the coastal ports a special office which handled custom and\nregistration affairs, supplied interpreters for foreigners, received\nthem officially and gave good-bye dinners when they left.] [Down to the\nthirteenth century, most of this overseas trade was still in the hands\nof foreigners, mainly Indians.] [Entrepreneurs hired ships, if they were\nnot ship-owners, hired trained merchants who in turn hired sailors\nmainly from the South-East Asian countries, and sold their own\nmerchandise as well as took goods on commission.] [Wealthy Chinese gentry\nfamilies invested money in such foreign enterprises and in some cases\neven gave their daughters in marriage to foreigners in order to profit\nfrom this business.] [We also see an emergence of industry from the eleventh century on.] [We\nfind men who were running almost monopolistic enterprises, such as\npreparing charcoal for iron production and producing iron and steel at\nthe same time; some of these men had several factories, operating under\nhired and qualified managers with more than 500 labourers.] [We find\nbeginnings of a labour legislation and the first strikes (A.D. 782 the\nfirst strike of merchants in the capital; 1601 first strike of textile\nworkers).] [Some of these labourers were so-called \"vagrants\", farmers who had\nsecretly left their land or their landlord's land for various reasons,\nand had shifted to other regions where they did not register and thus\ndid not pay taxes.] [Entrepreneurs liked to hire them for industries\noutside the towns where supervision by the government was not so strong;\nnaturally, these \"vagrants\" were completely at the mercy of their\nemployers.] [Since _c_. 780 the economy can again be called a money economy; more and\nmore taxes were imposed in form of money instead of in kind.] [This\npressure forced farmers out of the land and into the cities in order to\nearn there the cash they needed for their tax payments.] [These men\nprovided the labour force for industries, and this in turn led to the\nstrong growth of the cities, especially in Central China where trade and\nindustries developed most.] [Wealthy people not only invested in industrial enterprises, but also\nbegan to make heavy investments in agriculture in the vicinity of\ncities in order to increase production and thus income.] [We find men who\ndrained lakes in order to create fields below the water level for easy\nirrigation; others made floating fields on lakes and avoided land tax\npayments; still others combined pig and fish breeding in one operation.] [The introduction of money economy and money taxes led to a need for more\ncoinage.] [As metal was scarce and minting very expensive, iron coins were\nintroduced, silver became more and more common as means of exchange, and\npaper money was issued.] [As the relative value of these moneys changed\nwith supply and demand, speculation became a flourishing business which\nled to further enrichment of people in business.] [Even the government\nbecame more money-minded: costs of operations and even of wars were\ncarefully calculated in order to achieve savings; financial specialists\nwere appointed by the government, just as clans appointed such men for\nthe efficient administration of their clan properties.] [Yet no real capitalism or industrialism developed until towards the end\nof this epoch, although at the end of the twelfth century almost all\nconditions for such a development seemed to be given.] [2 _Political situation in the tenth century_\n\nThe Chinese call the period from 906 to 960 the \"period of the Five\nDynasties\" (_Wu Tai_).] [This is not quite accurate.] [It is true that there\nwere five dynasties in rapid succession in North China; but at the same\ntime there were ten other dynasties in South China.] [The ten southern\ndynasties, however, are regarded as not legitimate.] [The south was much\nbetter off with its illegitimate dynasties than the north with the\nlegitimate ones.] [The dynasties in the south (we may dispense with giving\ntheir names) were the realms of some of the military governors so often\nmentioned above.] [These governors had already become independent at the\nend of the T'ang epoch; they declared themselves kings or emperors and\nruled particular provinces in the south, the chief of which covered the\nterritory of the present provinces of Szechwan, Kwangtung and Chekiang.] [In these territories there was comparative peace and economic\nprosperity, since they were able to control their own affairs and were\nno longer dependent on a corrupt central government.] [They also made\ngreat cultural progress, and they did not lose their importance later\nwhen they were annexed in the period of the Sung dynasty.] [As an example of these states one may mention the small state of Ch'u in\nthe present province of Hunan.] [Here, Ma Yin, a former carpenter (died\n931), had made himself a king.] [He controlled some of the main trade\nroutes, set up a clean administration, bought up all merchandise which\nthe merchants brought, but allowed them to export only local products,\nmainly tea, iron and lead.] [This regulation gave him a personal income of\nseveral millions every year, and in addition fostered the exploitation\nof the natural resources of this hitherto retarded area.] [3 _Monopolistic trade in South China.] [Printing and paper money in the\nnorth_\n\nThe prosperity of the small states of South China was largely due to the\ngrowth of trade, especially the tea trade.] [The habit of drinking tea\nseems to have been an ancient Tibetan custom, which spread to\nsouth-eastern China in the third century A.D.] [Since then there had been\ntwo main centres of production, Szechwan and south-eastern China.] [Until\nthe eleventh century Szechwan had remained the leading producer, and tea\nhad been drunk in the Tibetan fashion, mixed with flour, salt, and\nginger.] [It then began to be drunk without admixture.] [In the T'ang epoch\ntea drinking spread all over China, and there sprang up a class of\nwholesalers who bought the tea from the peasants, accumulated stocks,\nand distributed them.] [From 783 date the first attempts of the state to\nmonopolize the tea trade and to make it a source of revenue; but it\nfailed in an attempt to make the cultivation a state monopoly.] [A tea\ncommissariat was accordingly set up to buy the tea from the producers\nand supply it to traders in possession of a state licence.] [There\nnaturally developed then a pernicious collaboration between state\nofficials and the wholesalers.] [The latter soon eliminated the small\ntraders, so that they themselves secured all the profit; official\nsupport was secured by bribery.] [The state and the wholesalers alike were\nkeenly interested in the prevention of tea smuggling, which was strictly\nprohibited.] [The position was much the same with regard to salt.] [We have here for the\nfirst time the association of officials with wholesalers or even with a\nmonopoly trade.] [This was of the utmost importance in all later times.] [Monopoly progressed most rapidly in Szechwan, where there had always\nbeen a numerous commercial community.] [In the period of political\nfragmentation Szechwan, as the principal tea-producing region and at the\nsame time an important producer of salt, was much better off than any\nother part of China.] [Salt in Szechwan was largely produced by,\ntechnically, very interesting salt wells which existed there since _c_.\nthe first century B.C.] [The importance of salt will be understood if we\nremember that a grown-up person in China uses an average of twelve\npounds of salt per year.] [The salt tax was the top budget item around\nA.D. 900.] [South-eastern China was also the chief centre of porcelain production,\nalthough china clay is found also in North China.] [The use of porcelain\nspread more and more widely.] [The first translucent porcelain made its\nappearance, and porcelain became an important article of commerce both\nwithin the country and for export.] [Already the Muslim rulers of Baghdad\naround 800 used imported Chinese porcelain, and by the end of the\nfourteenth century porcelain was known in Eastern Africa.] [Exports to\nSouth-East Asia and Indonesia, and also to Japan gained more and more\nimportance in later centuries.] [Manufacture of high quality porcelain\ncalls for considerable amounts of capital investment and working\ncapital; small manufacturers produce too many second-rate pieces; thus\nwe have here the first beginnings of an industry that developed\nindustrial towns such as Ching-te, in which the majority of the\npopulation were workers and merchants, with some 10,000 families alone\nproducing porcelain.] [Yet, for many centuries to come, the state\ncontrolled the production and even the design of porcelain and\nappropriated most of the production for use at court or as gifts.] [The third important new development to be mentioned was that of\nprinting, which since _c_. 770 was known in the form of wood-block\nprinting.] [The first reference to a printed book dated from 835, and the\nmost important event in this field was the first printing of the\nClassics by the orders of Feng Tao (882-954) around 940.] [The first\nattempts to use movable type in China occurred around 1045, although\nthis invention did not get general acceptance in China.] [It was more\ncommonly used in Korea from the thirteenth century on and revolutionized\nEurope from 1538 on.] [It seems to me that from the middle of the\ntwentieth century on, the West, too, shows a tendency to come back to\nthe printing of whole pages, but replacing the wood blocks by\nphotographic plates or other means.] [In the Far East, just as in Europe,\nthe invention of printing had far-reaching consequences.] [Books, which\nuntil then had been very dear, because they had to be produced by\ncopyists, could now be produced cheaply and in quantity.] [It became\npossible for a scholar to accumulate a library of his own and to work in\na wide field, where earlier he had been confined to a few books or even\na single text.] [The results were the spread of education, beginning with\nreading and writing, among wider groups, and the broadening of\neducation: a large number of texts were read and compared, and no longer\nonly a few.] [Private libraries came into existence, so that the imperial\nlibraries were no longer the only ones.] [Publishing soon grew in extent,\nand in private enterprise works were printed that were not so serious\nand politically important as the classic books of the past.] [Thus a new\ntype of literature, the literature of entertainment, could come into\nexistence.] [Not all these consequences showed themselves at once; some\nmade their first appearance later, in the Sung period.] [A fourth important innovation, this time in North China, was the\nintroduction of prototypes of paper money.] [The Chinese copper \"cash\" was\ndifficult or expensive to transport, simply because of its weight.] [It\nthus presented great obstacles to trade.] [Occasionally a region with an\nadverse balance of trade would lose all its copper money, with the\nresult of a local deflation.] [From time to time, iron money was\nintroduced in such deficit areas; it had for the first time been used in\nSzechwan in the first century B.C., and was there extensively used in\nthe tenth century when after the conquest of the local state all copper\nwas taken to the east by the conquerors.] [So long as there was an orderly\nadministration, the government could send it money, though at\nconsiderable cost; but if the administration was not functioning well,\nthe deflation continued.] [For this reason some provinces prohibited the\nexport of copper money from their territory at the end of the eighth\ncentury.] [As the provinces were in the hands of military governors, the\ncentral government could do next to nothing to prevent this.] [On the\nother hand, the prohibition automatically made an end of all external\ntrade.] [The merchants accordingly began to prepare deposit certificates,\nand in this way to set up a sort of transfer system.] [Soon these deposit\ncertificates entered into circulation as a sort of medium of payment at\nfirst again in Szechwan, and gradually this led to a banking system and\nthe linking of wholesale trade with it.] [This made possible a much\ngreater volume of trade.] [Towards the end of the T'ang period the\ngovernment began to issue deposit certificates of its own: the merchant\ndeposited his copper money with a government agency, receiving in\nexchange a certificate which he could put into circulation like money.] [Meanwhile the government could put out the deposited money at interest,\nor throw it into general circulation.] [The government's deposit\ncertificates were now printed.] [They were the predecessors of the paper\nmoney used from the time of the Sung.] [4 _Political history of the Five Dynasties_\n\nThe southern states were a factor not to be ignored in the calculations\nof the northern dynasties.] [Although the southern kingdoms were involved\nin a confusion of mutual hostilities, any one of them might come to the\nfore as the ally of Turks or other northern powers.] [The capital of the\nfirst of the five northern dynasties (once more a Liang dynasty, but not\nto be confused with the Liang dynasty of the south in the sixth century)\nwas, moreover, quite close to the territories of the southern dynasties,\nclose to the site of the present K'ai-feng, in the fertile plain of\neastern China with its good means of transport.] [Militarily the town\ncould not be held, for its one and only defence was the Yellow River.] [The founder of this Later Liang dynasty, Chu Ch'uean-chung (906), was\nhimself an eastern Chinese and, as will be remembered, a past supporter\nof the revolutionary Huang Ch'ao, but he had then gone over to the T'ang\nand had gained high military rank.] [His northern frontier remained still more insecure than the southern,\nfor Chu Ch'uean-chung did not succeed in destroying the Turkish general\nLi K'o-yung; on the contrary, the latter continually widened the range\nof his power.] [Fortunately he, too, had an enemy at his back--the Kitan\n(or Khitan), whose ruler had made himself emperor in 916, and so staked\na claim to reign over all China.] [The first Kitan emperor held a middle\ncourse between Chu and Li, and so was able to establish and expand his\nempire in peace.] [The striking power of his empire, which from 937 onward\nwas officially called the Liao empire, grew steadily, because the old\ntribal league of the Kitan was transformed into a centrally commanded\nmilitary organization.] [To these dangers from abroad threatening the Later Liang state internal\ntroubles were added.] [Chu Ch'uean-chung's dynasty was one of the three\nChinese dynasties that have ever come to power through a popular rising.] [He himself was of peasant origin, and so were a large part of his\nsubordinates and helpers.] [Many of them had originally been independent\npeasant leaders; others had been under Huang Ch'ao.] [All of them were\nopposed to the gentry, and the great slaughter of the gentry of the\ncapital, shortly before the beginning of Chu's rule, had been welcomed\nby Chu and his followers.] [The gentry therefore would not co-operate with\nChu and preferred to join the Turk Li K'o-yung.] [But Chu could not\nconfidently rely on his old comrades.] [They were jealous of his success\nin gaining the place they all coveted, and were ready to join in any\nindependent enterprise as opportunity offered.] [All of them, moreover, as\nsoon as they were given any administrative post, busied themselves with\nthe acquisition of money and wealth as quickly as possible.] [These abuses\nnot only ate into the revenues of the state but actually produced a\ncommon front between the peasantry and the remnants of the gentry\nagainst the upstarts.] [In 917, after Li K'o-yung's death, the Sha-t'o Turks beat off an attack\nfrom the Kitan, and so were safe for a time from the northern menace.] [They then marched against the Liang state, where a crisis had been\nproduced in 912 after the murder of Chu Ch'uean-chung by one of his sons.] [The Liang generals saw no reason why they should fight for the dynasty,\nand all of them went over to the enemy.] [Thus the \"Later T'ang dynasty\"\n(923-936) came into power in North China, under the son of Li K'o-yung.] [The dominant element at this time was quite clearly the Chinese gentry,\nespecially in western and central China.] [The Sha-t'o themselves must\nhave been extraordinarily few in number, probably little more than\n100,000 men.] [Most of them, moreover, were politically passive, being\nsimple soldiers.] [Only the ruling family and its following played any\nactive part, together with a few families related to it by marriage.] [The\nwhole state was regarded by the Sha-t'o rulers as a sort of family\nenterprise, members of the family being placed in the most important\npositions.] [As there were not enough of them, they adopted into the\nfamily large numbers of aliens of all nationalities.] [Military posts were\ngiven to faithful members of Li K'o-yung's or his successor's bodyguard,\nand also to domestic servants and other clients of the family.] [Thus,\nwhile in the Later Liang state elements from the peasantry had risen in\nthe world, some of these neo-gentry reaching the top of the social\npyramid in the centuries that followed, in the Sha-t'o state some of its\nwarriors, drawn from the most various peoples, entered the gentry class\nthrough their personal relations with the ruler.] [But in spite of all\nthis the bulk of the officials came once more from the Chinese.] [These\neducated Chinese not only succeeded in winning over the rulers\nthemselves to the Chinese cultural ideal, but persuaded them to adopt\nlaws that substantially restricted the privileges of the Sha-t'o and\nbrought advantages only to the Chinese gentry.] [Consequently all the\nChinese historians are enthusiastic about the \"Later T'ang\", and\nespecially about the emperor Ming Ti, who reigned from 927 onward, after\nthe assassination of his predecessor.] [They also abused the Liang because\nthey were against the gentry.] [In 936 the Later T'ang dynasty gave place to the Later Chin dynasty\n(936-946), but this involved no change in the structure of the empire.] [The change of dynasty meant no more than that instead of the son\nfollowing the father the son-in-law had ascended the throne.] [It was of\nmore importance that the son-in-law, the Sha-t'o Turk Shih Ching-t'ang,\nsucceeded in doing this by allying himself with the Kitan and ceding to\nthem some of the northern provinces.] [The youthful successor, however, of\nthe first ruler of this dynasty was soon made to realize that the Kitan\nregarded the founding of his dynasty as no more than a transition stage\non the way to their annexation of the whole of North China.] [The old\nSha-t'o nobles, who had not been sinified in the slightest, suggested a\npreventive war; the actual court group, strongly sinified, hesitated,\nbut ultimately were unable to avoid war.] [The war was very quickly\ndecided by several governors in eastern China going over to the Kitan,\nwho had promised them the imperial title.] [In the course of 946-7 the\nKitan occupied the capital and almost the whole of the country.] [In 947\nthe Kitan ruler proclaimed himself emperor of the Kitan and the Chinese.] [[Illustration: Map 6: The State of the later T'ang dynasty]\n\nThe Chinese gentry seem to have accepted this situation because a Kitan\nemperor was just as acceptable to them as a Sha-t'o emperor; but the\nSha-t'o were not prepared to submit to the Kitan regime, because under\nit they would have lost their position of privilege.] [At the head of this\nopposition group stood the Sha-t'o general Liu Chih-yuan, who founded\nthe \"Later Han dynasty\" (947-950).] [He was able to hold out against the\nKitan only because in 947 the Kitan emperor died and his son had to\nleave China and retreat to the north; fighting had broken out between\nthe empress dowager, who had some Chinese support, and the young heir to\nthe throne.] [The new Turkish dynasty, however, was unable to withstand\nthe internal Chinese resistance.] [Its founder died in 948, and his son,\nowing to his youth, was entirely in the hands of a court clique.] [In his\neffort to free himself from the tutelage of this group he made a\nmiscalculation, for the men on whom he thought he could depend were\nlargely supporters of the clique.] [So he lost his throne and his life,\nand a Chinese general, Kuo Wei, took his place, founding the \"Later Chou\ndynasty\" (951-959).] [A feature of importance was that in the years of the short-lived \"Later\nHan dynasty\" a tendency showed itself among the Chinese military leaders\nto work with the states in the south.] [The increase in the political\ninfluence of the south was due to its economic advance while the north\nwas reduced to economic chaos by the continual heavy fighting, and by\nthe complete irresponsibility of the Sha-t'o ruler in financial matters:\nseveral times in this period the whole of the money in the state\ntreasury was handed out to soldiers to prevent them from going over to\nsome enemy or other.] [On the other hand, there was a tendency in the\nsouth for the many neighbouring states to amalgamate, and as this\nprocess took place close to the frontier of North China the northern\nstates could not passively look on.] [During the \"Later Han\" period there\nwere wars and risings, which continued in the time of the \"Later Chou\".] [On the whole, the few years of the rule of the second emperor of the\n\"Later Chou\" (954-958) form a bright spot in those dismal fifty-five\nyears.] [Sociologically regarded, that dynasty formed merely a transition\nstage on the way to the Sung dynasty that now followed: the Chinese\ngentry ruled under the leadership of an upstart who had risen from the\nranks, and they ruled in accordance with the old principles of gentry\nrule.] [The Sha-t'o, who had formed the three preceding dynasties, had\nbeen so reduced that they were now a tiny minority and no longer\ncounted.] [This minority had only been able to maintain its position\nthrough the special social conditions created by the \"Later Liang\"\ndynasty: the Liang, who had come from the lower classes of the\npopulation, had driven the gentry into the arms of the Sha-t'o Turks.] [As\nsoon as the upstarts, in so far as they had not fallen again or been\nexterminated, had more or less assimilated themselves to the old gentry,\nand on the other hand the leaders of the Sha-t'o had become numerically\ntoo weak, there was a possibility of resuming the old form of rule.] [There had been certain changes in this period.] [The north-west of China,\nthe region of the old capital Ch'ang-an, had been so ruined by the\nfighting that had gone on mainly there and farther north, that it was\neliminated as a centre of power for a hundred years to come; it had been\nlargely depopulated.] [The north was under the rule of the Kitan: its\ntrade, which in the past had been with the Huang-ho basin, was now\nperforce diverted to Peking, which soon became the main centre of the\npower of the Kitan.] [The south, particularly the lower Yangtze region and\nthe province of Szechwan, had made economic progress, at least in\ncomparison with the north; consequently it had gained in political\nimportance.] [One other event of this time has to be mentioned: the great persecution\nof Buddhism in 955, but not only because 30,336 temples and monasteries\nwere secularized and only some 2,700 with 61,200 monks were left.] [Although the immediate reason for this action seems to have been that\ntoo many men entered the monasteries in order to avoid being taken as\nsoldiers, the effect of the law of 955 was that from now on the\nBuddhists were put under regulations which clarified once and for ever\ntheir position within the framework of a society which had as its aim to\ndefine clearly the status of each individual within each social class.] [Private persons were no more allowed to erect temples and monasteries.] [The number of temples per district was legally fixed.] [A person could\nbecome monk only if the head of the family gave its permission.] [He had\nto be over fifteen years of age and had to know by heart at least one\nhundred pages of texts.] [The state took over the control of the\nordinations which could be performed only after a successful\nexamination.] [Each year a list of all monks had to be submitted to the\ngovernment in two copies.] [Monks had to carry six identification cards\nwith them, one of which was the ordination diploma for which a fee had\nto be paid to the government (already since 755).] [The diploma was, in\nthe eleventh century, issued by the Bureau of Sacrifices, but the money\nwas collected by the Ministry of Agriculture.] [It can be regarded as a\npayment _in lieu_ of land tax.] [The price was in the eleventh century 130\nstrings, which represented the value of a small farm or the value of\nsome 17,000 litres of grain.] [The price of the diploma went up to 220\nstrings in 1101, and the then government sold 30,000 diplomas per year\nin order to get still more cash.] [But as diplomas could be traded, a\nblack market developed, on which they were sold for as little as twenty\nstrings.] [(B) Period of Moderate Absolutism\n\n(1) The Northern Sung dynasty\n\n1 _Southward expansion_\n\nThe founder of the Sung dynasty, Chao K'uang-yin, came of a Chinese\nmilitary family living to the south of Peking.] [He advanced from general\nto emperor, and so differed in no way from the emperors who had preceded\nhim.] [But his dynasty did not disappear as quickly as the others; for\nthis there were several reasons.] [To begin with, there was the simple\nfact that he remained alive longer than the other founders of dynasties,\nand so was able to place his rule on a firmer foundation.] [But in\naddition to this he followed a new course, which in certain ways\nsmoothed matters for him and for his successors, in foreign policy.] [This Sung dynasty, as Chao K'uang-yin named it, no longer turned against\nthe northern peoples, particularly the Kitan, but against the south.] [This was not exactly an heroic policy: the north of China remained in\nthe hands of the Kitan.] [There were frequent clashes, but no real effort\nwas made to destroy the Kitan, whose dynasty was now called \"Liao\".] [The\nsecond emperor of the Sung was actually heavily defeated several times\nby the Kitan.] [But they, for their part, made no attempt to conquer the\nwhole of China, especially since the task would have become more and\nmore burdensome the farther south the Sung expanded.] [And very soon there\nwere other reasons why the Kitan should refrain from turning their whole\nstrength against the Chinese.] [[Illustration: 10 Ladies of the Court: clay models which accompanied\nthe dead person to the grave.] [T'ang period.] [_In the collection of the\nMuseum fuer Voelkerkunde, Berlin_.] []\n\n[Illustration: 11 Distinguished founder: a temple banner found at\nKhotcho, Turkestan.] [_Museum fuer Voelkerkunde, Berlin, No.] [1B_ 4524,\n_illustration B_ 408.] []\n\nAs we said, the Sung turned at once against the states in the south.] [Some of the many small southern states had made substantial economic and\ncultural advance, but militarily they were not strong.] [Chao K'uang-yin\n(named as emperor T'ai Tsu) attacked them in succession.] [Most of them\nfell very quickly and without any heavy fighting, especially since the\nSung dealt mildly with the defeated rulers and their following.] [The\ngentry and the merchants in these small states could not but realize the\nadvantages of a widened and well-ordered economic field, and they were\ntherefore entirely in favour of the annexation of their country so soon\nas it proved to be tolerable.] [And the Sung empire could only endure and\ngain strength if it had control of the regions along the Yangtze and\naround Canton, with their great economic resources.] [The process of\nabsorbing the small states in the south continued until 980.] [Before it\nwas ended, the Sung tried to extend their influence in the south beyond\nthe Chinese border, and secured a sort of protectorate over parts of\nAnnam (973).] [This sphere of influence was politically insignificant and\nnot directly of any economic importance; but it fulfilled for the Sung\nthe same functions which colonial territories fulfilled for Europeans,\nserving as a field of operation for the commercial class, who imported\nraw materials from it--mainly, it is true, luxury articles such as\nspecial sorts of wood, perfumes, ivory, and so on--and exported Chinese\nmanufactures.] [As the power of the empire grew, this zone of influence\nextended as far as Indonesia: the process had begun in the T'ang period.] [The trade with the south had not the deleterious effects of the trade\nwith Central Asia.] [There was no sale of refined metals, and none of\nfabrics, as the natives produced their own textiles which sufficed for\ntheir needs.] [And the export of porcelain brought no economic injury to\nChina, but the reverse.] [This Sung policy was entirely in the interest of the gentry and of the\ntrading community which was now closely connected with them.] [Undoubtedly\nit strengthened China.] [The policy of nonintervention in the north was\nendurable even when peace with the Kitan had to be bought by the payment\nof an annual tribute.] [From 1004 onwards, 100,000 ounces of silver and\n200,000 bales of silk were paid annually to the Kitan, amounting in\nvalue to about 270,000 strings of cash, each of 1,000 coins.] [The state\nbudget amounted to some 20,000,000 strings of cash.] [In 1038 the payments\namounted to 500,000 strings, but the budget was by then much larger.] [One\nis liable to get a false impression when reading of these big payments\nif one does not take into account what percentage they formed of the\ntotal revenues of the state.] [The tribute to the Kitan amounted to less\nthan 2 per cent of the revenue, while the expenditure on the army\naccounted for 25 per cent of the budget.] [It cost much less to pay\ntribute than to maintain large armies and go to war.] [Financial\nconsiderations played a great part during the Sung epoch.] [The taxation\nrevenue of the empire rose rapidly after the pacification of the south;\nsoon after the beginning of the dynasty the state budget was double that\nof the T'ang.] [If the state expenditure in the eleventh century had not\ncontinually grown through the increase in military expenditure--in spite\nof everything!--there would have come a period of great prosperity in\nthe empire.] [2 _Administration and army.] [Inflation_\n\nThe Sung emperor, like the rulers of the transition period, had gained\nthe throne by his personal abilities as military leader; in fact, he had\nbeen made emperor by his soldiers as had happened to so many emperors in\nlater Imperial Rome.] [For the next 300 years we observe a change in the\nposition of the emperor.] [On the one hand, if he was active and\nintelligent enough, he exercised much more personal influence than the\nrulers of the Middle Ages.] [On the other hand, at the same time, the\nemperors were much closer to their ministers as before.] [We hear of\nministers who patted the ruler on the shoulders when they retired from\nan audience; another one fell asleep on the emperor's knee and was not\npunished for this familiarity.] [The emperor was called \"_kuan-chia_\"\n(Administrator) and even called himself so.] [And in the early twelfth\ncentury an emperor stated \"I do not regard the empire as my personal\nproperty; my job is to guide the people\".] [Financially-minded as the Sung\ndynasty was, the cost of the operation of the palace was calculated, so\nthat the emperor had a budget: in 1068 the salaries of all officials in\nthe capital amounted to 40,000 strings of money per month, the armies\n100,000, and the emperor's ordinary monthly budget was 70,000 strings.] [For festivals, imperial birthdays, weddings and burials extra allowances\nwere made.] [Thus, the Sung rulers may be called \"moderate absolutists\"\nand not despots.] [One of the first acts of the new Sung emperor, in 963, was a fundamental\nreorganization of the administration of the country.] [The old system of a\ncivil administration and a military administration independent of it was\nbrought to an end and the whole administration of the country placed in\nthe hands of civil officials.] [The gentry welcomed this measure and gave\nit full support, because it enabled the influence of the gentry to grow\nand removed the fear of competition from the military, some of whom did\nnot belong by birth to the gentry.] [The generals by whose aid the empire\nhad been created were put on pension, or transferred to civil\nemployment, as quickly as possible.] [The army was demobilized, and this\nmeasure was bound up with the settlement of peasants in the regions\nwhich war had depopulated, or on new land.] [Soon after this the revenue\nnoticeably increased.] [Above all, the army was placed directly under the\ncentral administration, and the system of military governors was thus\nbrought to an end.] [The soldiers became mercenaries of the state, whereas\nin the past there had been conscription.] [In 975 the army had numbered\nonly 378,000, and its cost had not been insupportable.] [Although the\nnumbers increased greatly, reaching 912,000 in 1017 and 1,259,000 in\n1045, this implied no increase in military strength; for men who had\nonce been soldiers remained with the army even when they were too old\nfor service.] [Moreover, the soldiers grew more and more exacting; when\ndetachments were transferred to another region, for instance, the\nsoldiers would not carry their baggage; an army of porters had to be\nassembled.] [The soldiers also refused to go to regions remote from their\nhomes until they were given extra pay.] [Such allowances gradually became\ncustomary, and so the military expenditure grew by leaps and bounds\nwithout any corresponding increase in the striking power of the army.] [The government was unable to meet the whole cost of the army out of\ntaxation revenue.] [The attempt was made to cover the expenditure by\ncoining fresh money.] [In connection with the increase in commercial\ncapital described above, and the consequent beginning of an industry,\nChina's metal production had greatly increased.] [In 1050 thirteen times\nas much silver, eight times as much copper, and fourteen times as much\niron was produced as in 800.] [Thus the circulation of the copper currency\nwas increased.] [The cost of minting, however, amounted in China to about\n75 per cent and often over 100 per cent of the value of the money\ncoined.] [In addition to this, the metal was produced in the south, while\nthe capital was in the north.] [The coin had therefore to be carried a\nlong distance to reach the capital and to be sent on to the soldiers in\nthe north.] [To meet the increasing expenditure, an unexampled quantity of new money\nwas put into circulation.] [The state budget increased from 22,200,000 in\nA.D. 1000 to 150,800,000 in 1021.] [The Kitan state coined a great deal of\nsilver, and some of the tribute was paid to it in silver.] [The greatly\nincreased production of silver led to its being put into circulation in\nChina itself.] [And this provided a new field of speculation, through the\nvariations in the rates for silver and for copper.] [Speculation was also\npossible with the deposit certificates, which were issued in quantities\nby the state from the beginning of the eleventh century, and to which\nthe first true paper money was soon added.] [The paper money and the\ncertificates were redeemable at a definite date, but at a reduction of\nat least 3 per cent of their value; this, too, yielded a certain revenue\nto the state.] [The inflation that resulted from all these measures brought profit to\nthe big merchants in spite of the fact that they had to supply directly\nor indirectly all non-agricultural taxes (in 1160 some 40,000,000\nstrings annually), especially the salt tax (50 per cent), wine tax (36\nper cent), tea tax (7 per cent) and customs (7 per cent).] [Although the\nofficial economic thinking remained Confucian, i.e. anti-business and\npro-agrarian, we find in this time insight in price laws, for instance,\nthat peace times and/or decrease of population induce deflation.] [The\ngovernment had always attempted to manipulate the prices by\ninterference.] [Already in much earlier times, again and again, attempts\nhad been made to lower the prices by the so-called \"ever-normal\ngranaries\" of the government which threw grain on the market when prices\nwere too high and bought grain when prices were low.] [But now, in\naddition to such measures, we also find others which exhibit a deeper\ninsight: in a period of starvation, the scholar and official Fan\nChung-yen instead of officially reducing grain prices, raised the prices\nin his district considerably.] [Although the population got angry,\nmerchants started to import large amounts of grain; as soon as this\nhappened, Fan (himself a big landowner) reduced the price again.] [Similar\nresults were achieved by others by just stimulating merchants to import\ngrain into deficit areas.] [With the social structure of medieval Europe, similar financial and\nfiscal developments which gave new chances to merchants, eventually led\nto industrial capitalism and industrial society.] [In China, however, the\ngentry in their capacity of officials hindered the growth of independent\ntrade, and permitted its existence only in association with themselves.] [As they also represented landed property, it was in land that the\nnewly-formed capital was invested.] [Thus we see in the Sung period, and\nespecially in the eleventh century, the greatest accumulation of estates\nthat there had ever been up to then in China.] [Many of these estates came into origin as gifts of the emperor to\nindividuals or to temples, others were created on hillsides on land\nwhich belonged to the villages.] [From this time on, the rest of the\nvillage commons in China proper disappeared.] [Villagers could no longer\nuse the top-soil of the hills as fertilizer, or the trees as firewood\nand building material.] [In addition, the hillside estates diverted the\nwater of springs and creeks, thus damaging severely the irrigation works\nof the villagers in the plains.] [The estates (_chuang_) were controlled\nby appointed managers who often became hereditary managers.] [The tenants\non the estates were quite often non-registered migrants, of whom we\nspoke previously as \"vagrants\", and as such they depended upon the\nmanagers who could always denounce them to the authorities which would\nlead to punishment because nobody was allowed to leave his home without\nofficially changing his registration.] [Many estates operated mills and\neven textile factories with non-registered weavers.] [Others seem to have\nspecialized in sheep breeding.] [Present-day village names ending with\n-_chuang_ indicate such former estates.] [A new development in this period\nwere the \"clan estates\" (_i-chuang_), created by Fan Chung-yen\n(989-1052) in 1048.] [The income of these clan estates were used for the\nbenefit of the whole clan, were controlled by clan-appointed managers\nand had tax-free status, guaranteed by the government which regarded\nthem as welfare institutions.] [Technically, they might better be called\ncorporations because they were similar in structure to some of our\nindustrial corporations.] [Under the Chinese economic system, large-scale\nlandowning always proved socially and politically injurious.] [Up to very\nrecent times the peasant who rented his land paid 40-50 per cent of the\nproduce to the landowner, who was responsible for payment of the normal\nland tax.] [The landlord, however, had always found means of evading\npayment.] [As each district had to yield a definite amount of taxation,\nthe more the big landowners succeeded in evading payment the more had to\nbe paid by the independent small farmers.] [These independent peasants\ncould then either \"give\" their land to the big landowner and pay rent to\nhim, thus escaping from the attentions of the tax-officer, or simply\nleave the district and secretly enter another one where they were not\nregistered.] [In either case the government lost taxes.] [Large-scale landowning proved especially injurious in the Sung period,\nfor two reasons.] [To begin with, the official salaries, which had always\nbeen small in China, were now totally inadequate, and so the officials\nwere given a fixed quantity of land, the yield of which was regarded as\nan addition to salary.] [This land was free from part of the taxes.] [Before\nlong the officials had secured the liberation of the whole of their land\nfrom the chief taxes.] [In the second place, the taxation system was\nsimplified by making the amount of tax proportional to the amount of\nland owned.] [The lowest bracket, however, in this new system of taxation\ncomprised more land than a poor peasant would actually own, and this was\na heavy blow to the small peasant-owners, who in the past had paid a\nproportion of their produce.] [Most of them had so little land that they\ncould barely live on its yield.] [Their liability to taxation was at all\ntimes a very heavy burden to them while the big landowners got off\nlightly.] [Thus this measure, though administratively a saving of\nexpense, proved unsocial.] [All this made itself felt especially in the south with its great estates\nof tax-evading landowners.] [Here the remaining small peasant-owners had\nto pay the new taxes or to become tenants of the landowners and lose\ntheir property.] [The north was still suffering from the war-devastation\nof the tenth century.] [As the landlords were always the first sufferers\nfrom popular uprisings as well as from war, they had disappeared,\nleaving their former tenants as free peasants.] [From this period on, we\nhave enough data to observe a social \"law \": as the capital was the\nlargest consumer, especially of high-priced products such as vegetables\nwhich could not be transported over long distances, the gentry always\ntried to control the land around the capital.] [Here, we find the highest\nconcentration of landlords and tenants.] [Production in this circle\nshifted from rice and wheat to mulberry trees for silk, and vegetables\ngrown under the trees.] [These urban demands resulted in the growth of an\n\"industrial\" quarter on the outskirts of the capital, in which\nespecially silk for the upper classes was produced.] [The next circle also\ncontained many landlords, but production was more in staple foods such\nas wheat and rice which could be transported.] [Exploitation in this\nsecond circle was not much less than in the first circle, because of\nless close supervision by the authorities.] [In the third circle we find\nindependent subsistence farmers.] [Some provincial capitals, especially in\nSzechwan, exhibited a similar pattern of circles.] [With the shift of the\ncapital, a complete reorganization appeared: landlords and officials\ngave up their properties, cultivation changed, and a new system of\ncircles began to form around the new capital.] [We find, therefore, the\ngrotesque result that the thinly populated province of Shensi in the\nnorth-west yielded about a quarter of the total revenues of the state:\nit had no large landowners, no wealthy gentry, with their evasion of\ntaxation, only a mass of newly-settled small peasants' holdings.] [For\nthis reason the government was particularly interested in that province,\nand closely watched the political changes in its neighbourhood.] [In 990 a\nman belonging to a sinified Toba family, living on the border of Shensi,\nhad made himself king with the support of remnants of Toba tribes.] [In\n1034 came severe fighting, and in 1038 the king proclaimed himself\nemperor, in the Hsia dynasty, and threatened the whole of north-western\nChina.] [Tribute was now also paid to this state (250,000 strings), but\nthe fight against it continued, to save that important province.] [These were the main events in internal and external affairs during the\nSung period until 1068.] [It will be seen that foreign affairs were of\nmuch less importance than developments in the country.] [3 _Reforms and Welfare schemes_\n\nThe situation just described was bound to produce a reaction.] [In spite\nof the inflationary measures the revenue fell, partly in consequence of\nthe tax evasions of the great landowners.] [It fell from 150,000,000 in\n1021 to 116,000,000 in 1065.] [Expenditure did not fall, and there was a\nconstant succession of budget deficits.] [The young emperor Shen Tsung\n(1068-1085) became convinced that the policy followed by the ruling\nclique of officials and gentry was bad, and he gave his adhesion to a\nsmall group led by Wang An-shih (1021-1086).] [The ruling gentry clique\nrepresented especially the interests of the large tea producers and\nmerchants in Szechwan and Kiangsi.] [It advocated a policy of\n_laisser-faire_ in trade: it held that everything would adjust itself.] [Wang An-shih himself came from Kiangsi and was therefore supported at\nfirst by the government clique, within which the Kiangsi group was\ntrying to gain predominance over the Szechwan group.] [But Wang An-shih\ncame from a poor family, as did his supporters, for whom he quickly\nsecured posts.] [They represented the interests of the small landholders\nand the small dealers.] [This group succeeded in gaining power, and in\ncarrying out a number of reforms, all directed against the monopolist\nmerchants.] [Credits for small peasants were introduced, and officials\nwere given bigger salaries, in order to make them independent and to\nrecruit officials who were not big landowners.] [The army was greatly\nreduced, and in addition to the paid soldiery a national militia was\ncreated.] [Special attention was paid to the province of Shensi, whose\nconditions were taken more or less as a model.] [It seems that one consequence of Wang's reforms was a strong fall in the\nprices, i.e. a deflation; therefore, as soon as the first decrees were\nissued, the large plantation owners and the merchants who were allied to\nthem, offered furious opposition.] [A group of officials and landlords who\nstill had large properties in the vicinity of Loyang--at that time a\nquiet cultural centre--also joined them.] [Even some of Wang An-shih's\nformer adherents came out against him.] [After a few years the emperor was\nno longer able to retain Wang An-shih and had to abandon the new policy.] [How really economic interests were here at issue may be seen from the\nfact that for many of the new decrees which were not directly concerned\nwith economic affairs, such, for instance, as the reform of the\nexamination system, Wang An-shih was strongly attacked though his\nopponents had themselves advocated them in the past and had no practical\nobjection to offer to them.] [The contest, however, between the two groups\nwas not over.] [The monopolistic landowners and their merchants had the\nupper hand from 1086 to 1102, but then the advocates of the policy\nrepresented by Wang again came into power for a short time.] [They had but\nlittle success to show, as they did not remain in power long enough and,\nowing to the strong opposition, they were never able to make their\ncontrol really effective.] [Basically, both groups were against allowing the developing middle class\nand especially the merchants to gain too much freedom, and whatever\nfreedom they in fact gained, came through extra-legal or illegal\npractices.] [A proverb of the time said \"People hate their ruler as\nanimals hate the net (of the hunter)\".] [The basic laws of medieval times\nwhich had attempted to create stable social classes remained: down to\nthe nineteenth century there were slaves, different classes of serfs or\n\"commoners\", and free burghers.] [Craftsmen remained under work\nobligation.] [Merchants were second-class people.] [Each class had to wear\ndresses of special colour and material, so that the social status of a\nperson, even if he was not an official and thus recognizable by his\ninsignia, was immediately clear when one saw him.] [The houses of\ndifferent classes differed from one another by the type of tiles, the\ndecorations of the doors and gates; the size of the main reception room\nof the house was prescribed and was kept small for all non-officials;\nand even size and form of the tombs was prescribed in detail for each\nclass.] [Once a person had a certain privilege, he and his descendants\neven if they had lost their position in the bureaucracy, retained these\nprivileges over generations.] [All burghers were admitted to the\nexaminations and, thus, there was a certain social mobility allowed\nwithin the leading class of the society, and a new \"small gentry\"\ndeveloped by this system.] [Yet, the wars of the transition period had created a feeling of\ninsecurity within the gentry.] [The eleventh and twelfth centuries were\nperiods of extensive social legislation in order to give the lower\nclasses some degree of security and thus prevent them from attempting to\nupset the status quo.] [In addition to the \"ever-normal granaries\" of the\nstate, \"social granaries\" were revived, into which all farmers of a\nvillage had to deliver grain for periods of need.] [In 1098 a bureau for\nhousing and care was created which created homes for the old and\ndestitute; 1102 a bureau for medical care sent state doctors to homes\nand hospitals as well as to private homes to care for poor patients;\nfrom 1104 a bureau of burials took charge of the costs of burials of\npoor persons.] [Doctors as craftsmen were under corvee obligation and\ncould easily be ordered by the state.] [Often, however, Buddhist priests\ntook charge of medical care, burial costs and hospitalization.] [The state\ngave them premiums if they did good work.] [The Ministry of Civil Affairs\nmade the surveys of cases and costs, while the Ministry of Finances paid\nthe costs.] [We hear of state orphanages in 1247, a free pharmacy in 1248,\nstate hospitals were reorganized in 1143.] [In 1167 the government gave\nlow-interest loans to poor persons and (from 1159 on) sold cheap grain\nfrom state granaries.] [Fire protection services in large cities were\norganized.] [Finally, from 1141 on, the government opened up to\ntwenty-three geisha houses for the entertainment of soldiers who were\nfar from home in the capital and had no possibility for other\namusements.] [Public baths had existed already some centuries ago; now\nBuddhist temples opened public baths as social service.] [Social services for the officials were also extended.] [Already from the\neighth century on, offices were closed every tenth day and during\nholidays, a total of almost eighty days per year.] [Even criminals got\nsome leave and exiles had the right of a home leave once every three\nyears.] [The pensions for retired officials after the age of seventy which\namounted to 50 per cent of the salary from the eighth century on, were\nagain raised, though widows did not receive benefits.] [4 _Cultural situation (philosophy, religion, literature, painting_)\n\nCulturally the eleventh century was the most active period China had so\nfar experienced, apart from the fourth century B.C.] [As a consequence of\nthe immensely increased number of educated people resulting from the\ninvention of printing, circles of scholars and private schools set up by\nscholars were scattered all over the country.] [The various philosophical\nschools differed in their political attitude and in the choice of\nliterary models with which they were politically in sympathy.] [Thus Wang\nAn-shih and his followers preferred the rigid classic style of Han Yue\n(768-825) who lived in the T'ang period and had also been an opponent of\nthe monopolistic tendencies of pre-capitalism.] [For the Wang An-shih\ngroup formed itself into a school with a philosophy of its own and with\nits own commentaries on the classics.] [As the representative of the small\nmerchants and the small landholders, this school advocated policies of\nstate control and specialized in the study and annotation of classical\nbooks which seemed to favour their ideas.] [But the Wang An-shih school was unable to hold its own against the\nschool that stood for monopolist trade capitalism, the new philosophy\ndescribed as Neo-Confucianism or the Sung school.] [Here Confucianism and\nBuddhism were for the first time united.] [In the last centuries,\nBuddhistic ideas had penetrated all of Chinese culture: the slaughtering\nof animals and the executions of criminals were allowed only on certain\ndays, in accordance with Buddhist rules.] [Formerly, monks and nuns had to\ngreet the emperor as all citizens had to do; now they were exempt from\nthis rule.] [On the other hand, the first Sung emperor was willing to\nthrow himself to the earth in front of the Buddha statues, but he was\ntold he did not have to do it because he was the \"Buddha of the present\ntime\" and thus equal to the God.] [Buddhist priests participated in the\ncelebrations on the emperor's birthday, and emperors from time to time\ngave free meals to large crowds of monks.] [Buddhist thought entered the\nfield of justice: in Sung time we hear complaints that judges did not\napply the laws and showed laxity, because they hoped to gain religious\nmerit by sparing the lives of criminals.] [We had seen how the main\ncurrent of Buddhism had changed from a revolutionary to a reactionary\ndoctrine.] [The new greater gentry of the eleventh century adopted a\nnumber of elements of this reactionary Buddhism and incorporated them in\nthe Confucianist system.] [This brought into Confucianism a metaphysic\nwhich it had lacked in the past, greatly extending its influence on the\npeople and at the same time taking the wind out of the sails of\nBuddhism.] [The greater gentry never again placed themselves on the side\nof the Buddhist Church as they had done in the T'ang period.] [When they\ngot tired of Confucianism, they interested themselves in Taoism of the\npolitically innocent, escapist, meditative Buddhism.] [Men like Chou Tun-i (1017-1073) and Chang Tsai (1020-1077) developed a\ncosmological theory which could measure up with Buddhistic cosmology and\nmetaphysics.] [But perhaps more important was the attempt of the\nNeo-Confucianists to explain the problem of evil.] [Confucius and his\nfollowers had believed that every person could perfect himself by\novercoming the evil in him.] [As the good persons should be the _elite_\nand rule the others, theoretically everybody who was a member of human\nsociety, could move up and become a leader.] [It was commonly assumed that\nhuman nature is good or indifferent, and that human feelings are evil\nand have to be tamed and educated.] [When in Han time with the\nestablishment of the gentry society and its social classes, the idea\nthat any person could move up to become a leader if he only perfected\nhimself, appeared to be too unrealistic, the theory of different grades\nof men was formed which found its clearest formulation by Han Yue: some\npeople have a good, others a neutral, and still others a bad nature;\ntherefore, not everybody can become a leader.] [The Neo-Confucianists,\nespecially Ch'eng Hao (1032-1085) and Ch'eng I (1033-1107), tried to\nfind the reasons for this inequality.] [According to them, nature is\nneutral; but physical form originates with the combination of nature\nwith Material Force (_ch'i_).] [This combination produces individuals in\nwhich there is a lack of balance or harmony.] [Man should try to transform\nphysical form and recover original nature.] [The creative force by which\nsuch a transformation is possible is _jen_, love, the creative,\nlife-giving quality of nature itself.] [It should be remarked that Neo-Confucianism accepts an inequality of\nmen, as early Confucianism did; and that _jen_, love, in its practical\napplication has to be channelled by _li_, the system of rules of\nbehaviour.] [The _li_, however, always started from the idea of a\nstratified class society.] [Chu Hsi (1130-1200), the famous scholar and\nsystematizer of Neo-Confucian thoughts, brought out rules of behaviour\nfor those burghers who did not belong to the gentry and could not,\ntherefore, be expected to perform all _li_; his \"simplified _li_\"\nexercised a great influence not only upon contemporary China, but also\nupon Korea and Annam and there strengthened a hitherto looser\npatriarchal, patrilinear family system.] [The Neo-Confucianists also compiled great analytical works of history\nand encyclopaedias whose authority continued for many centuries.] [They\ninterpreted in these works all history in accordance with their outlook;\nthey issued new commentaries on all the classics in order to spread\ninterpretations that served their purposes.] [In the field of commentary\nthis school of thought was given perfect expression by Chu Hsi, who also\nwrote one of the chief historical works.] [Chu Hsi's commentaries became\nstandard works for centuries, until the beginning of the twentieth\ncentury.] [Yet, although Chu became the symbol of conservatism, he was\nquite interested in science, and in this field he had an open eye for\nchanges.] [The Sung period is so important, because it is also the time of the\ngreatest development of Chinese science and technology.] [Many new\ntheories, but also many practical, new inventions were made.] [Medicine\nmade substantial progress.] [About 1145 the first autopsy was made, on the\nbody of a South Chinese captive.] [In the field of agriculture, new\nvarieties of rice were developed, new techniques applied, new plants\nintroduced.] [The Wang An-shih school of political philosophy had opponents also in\nthe field of literary style, the so-called Shu Group (Shu means the\npresent province of Szechwan), whose leaders were the famous Three Sus.] [The greatest of the three was Su Tung-p'o (1036-1101); the others were\nhis father, Su Shih, and his brother, Su Che.] [It is characteristic of\nthese Shu poets, and also of the Kiangsi school associated with them,\nthat they made as much use as they could of the vernacular.] [It had not\nbeen usual to introduce the phrases of everyday life into poetry, but Su\nTung-p'o made use of the most everyday expressions, without diminishing\nhis artistic effectiveness by so doing; on the contrary, the result was\nto give his poems much more genuine feeling than those of other poets.] [These poets were in harmony with the writings of the T'ang period poet\nPo Chue-i (772-846) and were supported, like Neo-Confucianism, by\nrepresentatives of trade capitalism.] [Politically, in their conservatism\nthey were sharply opposed to the Wang An-shih group.] [Midway between the\ntwo stood the so-called Loyang-School, whose greatest leaders were the\nhistorian and poet Ss[)u]-ma Kuang (1019-1086) and the philosopher-poet\nShao Yung (1011-1077).] [In addition to its poems, the Sung literature was famous for the\nso-called _pi-chi_ or miscellaneous notes.] [These consist of short notes\nof the most various sort, notes on literature, art, politics,\narchaeology, all mixed together.] [The _pi-chi_ are a treasure-house for\nthe history of the culture of the time; they contain many details, often\nof importance, about China's neighbouring peoples.] [They were intended to\nserve as suggestions for learned conversation when scholars came\ntogether; they aimed at showing how wide was a scholar's knowledge.] [To\nthis group we must add the accounts of travel, of which some of great\nvalue dating from the Sung period are still extant; they contain\ninformation of the greatest importance about the early Mongols and also\nabout Turkestan and South China.] [While the Sung period was one of perfection in all fields of art,\npainting undoubtedly gained its highest development in this time.] [We\nfind now two main streams in painting: some painters preferred the\ndecorative, pompous, but realistic approach, with great attention to the\ndetail.] [Later theoreticians brought this school in connection with one\nschool of meditative Buddhism, the so-called northern school.] [Men who\nbelonged to this school of painting often were active court officials or\npainted for the court and for other representative purposes.] [One of the\nmost famous among them, Li Lung-mien (ca. 1040-1106), for instance\npainted the different breeds of horses in the imperial stables.] [He was\nalso famous for his Buddhistic figures.] [Another school, later called the\nsouthern school, regarded painting as an intimate, personal expression.] [They tried to paint inner realities and not outer forms.] [They, too, were\neducated, but they did not paint for anybody.] [They painted in their\ncountry houses when they felt in the mood for expression.] [Their\npaintings did not stress details, but tried to give the spirit of a\nlandscape, for in this field they excelled most.] [Best known of them is\nMi Fei (ca. 1051-1107), a painter as well as a calligrapher, art\ncollector, and art critic.] [Typically, his paintings were not much liked\nby the emperor Hui Tsung (ruled 1101-1125) who was one of the greatest\nart collectors and whose catalogue of his collection became very famous.] [He created the Painting Academy, an institution which mainly gave\nofficial recognition to painters in form of titles which gave the\npainter access to and status at court.] [Ma Yuean (_c_. 1190-1224), member\nof a whole painter's family, and Hsia Kui (_c_. 1180-1230) continued the\nmore \"impressionistic\" tradition.] [Already in Sung time, however, many\npainters could and did paint in different styles, \"copying\", i.e.\npainting in the way of T'ang painters, in order to express their\nchanging emotions by changed styles, a fact which often makes the dating\nof Chinese paintings very difficult.] [Finally, art craft has left us famous porcelains of the Sung period.] [The\nmost characteristic production of that time is the green porcelain known\nas \"Celadon\".] [It consists usually of a rather solid paste, less like\nporcelain than stoneware, covered with a green glaze; decoration is\nincised, not painted, under the glaze.] [In the Sung period, however, came\nthe first pure white porcelain with incised ornamentation under the\nglaze, and also with painting on the glaze.] [Not until near the end of\nthe Sung period did the blue and white porcelain begin (blue painting on\na white ground).] [The cobalt needed for this came from Asia Minor.] [In\nexchange for the cobalt, Chinese porcelain went to Asia Minor.] [This\ntrade did not, however, grow greatly until the Mongol epoch; later\nreally substantial orders were placed in China, the Chinese executing\nthe patterns wanted in the West.] [5 _Military collapse_\n\nIn foreign affairs the whole eleventh century was a period of diplomatic\nmanoeuvring, with every possible effort to avoid war.] [There was\nlong-continued fighting with the Kitan, and at times also with the\nTurco-Tibetan Hsia, but diplomacy carried the day: tribute was paid to\nboth enemies, and the effort was made to stir up the Kitan against the\nHsia and vice versa; the other parties also intrigued in like fashion.] [In 1110 the situation seemed to improve for the Sung in this game, as a\nnew enemy appeared in the rear of the Liao (Kitan), the Tungusic Juchen\n(Jurchen), who in the past had been more or less subject to the Kitan.] [In 1114 the Juchen made themselves independent and became a political\nfactor.] [The Kitan were crippled, and it became an easy matter to attack\nthem.] [But this pleasant situation did not last long.] [The Juchen\nconquered Peking, and in 1125 the Kitan empire was destroyed; but in the\nsame year the Juchen marched against the Sung.] [In 1126 they captured\nthe Sung capital; the emperor and his art-loving father, who had retired\na little earlier, were taken prisoner, and the Northern Sung dynasty was\nat an end.] [The collapse came so quickly because the whole edifice of security\nbetween the Kitan and the Sung was based on a policy of balance and of\ndiplomacy.] [Neither state was armed in any way, and so both collapsed at\nthe first assault from a military power.] [(2) The Liao (Kitan) dynasty in the north (937-1125)\n\n1 _Social structure.] [Claim to the Chinese imperial throne_\n\nThe Kitan, a league of tribes under the leadership of an apparently\nMongol tribe, had grown steadily stronger in north-eastern Mongolia\nduring the T'ang epoch.] [They had gained the allegiance of many tribes in\nthe west and also in Korea and Manchuria, and in the end, about A.D.\n900, had become the dominant power in the north.] [The process of growth\nof this nomad power was the same as that of other nomad states, such as\nthe Toba state, and therefore need not be described again in any detail\nhere.] [When the T'ang dynasty was deposed, the Kitan were among the\nclaimants to the Chinese throne, feeling fully justified in their claim\nas the strongest power in the Far East.] [Owing to the strength of the\nSha-t'o Turks, who themselves claimed leadership in China, the expansion\nof the Kitan empire slowed down.] [In the many battles the Kitan suffered\nseveral setbacks.] [They also had enemies in the rear, a state named\nPo-hai, ruled by Tunguses, in northern Korea, and the new Korean state\nof Kao-li, which liberated itself from Chinese overlordship in 919.] [In 927 the Kitan finally destroyed Po-hai.] [This brought many Tungus\ntribes, including the Jurchen (Juchen), under Kitan dominance.] [Then, in\n936, the Kitan gained the allegiance of the Turkish general Shih\nChing-t'ang, and he was set on the Chinese throne as a feudatory of the\nKitan.] [It was hoped now to secure dominance over China, and accordingly\nthe Mongol name of the dynasty was altered to \"Liao dynasty\" in 937,\nindicating the claim to the Chinese throne.] [Considerable regions of\nNorth China came at once under the direct rule of the Liao.] [As a whole,\nhowever, the plan failed: the feudatory Shih Ching-t'ang tried to make\nhimself independent; Chinese fought the Liao; and the Chinese sceptre\nsoon came back into the hands of a Sha-t'o dynasty (947).] [This ended the\nplans of the Liao to conquer the whole of China.] [For this there were several reasons.] [A nomad people was again ruling\nthe agrarian regions of North China.] [This time the representatives of\nthe ruling class remained military commanders, and at the same time\nretained their herds of horses.] [As early as 1100 they had well over\n10,000 herds, each of more than a thousand animals.] [The army commanders\nhad been awarded large regions which they themselves had conquered.] [They\ncollected the taxes in these regions, and passed on to the state only\nthe yield of the wine tax.] [On the other hand, in order to feed the\narmies, in which there were now many Chinese soldiers, the frontier\nregions were settled, the soldiers working as peasants in times of\npeace, and peasants being required to contribute to the support of the\narmy.] [Both processes increased the interest of the Kitan ruling class in\nthe maintenance of peace.] [That class was growing rich, and preferred\nliving on the income from its properties or settlements to going to war,\nwhich had become a more and more serious matter after the founding of\nthe great Sung empire, and was bound to be less remunerative.] [The herds\nof horses were a further excellent source of income, for they could be\nsold to the Sung, who had no horses.] [Then, from 1004 onward, came the\ntribute payments from China, strengthening the interest in the\nmaintenance of peace.] [Thus great wealth accumulated in Peking, the\ncapital of the Liao; in this wealth the whole Kitan ruling class\nparticipated, but the tribes in the north, owing to their remoteness,\nhad no share in it.] [In 988 the Chinese began negotiations, as a move in\ntheir diplomacy, with the ruler of the later realm of the Hsia; in 990\nthe Kitan also negotiated with him, and they soon became a third partner\nin the diplomatic game.] [Delegations were continually going from one to\nanother of the three realms, and they were joined by trade missions.] [Agreement was soon reached on frontier questions, on armament, on\nquestions of demobilization, on the demilitarization of particular\nregions, and so on, for the last thing anyone wanted was to fight.] [Then came the rising of the tribes of the north.] [They had remained\nmilitary tribes; of all the wealth nothing reached them, and they were\ngiven no military employment, so that they had no hope of improving\ntheir position.] [The leadership was assumed by the tribe of the Juchen\n(1114).] [In a campaign of unprecedented rapidity they captured Peking,\nand the Liao dynasty was ended (1125), a year earlier, as we know, than\nthe end of the Sung.] [2 _The State of the Kara-Kitai_\n\nA small troop of Liao, under the command of a member of the ruling\nfamily, fled into the west.] [They were pursued without cessation, but\nthey succeeded in fighting their way through.] [After a few years of\nnomad life in the mountains of northern Turkestan, they were able to\ngain the collaboration of a few more tribes, and with them they then\ninvaded western Turkestan.] [There they founded the \"Western Liao\" state,\nor, as the western sources call it, the \"Kara-Kitai\" state, with its\ncapital at Balasagun.] [This state must not be regarded as a purely Kitan\nstate.] [The Kitan formed only a very thin stratum, and the real power was\nin the hands of autochthonous Turkish tribes, to whom the Kitan soon\nbecame entirely assimilated in culture.] [Thus the history of this state\nbelongs to that of western Asia, especially as the relations of the\nKara-Kitai with the Far East were entirely broken off.] [In 1211 the state\nwas finally destroyed.] [(3) The Hsi-Hsia State in the north (1038-1227)\n\n1 _Continuation of Turkish traditions_\n\nAfter the end of the Toba state in North China in 550, some tribes of\nthe Toba, including members of the ruling tribe with the tribal name\nToba, withdrew to the borderland between Tibet and China, where they\nruled over Tibetan and Tangut tribes.] [At the beginning of the T'ang\ndynasty this tribe of Toba joined the T'ang.] [The tribal leader received\nin return, as a distinction, the family name of the T'ang dynasty, Li.] [His dependence on China was, however, only nominal and soon came\nentirely to an end.] [In the tenth century the tribe gained in strength.] [It is typical of the long continuance of old tribal traditions that a\nleader of the tribe in the tenth century married a woman belonging to\nthe family to which the khans of the Hsiung-nu and all Turkish ruling\nhouses had belonged since 200 B.C. With the rise of the Kitan in the\nnorth and of the Tibetan state in the south, the tribe decided to seek\nthe friendship of China.] [Its first mission, in 982, was well received.] [Presents were sent to the chieftain of the tribe, he was helped against\nhis enemies, and he was given the status of a feudatory of the Sung; in\n988 the family name of the Sung, Chao, was conferred on him.] [Then the\nKitan took a hand.] [They over-trumped the Sung by proclaiming the tribal\nchieftain king of Hsia (990).] [Now the small state became interesting.] [It\nwas pampered by Liao and Sung in the effort to win it over or to keep\nits friendship.] [The state grew; in 1031 its ruler resumed the old family\nname of the Toba, thus proclaiming his intention to continue the Toba\nempire; in 1034 he definitely parted from the Sung, and in 1038 he\nproclaimed himself emperor in the Hsia dynasty, or, as the Chinese\ngenerally called it, the \"Hsi-Hsia\", which means the Western Hsia.] [This\nname, too, had associations with the old Hun tradition; it recalled the\nstate of Ho-lien P'o-p'o in the early fifth century.] [The state soon\ncovered the present province of Kansu, small parts of the adjoining\nTibetan territory, and parts of the Ordos region.] [It attacked the\nprovince of Shensi, but the Chinese and the Liao attached the greatest\nimportance to that territory.] [Thus that was the scene of most of the\nfighting.] [[Illustration: 12 Ancient tiled pagoda at Chengting (Hopei).] [_Photo H.] [Hammer-Morrisson_.] []\n\n[Illustration: 13 Horse-training.] [Painting by Li Lung-mien.] [Late Sung\nperiod.] [_Manchu Royal House Collection_.] [] The Hsia state had a ruling\ngroup of Toba, but these Toba had become entirely tibetanized.] [The\nlanguage of the country was Tibetan; the customs were those of the\nTanguts.] [A script was devised, in imitation of the Chinese script.] [Only\nin recent years has it begun to be studied.] [In 1125, when the Tungusic Juchen destroyed the Liao, the Hsia also lost\nlarge territories in the east of their country, especially the province\nof Shensi, which they had conquered; but they were still able to hold\ntheir own.] [Their political importance to China, however, vanished, since\nthey were now divided from southern China and as partners were no longer\nof the same value to it.] [Not until the Mongols became a power did the\nHsia recover some of their importance; but they were among the first\nvictims of the Mongols: in 1209 they had to submit to them, and in 1227,\nthe year of the death of Genghiz Khan, they were annihilated.] [(4) The empire of the Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1279)\n\n1 _Foundation_\n\nIn the disaster of 1126, when the Juchen captured the Sung capital and\ndestroyed the Sung empire, a brother of the captive emperor escaped.] [He\nmade himself emperor in Nanking and founded the \"Southern Sung\" dynasty,\nwhose capital was soon shifted to the present Hangchow.] [The foundation\nof the new dynasty was a relatively easy matter, and the new state was\nmuch more solid than the southern kingdoms of 800 years earlier, for the\nsouth had already been economically supreme, and the great families that\nhad ruled the state were virtually all from the south.] [The loss of the\nnorth, i.e. the area north of the Yellow River and of parts of Kiangsu,\nwas of no importance to this governing group and meant no loss of\nestates to it.] [Thus the transition from the Northern to the Southern\nSung was not of fundamental importance.] [Consequently the Juchen had no\nchance of success when they arranged for Liu Yue, who came of a northern\nChinese family of small peasants and had become an official, to be\nproclaimed emperor in the \"Ch'i\" dynasty in 1130.] [They hoped that this\npuppet might attract the southern Chinese, but seven years later they\ndropped him.] [2 _Internal situation_\n\nAs the social structure of the Southern Sung empire had not been\nchanged, the country was not affected by the dynastic development.] [Only\nthe policy of diplomacy could not be pursued at once, as the Juchen were\nbellicose at first and would not negotiate.] [There were therefore several\nbattles at the outset (in 1131 and 1134), in which the Chinese were\nactually the more successful, but not decisively.] [The Sung military\ngroup was faced as early as in 1131 with furious opposition from the\ngreater gentry, led by Ch'in K'ui, one of the largest landowners of all.] [His estates were around Nanking, and so in the deployment region and the\nregion from which most of the soldiers had to be drawn for the defensive\nstruggle.] [Ch'in K'ui secured the assassination of the leader of the\nmilitary party, General Yo Fei, in 1141, and was able to conclude peace\nwith the Juchen.] [The Sung had to accept the status of vassals and to pay\nannual tribute to the Juchen.] [This was the situation that best pleased\nthe greater gentry.] [They paid hardly any taxes (in many districts the\ngreater gentry directly owned more than 30 per cent of the land, in\naddition to which they had indirect interests in the soil), and they\nwere now free from the war peril that ate into their revenues.] [The\ntribute amounted only to 500,000 strings of cash.] [Popular literature,\nhowever, to this day represents Ch'in K'ui as a traitor and Yo Fei as a\nnational hero.] [In 1165 it was agreed between the Sung and the Juchen to regard each\nother as states with equal rights.] [It is interesting to note here that\nin the treaties during the Han time with the Hsiung-nu, the two\ncountries called one another brothers--with the Chinese ruler as the\nolder and thus privileged brother; but the treaties since the T'ang time\nwith northern powers and with Tibetans used the terms father-in-law and\nson-in-law.] [The foreign power was the \"father-in-law\", i.e. the older\nand, therefore, in a certain way the more privileged; the Chinese were\nthe \"son-in-law\", the representative of the paternal lineage and,\ntherefore, in another respect also the more privileged!] [In spite of such\nagreements with the Juchen, fighting continued, but it was mainly of the\ncharacter of frontier engagements.] [Not until 1204 did the military\nparty, led by Han T'o-wei, regain power; it resolved upon an active\npolicy against the north.] [In preparation for this a military reform was\ncarried out.] [The campaign proved a disastrous failure, as a result of\nwhich large territories in the north were lost.] [The Sung sued for\npeace; Han T'o-wei's head was cut off and sent to the Juchen.] [In this\nway peace was restored in 1208.] [The old treaty relationship was now\nresumed, but the relations between the two states remained tense.] [Meanwhile the Sung observed with malicious pleasure how the Mongols were\ngrowing steadily stronger, first destroying the Hsia state and then\naiming the first heavy blows against the Juchen.] [In the end the Sung\nentered into alliance with the Mongols (1233) and joined them in\nattacking the Juchen, thus hastening the end of the Juchen state.] [The Sung now faced the Mongols, and were defenceless against them.] [All\nthe buffer states had gone.] [The Sung were quite without adequate\nmilitary defence.] [They hoped to stave off the Mongols in the same way as\nthey had met the Kitan and the Juchen.] [This time, however, they\nmisjudged the situation.] [In the great operations begun by the Mongols in\n1273 the Sung were defeated over and over again.] [In 1276 their capital\nwas taken by the Mongols and the emperor was made prisoner.] [For three\nyears longer there was a Sung emperor, in flight from the Mongols, until\nthe last emperor perished near Macao in South China.] [3 _Cultural situation; reasons for the collapse_\n\nThe Southern Sung period was again one of flourishing culture.] [The\nimperial court was entirely in the power of the greater gentry; several\ntimes the emperors, who personally do not deserve individual mention,\nwere compelled to abdicate.] [They then lived on with a court of their\nown, devoting themselves to pleasure in much the same way as the\n\"reigning\" emperor.] [Round them was a countless swarm of poets and\nartists.] [Never was there a time so rich in poets, though hardly one of\nthem was in any way outstanding.] [The poets, unlike those of earlier\ntimes, belonged to the lesser gentry who were suffering from the\nprevailing inflation.] [Salaries bore no relation to prices.] [Food was not\ndear, but the things which a man of the upper class ought to have were\nfar out of reach: a big house cost 2,000 strings of cash, a concubine\n800 strings.] [Thus the lesser gentry and the intelligentsia all lived on\ntheir patrons among the greater gentry--with the result that they were\nentirely shut out of politics.] [This explains why the literature of the\ntime is so unpolitical, and also why scarcely any philosophical works\nappeared.] [The writers took refuge more and more in romanticism and\nflight from realities.] [The greater gentry, on the other hand, led a very elegant life, building\nthemselves magnificent palaces in the capital.] [They also speculated in\nevery direction.] [They speculated in land, in money, and above all in\nthe paper money that was coming more and more into use.] [In 1166 the\npaper circulation exceeded the value of 10,000,000 strings!] [It seems that after 1127 a good number of farmers had left Honan and the\nYellow River plains when the Juchen conquered these places and showed\nlittle interest in fostering agriculture; more left the border areas of\nSouthern Sung because of permanent war threat.] [Many of these lived\nmiserably as tenants on the farms of the gentry between Nanking and\nHangchow.] [Others migrated farther to the south, across Kiangsi into\nsouthern Fukien.] [These migrants seem to have been the ancestors of the\nHakka which in the following centuries continued their migration towards\nthe south and who from the nineteenth century on were most strongly\nconcentrated in Kwangtung and Kwangsi provinces as free farmers on hill\nslopes or as tenants of local landowners in the plains.] [The influx of migrants and the increase of tenants and their poverty\nseriously threatened the state and cut down its defensive strength more\nand more.] [At this stage, Chia Ssu-tao drafted a reform law.] [Chia had come to the\ncourt through his sister becoming the emperor's concubine, but he\nhimself belonged to the lesser gentry.] [His proposal was that state funds\nshould be applied to the purchase of land in the possession of the\ngreater gentry over and above a fixed maximum.] [Peasants were to be\nsettled on this land, and its yield was to belong to the state, which\nwould be able to use it to meet military expenditure.] [In this way the\ncountry's military strength was to be restored.] [Chia's influence lasted\njust ten years, until 1275.] [He began putting the law into effect in the\nregion south of Nanking, where the principal estates of the greater\ngentry were then situated.] [He brought upon himself, of course, the\nmortal hatred of the greater gentry, and paid for his action with his\nlife.] [The emperor, in entering upon this policy, no doubt had hoped to\nrecover some of his power, but the greater gentry brought him down.] [The\ngentry now openly played into the hands of the approaching Mongols, so\nhastening the final collapse of the Sung.] [The peasants and the lesser\ngentry would have fought the Mongols if it had been possible; but the\ngreater gentry enthusiastically went over to the Mongols, hoping to save\ntheir property and so their influence by quickly joining the enemy.] [On a\nlong view they had not judged badly.] [The Mongols removed the members of\nthe gentry from all political posts, but left them their estates; and\nbefore long the greater gentry reappeared in political life.] [And when,\nlater, the Mongol empire in China was brought down by a popular rising,\nthe greater gentry showed themselves to be the most faithful allies of\nthe Mongols!] [(5) The empire of the Juchen in the north (1115-1234)\n\n1 _Rapid expansion from northern Korea to the Yangtze_\n\nThe Juchen in the past had been only a small league of Tungus tribes,\nwhose name is preserved in that of the present Tungus tribe of the\nJurchen, which came under the domination of the Kitan after the collapse\nof the state of Po-hai in northern Korea.] [We have already briefly\nmentioned the reasons for their rise.] [After their first successes\nagainst the Kitan (1114), their chieftain at once proclaimed himself\nemperor (1115), giving his dynasty the name \"Chin\" (The Golden).] [The\nChin quickly continued their victorious progress.] [In 1125 the Kitan\nempire was destroyed.] [It will be remembered that the Sung were at once\nattacked, although they had recently been allied with the Chin against\nthe Kitan.] [In 1126 the Sung capital was taken.] [The Chin invasions were\npushed farther south, and in 1130 the Yangtze was crossed.] [But the Chin\ndid not hold the whole of these conquests.] [Their empire was not yet\nconsolidated.] [Their partial withdrawal closed the first phase of the\nChin empire.] [2 _United front of all Chinese_\n\nBut a few years after this maximum expansion, a withdrawal began which\nwent on much more quickly than usual in such cases.] [The reasons were to\nbe found both in external and in internal politics.] [The Juchen had\ngained great agrarian regions in a rapid march of conquest.] [Once more\ngreat cities with a huge urban population and immense wealth had fallen\nto alien conquerors.] [Now the Juchen wanted to enjoy this wealth as the\nKitan had done before them.] [All the Juchen people counted as citizens of\nthe highest class; they were free from taxation and only liable to\nmilitary service.] [They were entitled to take possession of as much\ncultivable land as they wanted; this they did, and they took not only\nthe \"state domains\" actually granted to them but also peasant\nproperties, so that Chinese free peasants had nothing left but the worst\nfields, unless they became tenants on Juchen estates.] [A united front was\ntherefore formed between all Chinese, both peasants and landowning\ngentry, against the Chin, such as it had not been possible to form\nagainst the Kitan.] [This made an important contribution later to the\nrapid collapse of the Chin empire.] [The Chin who had thus come into possession of the cultivable land and\nat the same time of the wealth of the towns, began a sort of competition\nwith each other for the best winnings, especially after the government\nhad returned to the old Sung capital, Pien-liang (now K'ai-feng, in\neastern Honan).] [Serious crises developed in their own ranks.] [In 1149 the\nruler was assassinated by his chancellor (a member of the imperial\nfamily), who in turn was murdered in 1161.] [The Chin thus failed to\nattain what had been secured by all earlier conquerors, a reconciliation\nof the various elements of the population and the collaboration of at\nleast one group of the defeated Chinese.] [3 _Start of the Mongol empire_\n\nThe cessation of fighting against the Sung brought no real advantage in\nexternal affairs, though the tribute payments appealed to the greed of\nthe rulers and were therefore welcomed.] [There could be no question of\nfurther campaigns against the south, for the Hsia empire in the west had\nnot been destroyed, though some of its territory had been annexed; and a\nnew peril soon made its appearance in the rear of the Chin.] [When in the\ntenth century the Sha-t'o Turks had to withdraw from their dominating\nposition in China, because of their great loss of numbers and\nconsequently of strength, they went back into Mongolia and there united\nwith the Ta-tan (Tatars), among whom a new small league of tribes had\nformed towards the end of the eleventh century, consisting mainly of\nMongols and Turks.] [In 1139 one of the chieftains of the Juchen rebelled\nand entered into negotiations with the South Chinese.] [He was killed, but\nhis sons and his whole tribe then rebelled and went into Mongolia, where\nthey made common cause with the Mongols.] [The Chin pursued them, and\nfought against them and against the Mongols, but without success.] [Accordingly negotiations were begun, and a promise was given to deliver\nmeat and grain every year and to cede twenty-seven military strongholds.] [A high title was conferred on the tribal leader of the Mongols, in the\nhope of gaining his favour.] [He declined it, however, and in 1147 assumed\nthe title of emperor of the \"greater Mongol empire\".] [This was the\nbeginning of the power of the Mongols, who remained thereafter a\ndangerous enemy of the Chin in the north, until in 1189 Genghiz Khan\nbecame their leader and made the Mongols the greatest power of central\nAsia.] [In any case, the Chin had reason to fear the Mongols from 1147\nonward, and therefore were the more inclined to leave the Sung in peace.] [In 1210 the Mongols began the first great assault against the Chin, the\nmoment they had conquered the Hsia.] [In the years 1215-17 the Mongols\ntook the military key-positions from the Chin.] [After that there could be\nno serious defence of the Chin empire.] [There came a respite only because\nthe Mongols had turned against the West.] [But in 1234 the empire finally\nfell to the Mongols.] [Many of the Chin entered the service of the Mongols, and with their\npermission returned to Manchuria; there they fell back to the cultural\nlevel of a warlike nomad people.] [Not until the sixteenth century did\nthese Tunguses recover, reorganize, and appear again in history this\ntime under the name of Manchus.] [The North Chinese under Chin rule did not regard the Mongols as enemies\nof their country, but were ready at once to collaborate with them.] [The\nMongols were even more friendly to them than to the South Chinese, and\ntreated them rather better.] [Chapter Ten\n\n\nTHE PERIOD OF ABSOLUTISM\n\n(A) The Mongol Epoch (1280-1368)\n\n1 _Beginning of new foreign rules_\n\nDuring more than half of the third period of \"Modern Times\" which now\nbegan, China was under alien rule.] [Of the 631 years from 1280 to 1911,\nChina was under national rulers for 276 years and under alien rule for\n355.] [The alien rulers were first the Mongols, and later the Tungus\nManchus.] [It is interesting to note that the alien rulers in the earlier\nperiod came mainly from the north-west, and only in modern times did\npeoples from the north-east rule over China.] [This was due in part to the\nfact that only peoples who had attained a certain level of civilization\nwere capable of dominance.] [In antiquity and the Middle Ages, eastern\nMongolia and Manchuria were at a relatively low level of civilization,\nfrom which they emerged only gradually through permanent contact with\nother nomad peoples, especially Turks.] [We are dealing here, of course,\nonly with the Mongol epoch in China and not with the great Mongol\nempire, so that we need not enter further into these questions.] [Yet another point is characteristic: the Mongols were the first alien\npeople to rule the whole of China; the Manchus, who appeared in the\nseventeenth century, were the second and last.] [All alien peoples before\nthese two ruled only parts of China.] [Why was it that the Mongols were\nable to be so much more successful than their predecessors?] [In the first\nplace the Mongol political league was numerically stronger than those of\nthe earlier alien peoples; secondly, the military organization and\ntechnical equipment of the Mongols were exceptionally advanced for their\nday.] [It must be borne in mind, for instance, that during their many\nyears of war against the Sung dynasty in South China the Mongols already\nmade use of small cannon in laying siege to towns.] [We have no exact\nknowledge of the number of Mongols who invaded and occupied China, but\nit is estimated that there were more than a million Mongols living in\nChina.] [Not all of them, of course, were really Mongols!] [The name covered\nTurks, Tunguses, and others; among the auxiliaries of the Mongols were\nUighurs, men from Central Asia and the Middle East, and even Europeans.] [When the Mongols attacked China they had the advantage of all the arts\nand crafts and all the new technical advances of western and central\nAsia and of Europe.] [Thus they had attained a high degree of technical\nprogress, and at the same time their number was very great.] [2 \"_Nationality legislation_\"\n\nIt was only after the Hsia empire in North China, and then the empire of\nthe Juchen, had been destroyed by the Mongols, and only after long and\nremarkably modern tactical preparation, that the Mongols conquered South\nChina, the empire of the Sung dynasty.] [They were now faced with the\nproblem of ruling their great new empire.] [The conqueror of that empire,\nKublai, himself recognized that China could not be treated in quite the\nsame way as the Mongols' previous conquests; he therefore separated the\nempire in China from the rest of the Mongol empire.] [Mongol China became\nan independent realm within the Mongol empire, a sort of Dominion.] [The\nMongol rulers were well aware that in spite of their numerical strength\nthey were still only a minority in China, and this implied certain\ndangers.] [They therefore elaborated a \"nationality legislation\", the\nfirst of its kind in the Far East.] [The purpose of this legislation was,\nof course, to be the protection of the Mongols.] [The population of\nconquered China was divided into four groups--(1) Mongols, themselves\nfalling into four sub-groups (the oldest Mongol tribes, the White\nTatars, the Black Tatars, the Wild Tatars); (2) Central Asian\nauxiliaries (Naimans, Uighurs, and various other Turkish people,\nTanguts, and so on); (3) North Chinese; (4) South Chinese.] [The Mongols\nformed the privileged ruling class.] [They remained militarily organized,\nand were distributed in garrisons over all the big towns of China as\nsoldiers, maintained by the state.] [All the higher government posts were\nreserved for them, so that they also formed the heads of the official\nstaffs.] [The auxiliary peoples were also admitted into the government\nservice; they, too, had privileges, but were not all soldiers but in\nmany cases merchants, who used their privileged position to promote\nbusiness.] [Not a few of these merchants were Uighurs and Mohammedans;\nmany Uighurs were also employed as clerks, as the Mongols were very\noften unable to read and write Chinese, and the government offices were\nbilingual, working in Mongolian and Chinese.] [The clever Uighurs quickly\nlearned enough of both languages for official purposes, and made\nthemselves indispensable assistants to the Mongols.] [Persian, the main\nlanguage of administration in the western parts of the Mongol empire\nbesides Uighuric, also was a _lingua franca_ among the new rulers of\nChina.] [In the Mongol legislation the South Chinese had the lowest status, and\nvirtually no rights.] [Intermarriage with them was prohibited.] [The Chinese\nwere not allowed to carry arms.] [For a time they were forbidden even to\nlearn the Mongol or other foreign languages.] [In this way they were to be\nprevented from gaining official positions and playing any political\npart.] [Their ignorance of the languages of northern, central, and western\nAsia also prevented them from engaging in commerce like the foreign\nmerchants, and every possible difficulty was put in the way of their\ntravelling for commercial purposes.] [On the other hand, foreigners were,\nof course, able to learn Chinese, and so to gain a footing in Chinese\ninternal trade.] [Through legislation of this type the Mongols tried to build up and to\nsafeguard their domination over China.] [Yet their success did not last a\nhundred years.] [3 _Military position_\n\nIn foreign affairs the Mongol epoch was for China something of a\nbreathing space, for the great wars of the Mongols took place at a\nremote distance from China and without any Chinese participation.] [Only a\nfew concluding wars were fought under Kublai in the Far East.] [The first\nwas his war against Japan (1281): it ended in complete failure, the\nfleet being destroyed by a storm.] [In this campaign the Chinese furnished\nships and also soldiers.] [The subjection of Japan would have been in the\ninterest of the Chinese, as it would have opened a market which had been\nalmost closed against them in the Sung period.] [Mongol wars followed in\nthe south.] [In 1282 began the war against Burma; in 1284 Annam and\nCambodia were conquered; in 1292 a campaign was started against Java.] [It\nproved impossible to hold Java, but almost the whole of Indo-China came\nunder Mongol rule, to the satisfaction of the Chinese, for Indo-China\nhad already been one of the principal export markets in the Sung period.] [After that, however, there was virtually no more warfare, apart from\nsmall campaigns against rebellious tribes.] [The Mongol soldiers now lived\non their pay in their garrisons, with nothing to do.] [The old campaigners\ndied and were followed by their sons, brought up also as soldiers; but\nthese young Mongols were born in China, had seen nothing of war, and\nlearned of the soldiers' trade either nothing or very little; so that\nafter about 1320 serious things happened.] [An army nominally 1,000 strong\nwas sent against a group of barely fifty bandits and failed to defeat\nthem.] [Most of the 1,000 soldiers no longer knew how to use their\nweapons, and many did not even join the force.] [Such incidents occurred\nagain and again.] [4 _Social situation_\n\nThe results, however, of conditions within the country were of much more\nimportance than events abroad.] [The Mongols made Peking their capital as\nwas entirely natural, for Peking was near their homeland Mongolia.] [The\nemperor and his entourage could return to Mongolia in the summer, when\nChina became too hot or too humid for them; and from Peking they were\nable to maintain contact with the rest of the Mongol empire.] [But as the\ncity had become the capital of a vast empire, an enormous staff of\nofficials had to be housed there, consisting of persons of many\ndifferent nationalities.] [The emperor naturally wanted to have a\nmagnificent capital, a city really worthy of so vast an empire.] [As the\nmany wars had brought in vast booty, there was money for the building of\ngreat palaces, of a size and magnificence never before seen in China.] [They were built by Chinese forced labour, and to this end men had to be\nbrought from all over the empire--poor peasants, whose fields went out\nof cultivation while they were held in bondage far away.] [If they ever\nreturned home, they were destitute and had lost their land.] [The rich\ngentry, on the other hand, were able to buy immunity from forced labour.] [The immense increase in the population of Peking (the huge court with\nits enormous expenditure, the mass of officials, the great merchant\ncommunity, largely foreigners, and the many servile labourers),\nnecessitated vast supplies of food.] [Now, as mentioned in earlier\nchapters, since the time of the Later T'ang the region round Nanking had\nbecome the main centre of production in China, and the Chinese\npopulation had gone over more and more to the consumption of rice\ninstead of pulse or wheat.] [As rice could not be grown in the north,\npractically the whole of the food supplies for the capital had to be\nbrought from the south.] [The transport system taken over by the Mongols\nhad not been created for long-distance traffic of this sort.] [The capital\nof the Sung had lain in the main centre of production.] [Consequently, a\ngreat fleet had suddenly to be built, canals and rivers had to be\nregulated, and some new canals excavated.] [This again called for a vast\nquantity of forced labour, often brought from afar to the points at\nwhich it was needed.] [The Chinese peasants had suffered in the Sung\nperiod.] [They had been exploited by the large landowners.] [The Mongols had\nnot removed these landowners, as the Chinese gentry had gone over to\ntheir side.] [The Mongols had deprived them of their political power, but\nhad left them their estates, the basis of their power.] [In past changes\nof dynasty the gentry had either maintained their position or been\nreplaced by a new gentry: the total number of their class had remained\nvirtually unchanged.] [Now, however, in addition to the original gentry\nthere were about a million Mongols, for whose maintenance the peasants\nhad also to provide, and their standard of maintenance was high.] [This\nwas an enormous increase in the burdens of the peasantry.] [Two other elements further pressed on the peasants in the Mongol\nepoch--organized religion and the traders.] [The upper classes among the\nChinese had in general little interest in religion, but the Mongols,\nowing to their historical development, were very religious.] [Some of them\nand some of their allies were Buddhists, some were still shamanists.] [The\nChinese Buddhists and the representatives of popular Taoism approached\nthe Mongols and the foreign Buddhist monks trying to enlist the interest\nof the Mongols and their allies.] [The old shamanism was unable to compete\nwith the higher religions, and the Mongols in China became Buddhist or\ninterested themselves in popular Taoism.] [They showed their interest\nespecially by the endowment of temples and monasteries.] [The temples were\ngiven great estates, and the peasants on those estates became temple\nservants.] [The land belonging to the temples was free from taxation.] [We have as yet no exact statistics of the Mongol epoch, only\napproximations.] [These set the total area under cultivation at some six\nmillion _ch'ing_ (a _ch'ing_ is the ideal size of the farm worked by a\npeasant family, but it was rarely held in practice); the population\namounted to fourteen or fifteen million families.] [Of this total tillage\nsome 170,000 _ch'ing_ were allotted to the temples; that is to say, the\nfarms for some 400,000 peasant families were taken from the peasants and\nno longer paid taxes to the state.] [The peasants, however, had to make\npayments to the temples.] [Some 200,000 _ch'ing_ with some 450,000 peasant\nfamilies were turned into military settlements; that is to say, these\npeasants had to work for the needs of the army.] [Their taxes went not to\nthe state but to the army.] [Moreover, in the event of war they had to\nrender service to the army.] [In addition to this, all higher officials\nreceived official properties, the yield of which represented part\npayment of their salaries.] [Then, Mongol nobles and dignitaries received\nconsiderable grants of land, which was taken away from the free\npeasants; the peasants had then to work their farms as tenants and to\npay dues to their landlords, no longer to the state.] [Finally, especially\nin North China, many peasants were entirely dispossessed, and their land\nwas turned into pasturage for the Mongols' horses; the peasants\nthemselves were put to forced labour.] [On top of this came the\nexploitation of the peasants by the great landowners of the past.] [All\nthis meant an enormous diminution in the number of free peasants and\nthus of taxpayers.] [As the state was involved in more expenditure than in\nthe past owing to the large number of Mongols who were its virtual\npensioners, the taxes had to be continually increased.] [Meanwhile the\nmany peasants working as tenants of the great landlords, the temples,\nand the Mongol nobles were entirely at their mercy.] [In this period, a\nsecond migration of farmers into the southern provinces, mainly Fukien\nand Kwangtung, took place; it had its main source in the lower Yangtze\nvalley.] [A few gentry families whose relatives had accompanied the Sung\nemperor on their flight to the south, also settled with their followers\nin the Canton basin.] [The many merchants from abroad, especially those belonging to the\npeoples allied to the Mongols, also had in every respect a privileged\nposition in China.] [They were free of taxation, free to travel all over\nthe country, and received privileged treatment in the use of means of\ntransport.] [They were thus able to accumulate great wealth, most of which\nwent out of China to their own country.] [This produced a general\nimpoverishment of China.] [Chinese merchants fell more and more into\ndependence on the foreign merchants; the only field of action really\nremaining to them was the local trade within China and the trade with\nIndo-China, where the Chinese had the advantage of knowing the language.] [The impoverishment of China began with the flow abroad of her metallic\ncurrency.] [To make up for this loss, the government was compelled to\nissue great quantities of paper money, which very quickly depreciated,\nbecause after a few years the government would no longer accept the\nmoney at its face value, so that the population could place no faith in\nit.] [The depreciation further impoverished the people.] [Thus we have in the Mongol epoch in China the imposing picture of a\ncommerce made possible with every country from Europe to the Pacific;\nthis, however, led to the impoverishment of China.] [We also see the\nrising of mighty temples and monumental buildings, but this again only\ncontributed to the denudation of the country.] [The Mongol epoch was thus\none of continual and rapid impoverishment in China, simultaneously with\na great display of magnificence.] [The enthusiastic descriptions of the\nMongol empire in China offered by travellers from the Near East or from\nEurope, such as Marco Polo, give an entirely false picture: as\nforeigners they had a privileged position, living in the cities and\nseeing nothing of the situation of the general population.] [5 _Popular risings: National rising_\n\nIt took time for the effects of all these factors to become evident.] [The\nfirst popular rising came in 1325.] [Statistics of 1329 show that there\nwere then some 7,600,000 persons in the empire who were starving; as\nthis was only the figure of the officially admitted sufferers, the\nfigure may have been higher.] [In any case, seven-and-a-half millions were\na substantial percentage of the total population, estimated at\n45,000,000.] [The risings that now came incessantly were led by men of the\nlower orders--a cloth-seller, a fisherman, a peasant, a salt smuggler,\nthe son of a soldier serving a sentence, an office messenger, and so on.] [They never attacked the Mongols as aliens, but always the rich in\ngeneral, whether Chinese or foreign.] [Wherever they came, they killed all\nthe rich and distributed their money and possessions.] [As already mentioned, the Mongol garrisons were unable to cope with\nthese risings.] [But how was it that the Mongol rule did not collapse\nuntil some forty years later?] [The Mongols parried the risings by raising\nloans from the rich and using the money to recruit volunteers to fight\nthe rebels.] [The state revenues would not have sufficed for these\npayments, and the item was not one that could be included in the\nmilitary budget.] [What was of much more importance was that the gentry\nthemselves recruited volunteers and fought the rebels on their own\naccount, without the authority or the support of the government.] [Thus it\nwas the Chinese gentry, in their fear of being killed by the insurgents,\nwho fought them and so bolstered up the Mongol rule.] [In 1351 the dykes along the Yellow River burst.] [The dykes had to be\nreconstructed and further measures of conservancy undertaken.] [To this\nend the government impressed 170,000 men.] [Following this action, great\nnew revolts broke out.] [Everywhere in Honan, Kiangsu, and Shantung, the\nregions from which the labourers were summoned, revolutionary groups\nwere formed, some of them amounting to 100,000 men.] [Some groups had a\nreligious tinge; others declared their intention to restore the emperors\nof the Sung dynasty.] [Before long great parts of central China were\nwrested from the hands of the government.] [The government recognized the\nmenace to its existence, but resorted to contradictory measures.] [In 1352\nsouthern Chinese were permitted to take over certain official positions.] [In this way it was hoped to gain the full support of the gentry, who had\na certain interest in combating the rebel movements.] [On the other hand,\nthe government tightened up its nationality laws.] [All the old\nsegregation laws were brought back into force, with the result that in a\nfew years the aim of the rebels became no longer merely the expulsion of\nthe rich but also the expulsion of the Mongols: a social movement thus\nbecame a national one.] [A second element contributed to the change in the\ncharacter of the popular rising.] [The rebels captured many towns.] [Some of\nthese towns refused to fight and negotiated terms of submission.] [In\nthese cases the rebels did not murder the whole of the gentry, but took\nsome of them into their service.] [The gentry did not agree to this out of\nsympathy with the rebels, but simply in order to save their own lives.] [Once they had taken the step, however, they could not go back; they had\nno alternative but to remain on the side of the rebels.] [In 1352 Kuo Tz[)u]-hsing rose in southern Honan.] [Kuo was the son of a\nwandering soothsayer and a blind beggar-woman.] [He had success; his group\ngained control of a considerable region round his home.] [There was no\nlonger any serious resistance from the Mongols, for at this time the\nwhole of eastern China was in full revolt.] [In 1353 Kuo was joined by a\nman named Chu Yuean-chang, the son of a small peasant, probably a tenant\nfarmer.] [Chu's parents and all his relatives had died from a plague,\nleaving him destitute.] [He had first entered a monastery and become a\nmonk.] [This was a favourite resource--and has been almost to the present\nday--for poor sons of peasants who were threatened with starvation.] [As a\nmonk he had gone about begging, until in 1353 he returned to his home\nand collected a group, mostly men from his own village, sons of peasants\nand young fellows who had already been peasant leaders.] [Monks were often\npeasant leaders.] [They were trusted because they promised divine aid, and\nbecause they were usually rather better educated than the rest of the\npeasants.] [Chu at first also had contacts with a secret society, a branch\nof the White Lotus Society which several times in the course of Chinese\nhistory has been the nucleus of rebellious movements.] [Chu took his small\ngroup which identified itself by a red turban and a red banner to Kuo,\nwho received him gladly, entered into alliance with him, and in sign of\nfriendship gave him his daughter in marriage.] [In 1355 Kuo died, and Chu\ntook over his army, now many thousands strong.] [In his campaigns against\ntowns in eastern China, Chu succeeded in winning over some capable\nmembers of the gentry.] [One was the chairman of a committee that yielded\na town to Chu; another was a scholar whose family had always been\nopposed to the Mongols, and who had himself suffered injustice several\ntimes in his official career, so that he was glad to join Chu out of\nhatred of the Mongols.] [These men gained great influence over Chu, and persuaded him to give up\nattacking rich individuals, and instead to establish an assured control\nover large parts of the country.] [He would then, they pointed out, be\npermanently enriched, while otherwise he would only be in funds at the\nmoment of the plundering of a town.] [They set before him strategic plans\nwith that aim.] [Through their counsel Chu changed from the leader of a\npopular rising into a fighter against the dynasty.] [Of all the peasant\nleaders he was now the only one pursuing a definite aim.] [He marched\nfirst against Nanking, the great city of central China, and captured it\nwith ease.] [He then crossed the Yangtze, and conquered the rich provinces\nof the south-east.] [He was a rebel who no longer slaughtered the rich or\nplundered the towns, and the whole of the gentry with all their\nfollowers came over to him _en masse_.] [The armies of volunteers went\nover to Chu, and the whole edifice of the dynasty collapsed.] [The years 1355-1368 were full of small battles.] [After his conquest of\nthe whole of the south, Chu went north.] [In 1368 his generals captured\nPeking almost without a blow.] [The Mongol ruler fled on horseback with\nhis immediate entourage into the north of China, and soon after into\nMongolia.] [The Mongol dynasty had been brought down, almost without\nresistance.] [The Mongols in the isolated garrisons marched northward\nwherever they could.] [A few surrendered to the Chinese and were used in\nsouthern China as professional soldiers, though they were always\nregarded with suspicion.] [The only serious resistance offered came from\nthe regions in which other Chinese popular leaders had established\nthemselves, especially the remote provinces in the west and south-west,\nwhich had a different social structure and had been relatively little\naffected by the Mongol regime.] [Thus the collapse of the Mongols came for the following reasons: (1)\nThey had not succeeded in maintaining their armed strength or that of\ntheir allies during the period of peace that followed Kublai's conquest.] [The Mongol soldiers had become effeminate through their life of idleness\nin the towns.] [(2) The attempt to rule the empire through Mongols or\nother aliens, and to exclude the Chinese gentry entirely from the\nadministration, failed through insufficient knowledge of the sources of\nrevenue and through the abuses due to the favoured treatment of aliens.] [The whole country, and especially the peasantry, was completely\nimpoverished and so driven into revolt.] [(3) There was also a\npsychological reason.] [In the middle of the fourteenth century it was\nobvious to the Mongols that their hold over China was growing more and\nmore precarious, and that there was little to be got out of the\nimpoverished country: they seem in consequence to have lost interest in\nthe troublesome task of maintaining their rule, preferring, in so far as\nthey had not already entirely degenerated, to return to their old home\nin the north.] [It is important to bear in mind these reasons for the\ncollapse of the Mongols, so that we may compare them later with the\nreasons for the collapse of the Manchus.] [No mention need be made here of the names of the Mongol rulers in China\nafter Kublai.] [After his death in 1294, grandsons and great-grandsons of\nhis followed each other in rapid succession on the throne; not one of\nthem was of any personal significance.] [They had no influence on the\ngovernment of China.] [Their life was spent in intriguing against one\nanother.] [There were seven Mongol emperors after Kublai.] [6 _Cultural_\n\nDuring the Mongol epoch a large number of the Chinese scholars withdrew\nfrom official life.] [They lived in retirement among their friends, and\ndevoted themselves mainly to the pursuit of the art of poetry, which had\nbeen elaborated in the Later Sung epoch, without themselves arriving at\nany important innovations in form.] [Their poems were built up\nmeticulously on the rules laid down by the various schools; they were\nroutine productions rather than the outcome of any true poetic\ninspiration.] [In the realm of prose the best achievements were the\n\"miscellaneous notes\" already mentioned, collections of learned essays.] [The foreigners who wrote in Chinese during this epoch are credited with\nno better achievements by the Chinese historians of literature.] [Chief of\nthem were a statesman named Yeh-lue Ch'u-ts'ai, a Kitan in the service of\nthe Mongols; and a Mongol named T'o-t'o (Tokto).] [The former accompanied\nGenghiz Khan in his great campaign against Turkestan, and left a very\ninteresting account of his journeys, together with many poems about\nSamarkand and Turkestan.] [His other works were mainly letters and poems\naddressed to friends.] [They differ in no way in style from the Chinese\nliterary works of the time, and are neither better nor worse than those\nworks.] [He shows strong traces of Taoist influence, as do other\ncontemporary writers.] [We know that Genghiz Khan was more or less\ninclined to Taoism, and admitted a Taoist monk to his camp (1221-1224).] [This man's account of his travels has also been preserved, and with the\nnumerous European accounts of Central Asia written at this time it forms\nan important source.] [The Mongol Tokto was the head of an historical\ncommission that issued the annals of the Sung dynasty, the Kitan, and\nthe Juchen dynasty.] [The annals of the Sung dynasty became the largest of\nall the historical works, but they were fiercely attacked from the first\nby Chinese critics on account of their style and their hasty\ncomposition, and, together with the annals of the Mongol dynasty, they\nare regarded as the worst of the annals preserved.] [Tokto himself is less\nto blame for this than the circumstance that he was compelled to work in\ngreat haste, and had not time to put into order the overwhelming mass of\nhis material.] [The greatest literary achievements, however, of the Mongol period belong\nbeyond question to the theatre (or, rather, opera).] [The emperors were\ngreat theatre-goers, and the wealthy private families were also\nenthusiasts, so that gradually people of education devoted themselves to\nwriting librettos for the operas, where in the past this work had been\nleft to others.] [Most of the authors of these librettos remained unknown:\nthey used pseudonyms, partly because playwriting was not an occupation\nthat befitted a scholar, and partly because in these works they\ncriticized the conditions of their day.] [These works are divided in\nregard to style into two groups, those of the \"southern\" and the\n\"northern\" drama; these are distinguished from each other in musical\nconstruction and in their intellectual attitude: in general the northern\nworks are more heroic and the southern more sentimental, though there\nare exceptions.] [The most famous northern works of the Mongol epoch are\n_P'i-p'a-chi_ (\"The Story of a Lute\"), written about 1356, probably by\nKao Ming, and _Chao-shih ku-erh-chi_ (\"The Story of the Orphan of Chao\n\"), a work that enthralled Voltaire, who made a paraphrase of it; its\nauthor was the otherwise unknown Chi Chuen-hsiang.] [One of the most famous\nof the southern dramas is _Hsi-hsiang-chi_ (\"The Romance of the Western\nChamber\"), by Wang Shih-fu and Kuan Han-ch'ing.] [Kuan lived under the\nJuchen dynasty as a physician, and then among the Mongols.] [He is said to\nhave written fifty-eight dramas, many of which became famous.] [In the fine arts, foreign influence made itself felt during the Mongol\nepoch much more than in literature.] [This was due in part to the Mongol\nrulers' predilection for the Lamaism that was widespread in their\nhomeland.] [Lamaism is a special form of Buddhism which developed in\nTibet, where remnants of the old national Tibetan cult (_Bon_) were\nfused with Buddhism into a distinctive religion.] [During the rise of the\nMongols this religion, which closely resembled the shamanism of the\nancient Mongols, spread in Mongolia, and through the Mongols it made\ngreat progress in China, where it had been insignificant until their\ntime.] [Religious sculpture especially came entirely under Tibetan\ninfluence (particularly that of the sculptor Aniko, who came from Nepal,\nwhere he was born in 1244).] [This influence was noticeable in the Chinese\nsculptor Liu Yuean; after him it became stronger and stronger, lasting\nuntil the Manchu epoch.] [In architecture, too, Indian and Tibetan influence was felt in this\nperiod.] [The Tibetan pagodas came into special prominence alongside the\npreviously known form of pagoda, which has many storeys, growing smaller\nas they go upward; these towers originally contained relics of Buddha\nand his disciples.] [The Tibetan pagoda has not this division into\nstoreys, and its lower part is much larger in circumference, and often\nround.] [To this day Peking is rich in pagodas in the Tibetan style.] [The Mongols also developed in China the art of carpet-knotting, which to\nthis day is found only in North China in the zone of northern influence.] [There were carpets before these, but they were mainly of felt.] [The\nknotted carpets were produced in imperial workshops--only, of course,\nfor the Mongols, who were used to carpets.] [A further development\nprobably also due to West Asian influence was that of cloisonne\ntechnique in China in this period.] [Painting, on the other hand, remained free from alien influence, with\nthe exception of the craft painting for the temples.] [The most famous\npainters of the Mongol epoch were Chao Meng-fu (also called Chao\nChung-mu, 1254-1322), a relative of the deposed imperial family of the\nSung dynasty, and Ni Tsan (1301-1374).] [(B) The Ming Epoch (1368-1644)\n\n1 _Start.] [National feeling_\n\nIt was necessary to give special attention to the reasons for the\ndownfall of Mongol rule in China, in order to make clear the cause and\nthe character of the Ming epoch that followed it.] [It is possible that\nthe erroneous impression might be gained that the Mongol epoch in China\nwas entirely without merits, and that the Mongol rule over China\ndiffered entirely from the Mongol rule over other countries of Asia.] [Chinese historians have no good word to say of the Mongol epoch and\navoid the subject as far as they can.] [It is true that the union of the\nnational Mongol culture with Chinese culture, as envisaged by the Mongol\nrulers, was not a sound conception, and consequently did not endure for\nlong.] [Nevertheless, the Mongol epoch in China left indelible traces, and\nwithout it China's further development would certainly have taken a\ndifferent course.] [The many popular risings during the latter half of the period of Mongol\nrule in China were all of a purely economic and social character, and at\nfirst they were not directed at all against the Mongols as\nrepresentatives of an alien people.] [The rising under Chu Yuean-chang,\nwhich steadily gained impetus, was at first a purely social movement;\nindeed, it may fairly be called revolutionary.] [Chu was of the humblest\norigin; he became a monk and a peasant leader at one and the same time.] [Only three times in Chinese history has a man of the peasantry become\nemperor and founder of a dynasty.] [The first of these three men founded\nthe Han dynasty; the second founded the first of the so-called \"Five\nDynasties\" in the tenth century; Chu was the third.] [Not until the Mongols had answered Chu's rising with a tightening of the\nnationality laws did the revolutionary movement become a national\nmovement, directed against the foreigners as such.] [And only when Chu\ncame under the influence of the first people of the gentry who joined\nhim, whether voluntarily or perforce, did what had been a revolutionary\nmovement become a struggle for the substitution of one dynasty for\nanother without interfering with the existing social system.] [Both these\npoints were of the utmost importance to the whole development of the\nMing epoch.] [The Mongols were driven out fairly quickly and without great difficulty.] [The Chinese drew from the ease of their success a sense of superiority\nand a clear feeling of nationalism.] [This feeling should not be\nconfounded with the very old feeling of Chinese as a culturally superior\ngroup according to which, at least in theory though rarely in practice,\nevery person who assimilated Chinese cultural values and traits was a\n\"Chinese\".] [The roots of nationalism seem to lie in the Southern Sung\nperiod, growing up in the course of contacts with the Juchen and\nMongols; but the discriminatory laws of the Mongols greatly fostered\nthis feeling.] [From now on, it was regarded a shame to serve a foreigner\nas official, even if he was a ruler of China.] [2 _Wars against Mongols and Japanese_\n\nIt had been easy to drive the Mongols out of China, but they were never\nreally beaten in their own country.] [On the contrary, they seem to have\nregained strength after their withdrawal from China: they reorganized\nthemselves and were soon capable of counter-thrusts, while Chinese\noffensives had as a rule very little success, and at all events no\ndecisive success.] [In the course of time, however, the Chinese gained a\ncertain influence over Turkestan, but it was never absolute, always\nchallenged.] [After the Mongol empire had fallen to pieces, small states\ncame into existence in Turkestan, for a long time with varying fortunes;\nthe most important one during the Ming epoch was that of Hami, until in\n1473 it was occupied by the city-state of Turfan.] [At this time China\nactively intervened in the policy of Turkestan in a number of combats\nwith the Mongols.] [As the situation changed from time to time, these\ncity-states united more or less closely with China or fell away from her\naltogether.] [In this period, however, Turkestan was of no military or\neconomic importance to China.] [In the time of the Ming there also began in the east and south the\nplague of Japanese piracy.] [Japanese contacts with the coastal provinces\nof China (Kiangsu, Chekiang and Fukien) had a very long history:\npilgrims from Japan often went to these places in order to study\nBuddhism in the famous monasteries of Central China; businessmen sold at\nhigh prices Japanese swords and other Japanese products here and bought\nChinese products; they also tried to get Chinese copper coins which had\na higher value in Japan.] [Chinese merchants co-operated with Japanese\nmerchants and also with pirates in the guise of merchants.] [Some Chinese\nwho were or felt persecuted by the government, became pirates\nthemselves.] [This trade-piracy had started already at the end of the Sung\ndynasty, when Japanese navigation had become superior to Korean shipping\nwhich had in earlier times dominated the eastern seaboard.] [These\nconditions may even have been one of the reasons why the Mongols tried\nto subdue Japan.] [As early as 1387 the Chinese had to begin the building\nof fortifications along the eastern and southern coasts of the country;\nThe Japanese attacks now often took the character of organized raids: a\nsmall, fast-sailing flotilla would land in a bay, as far as possible\nwithout attracting notice; the soldiers would march against the nearest\ntown, generally overcoming it, looting, and withdrawing.] [The defensive\nmeasures adopted from time to time during the Ming epoch were of little\navail, as it was impossible effectively to garrison the whole coast.] [Some of the coastal settlements were transferred inland, to prevent the\nChinese from co-operating with the Japanese, and to give the Japanese so\nlong a march inland as to allow time for defensive measures.] [The\nJapanese pirates prevented the creation of a Chinese navy in this period\nby their continual threats to the coastal cities in which the shipyards\nlay.] [Not until much later, at a time of unrest in Japan in 1467, was\nthere any peace from the Japanese pirates.] [The Japanese attacks were especially embarrassing for the Chinese\ngovernment for one other reason.] [Large armies had to be kept all along\nChina's northern border, from Manchuria to Central Asia.] [Food supplies\ncould not be collected in north China which did not have enough\nsurplusses.] [Canal transportation from Central China was not reliable, as\nthe canals did not always have enough water and were often clogged by\nhundreds of ships.] [And even if canals were used, grain still had to be\ntransported by land from the end of the canals to the frontier.] [The Ming\ngovernment therefore, had organized an overseas flotilla of grain ships\nwhich brought grain from Central China directly to the front in\nLiao-tung and Manchuria.] [And these ships, vitally important, were so\noften attacked by the pirates, that this plan later had to be given up\nagain.] [These activities along the coast led the Chinese to the belief that\nbasically all foreigners who came by ships were \"barbarians\"; when\ntowards the end of the Ming epoch the Japanese were replaced by\nEuropeans who did not behave much differently and were also\npirate-merchants, the nations of Western Europe, too, were regarded as\n\"barbarians\" and were looked upon with great suspicion.] [On the other\nside, continental powers, even if they were enemies, had long been\nregarded as \"states\", sometimes even as equals.] [Therefore, when at a\nmuch later time the Chinese came into contact with Russians, their\nattitude towards them was similar to that which they had taken towards\nother Asian continental powers.] [3 _Social legislation within the existing order_\n\nAt the time when Chu Yuean-chang conquered Peking, in 1368, becoming the\nrecognized emperor of China (Ming dynasty), it seemed as though he would\nremain a revolutionary in spite of everything.] [His first laws were\ndirected against the rich.] [Many of the rich were compelled to migrate to\nthe capital, Nanking, thus losing their land and the power based on it.] [Land was redistributed among poor peasants; new land registers were also\ncompiled, in order to prevent the rich from evading taxation.] [The number\nof monks living in idleness was cut down and precisely determined; the\npossessions of the temples were reduced, land exempted from taxation\nbeing thus made taxable--all this, incidentally, although Chu had\nhimself been a monk!] [These laws might have paved the way to social\nharmony and removed the worst of the poverty of the Mongol epoch.] [But\nall this was frustrated in the very first years of Chu's reign.] [The laws\nwere only half carried into effect or not at all, especially in the\nhinterland of the present Shanghai.] [That region had been conquered by\nChu at the very beginning of the Ming epoch; in it lived the wealthy\nlandowners who had already been paying the bulk of the taxes under the\nMongols.] [The emperor depended on this wealthy class for the financing of\nhis great armies, and so could not be too hard on it.] [Chu Yuean-chang and his entourage were also unable to free themselves\nfrom some of the ideas of the Mongol epoch.] [Neither Chu, nor anybody\nelse before and long after him discussed the possibility of a form of\ngovernment other than that of a monarchy.] [The first ever to discuss this\nquestion, although very timidly, was Huang Tsung-hsi (1610-1695), at the\nend of the Ming dynasty.] [Chu's conception of an emperor was that of an\nabsolute monarch, master over life and death of his subjects; it was\nformed by the Mongol emperors with their magnificence and the huge\nexpenditure of their life in Peking; Chu was oblivious of the fact that\nPeking had been the capital of a vast empire embracing almost the whole\nof Asia, and expenses could well be higher than for a capital only of\nChina.] [It did not occur to Chu and his supporters that they could have\ndone without imperial state and splendour; on the contrary, they felt\ncompelled to display it.] [At first Chu personally showed no excessive\nsigns of this tendency, though they emerged later; but he conferred\ngreat land grants on all his relatives, friends, and supporters; he\nwould give to a single person land sufficient for 20,000 peasant\nfamilies; he ordered the payment of state pensions to members of the\nimperial family, just as the Mongols had done, and the total of these\npension payments was often higher than the revenue of the region\ninvolved.] [For the capital alone over eight million _shih_ of grain had\nto be provided in payment of pensions--that is to say, more than 160,000\ntons!] [These pension payments were in themselves a heavy burden on the\nstate; not only that, but they formed a difficult transport problem!] [We\nhave no close figure of the total population at the beginning of the\nMing epoch; about 1500 it is estimated to have been 53,280,000, and this\npopulation had to provide some 266,000,000 _shih_ in taxes.] [At the\nbeginning of the Ming epoch the population and revenue must, however,\nhave been smaller.] [The laws against the merchants and the restrictions under which the\ncraftsmen worked, remained essentially as they had been under the Sung,\nbut now the remaining foreign merchants of Mongol time also fell under\nthese laws, and their influence quickly diminished.] [All craftsmen, a\ntotal of some 300,000 men with families, were still registered and had\nto serve the government in the capital for three months once every three\nyears; others had to serve ten days per month, if they lived close by.] [They were a hereditary caste as were the professional soldiers, and not\nallowed to change their occupation except by special imperial\npermission.] [When a craftsman or soldier died, another family member had\nto replace him; therefore, families of craftsmen were not allowed to\nseparate into small nuclear families, in which there might not always be\na suitable male.] [Yet, in an empire as large as that of the Ming, this\nsystem did not work too well: craftsmen lost too much time in travelling\nand often succeeded in running away while travelling.] [Therefore, from\n1505 on, they had to pay a tax instead of working for the government,\nand from then on the craftsmen became relatively free.] [4 _Colonization and agricultural developments_\n\nAs already mentioned, the Ming had to keep a large army along the\nnorthern frontiers.] [But they also had to keep armies in south China,\nespecially in Yuennan.] [Here, the Mongol invasions of Burma and Thailand\nhad brought unrest among the tribes, especially the Shan.] [The Ming did\nnot hold Burma but kept it in a loose dependency as \"tributary nation\".] [In order to supply armies so far away from all agricultural surplus\ncentres, the Ming resorted to the old system of \"military colonies\"\nwhich seems to have been invented in the second century B.C. and is\nstill used even today (in Sinkiang).] [Soldiers were settled in camps\ncalled _ying_, and therefore there are so many place names ending with\n_ying_ in the outlying areas of China.] [They worked as state farmers and\naccumulated surplusses which were used in case of war in which these\nsame farmers turned soldiers again.] [Many criminals were sent to these\nstate farms, too.] [This system, especially in south China, transformed\nterritories formerly inhabited by native tribes or uninhabited, into\nsolidly Chinese areas.] [In addition to these military colonies, a steady\nstream of settlers from Central China and the coast continued to move\ninto Kwangtung and Hunan provinces.] [They felt protected by the army\nagainst attacks by natives.] [Yet Ming texts are full of reports on major\nand minor clashes with the natives, from Kiangsi and Fukien to Kwangtung\nand Kwangsi.] [But the production of military colonies was still not enough to feed the\narmies, and the government in Chu's time resorted to a new design.] [It\npromised to give merchants who transported grain from Central China to\nthe borders, government salt certificates.] [Upon the receipt, the\nmerchants could acquire a certain amount of salt and sell it with high\nprofits.] [Soon, these merchants began to invest some of their capital in\nlocal land which was naturally cheap.] [They then attracted farmers from\ntheir home countries as tenants.] [The rent of the tenants, paid in form\nof grain, was then sold to the army, and the merchant's gains\nincreased.] [Tenants could easily be found: the density of population in\nthe Yangtze plains had further increased since the Sung time.] [This\nsystem of merchant colonization did not last long, because soon, in\norder to curb the profits of the merchants, money was given instead of\nsalt certificates, and the merchants lost interest in grain transports.] [Thus, grain prices along the frontiers rose and the effectiveness of the\narmies was diminished.] [Although the history of Chinese agriculture is as yet only partially\nknown, a number of changes in this field, which began to show up from\nSung time on, seem to have produced an \"agricultural revolution\" in Ming\ntime.] [We have already mentioned the Sung attempts to increase production\nnear the big cities by deep-lying fields, cultivation on and in lakes.] [At the same time, there was an increase in cultivation of mountain\nslopes by terracing and by distributing water over the terraces in\nbalanced systems.] [New irrigation machines, especially the so-called\nPersian wheel, were introduced in the Ming time.] [Perhaps the most\nimportant innovation, however, was the introduction of rice from\nIndo-China's kingdom Champa in 1012 into Fukien from where it soon\nspread.] [This rice had three advantages over ordinary Chinese rice: it\nwas drought-resistant and could, therefore, be planted in areas with\npoor or even no irrigation.] [It had a great productivity, and it could be\nsown very early in the year.] [At first it had the disadvantage that it\nhad a vegetation period of a hundred days.] [But soon, the Chinese\ndeveloped a quick-growing Champa rice, and the speediest varieties took\nonly sixty days from transplantation into the fields to the harvest.] [This made it possible to grow two rice harvests instead of only one and\nmore than doubled the production.] [Rice varieties which grew again after\nbeing cut and produced a second, but very much smaller harvest,\ndisappeared from now on.] [Furthermore, fish were kept in the ricefields\nand produced not only food for the farmers but also fertilized the\nfields, so that continuous cultivation of ricefields without any\ndecrease in fertility became possible.] [Incidentally, fish control the\nmalaria mosquitoes; although the Chinese did not know this fact, large\nareas in South China which had formerly been avoided by Chinese because\nof malaria, gradually became inhabitable.] [The importance of alternating crops was also discovered and from now on,\nthe old system of fallow cultivation was given up and continuous\ncultivation with, in some areas, even more than one harvest per field\nper year, was introduced even in wheat-growing areas.] [Considering that\nunder the fallow system from one half to one third of all fields\nremained uncultivated each year, the increase in production under the\nnew system must have been tremendous.] [We believe that the population\nrevolution which in China started about 1550, was the result of this\nearlier agrarian revolution.] [From the eighteenth century on we get\nreports on depletion of fields due to wrong application of the new\nsystem.] [Another plant deeply affected Chinese agriculture: cotton.] [It is often\nforgotten that, from very early times, the Chinese in the south had used\nkapok and similar fibres, and that the cocoons of different kinds of\nworms had been used for silk.] [Real cotton probably came from Bengal over\nSouth-East Asia first to the coastal provinces of China and spread\nquickly into Fukien and Kwangtung in Sung time.] [On the other side, cotton reached China through Central Asia, and\nalready in the thirteenth century we find it in Shensi in north-western\nChina.] [Farmers in the north could in many places grow cotton in summer\nand wheat in winter, and cotton was a high-priced product.] [They ginned\nthe cotton with iron rods; a mechanical cotton gin was introduced not\nuntil later.] [The raw cotton was sold to merchants who transported it\ninto the industrial centre of the time, the Yangtze valley, and who\nre-exported cotton cloth to the north.] [Raw cotton, loosened by the\nstring of the bow (a method which was known since Sung), could now in\nthe north also be used for quilts and padded winter garments.] [5 _Commercial and industrial developments_\n\nIntensivation and modernization of agriculture led to strong population\nincreases especially in the Yangtze valley from Sung time on.] [Thus, in\nthis area commerce and industry also developed most quickly.] [Urbanization was greatest here.] [Nanking, the new Ming capital, grew\ntremendously because of the presence of the court and administration,\nand even when later the capital was moved, Nanking continued to remain\nthe cultural capital of China.] [The urban population needed textiles and\nfood.] [From Ming time on, fashions changed quickly as soon as government\nregulations which determined colour and material of the dress of each\nsocial class were relaxed or as soon as they could be circumvented by\nbribery or ingenious devices.] [Now, only factories could produce the\namounts which the consumers wanted.] [We hear of many men who started out\nwith one loom and later ended up with over forty looms, employing many\nweavers.] [Shanghai began to emerge as a centre of cotton cloth\nproduction.] [A system of middle-men developed who bought raw cotton and\nraw silk from the producers and sold it to factories.] [Consumption in the Yangtze cities raised the value of the land around\nthe cities.] [The small farmers who were squeezed out, migrated to the\nsouth.] [Absentee landlords in cities relied partly on migratory, seasonal\nlabour supplied by small farmers from Chekiang who came to the Yangtze\narea after they had finished their own harvest.] [More and more,\nvegetables and mulberries or cotton were planted in the vicinity of the\ncities.] [As rice prices went up quickly a large organization of rice\nmerchants grew up.] [They ran large ships up to Hankow where they bought\nrice which was brought down from Hunan in river boats by smaller\nmerchants.] [The small merchants again made contracts with the local\ngentry who bought as much rice from the producers as they could and sold\nit to these grain merchants.] [Thus, local grain prices went up and we\nhear of cases where the local population attacked the grain boats in\norder to prevent the depletion of local markets.] [Next to these grain merchants, the above-mentioned salt merchants have\nto be mentioned again.] [Their centre soon became the city of Hsin-an, a\ncity on the border of Chekiang and Anhui, or in more general terms, the\ncities in the district of Hui-chou.] [When the grain transportation to the\nfrontiers came to an end in early Ming time, the Hsin-an merchants\nspecialized first in silver trade.] [Later in Ming time, they spread their\nactivities all over China and often monopolized the salt, silver, rice,\ncotton, silk or tea businesses.] [In the sixteenth century they had\nwell-established contacts with smugglers on the Fukien coast and brought\nforeign goods into the interior.] [Their home was also close to the main\ncentres of porcelain production in Kiangsi which was exported to\noverseas and to the urban centres.] [The demand for porcelain had\nincreased so much that state factories could not fulfil it.] [The state\nfactories seem often to have suffered from a lack of labour: indented\nartisans were imported from other provinces and later sent back on state\nexpenses or were taken away from other state industries.] [Thus, private\nporcelain factories began to develop, and in connection with quickly\nchanging fashions a great diversification of porcelain occurred.] [One other industry should also be mentioned.] [With the development of\nprinting, which will be discussed below, the paper industry was greatly\nstimulated.] [The state also needed special types of paper for the paper\ncurrency.] [Printing and book selling became a profitable business, and\nwith the application of block print to textiles (probably first used in\nSung time) another new field of commercial activity was opened.] [As already mentioned, silver in form of bars had been increasingly used\nas currency in Sung time.] [The yearly government production of silver was\n_c_. 10,000 kg. Mongol currency was actually based upon silver.] [The\nMing, however, reverted to copper as basic unit, in addition to the use\nof paper money.] [This encouraged the use of silver for speculative\npurposes.] [The development of business changed the face of cities.] [From Sung time\non, the division of cities into wards with gates which were closed\nduring the night, began to break down.] [Ming cities had no more wards.] [Business was no more restricted to official markets but grew up in all\nparts of the cities.] [The individual trades were no more necessarily all\nin one street.] [Shops did not have to close at sunset.] [The guilds\ndeveloped and in some cases were able to exercise locally some influence\nupon the officials.] [6 _Growth of the small gentry_\n\nWith the spread of book printing, all kinds of books became easily\naccessible, including reprints of examination papers.] [Even businessmen\nand farmers increasingly learned to read and to write, and many people\nnow could prepare themselves for the examinations.] [Attendance, however,\nat the examinations cost a good deal.] [The candidate had to travel to the\nlocal or provincial capital, and for the higher examinations to the\ncapital of the country; he had to live there for several months and, as\na rule, had to bribe the examiners or at least to gain the favour of\ninfluential people.] [There were many cases of candidates becoming\ndestitute.] [Most of them were heavily in debt when at last they gained a\nposition.] [They naturally set to work at once to pay their debts out of\ntheir salary, and to accumulate fresh capital to meet future\nemergencies.] [The salaries of officials were, however, so small that it\nwas impossible to make ends meet; and at the same time every official\nwas liable with his own capital for the receipt in full of the taxes for\nthe collection of which he was responsible.] [Consequently every official\nbegan at once to collect more taxes than were really due, so as to be\nable to cover any deficits, and also to cover his own cost of\nliving--including not only the repayment of his debts but the\nacquisition of capital or land so as to rise in the social scale.] [The\nold gentry had been rich landowners, and had no need to exploit the\npeasants on such a scale.] [The Chinese empire was greater than it had been before the Mongol epoch,\nand the population was also greater, so that more officials were needed.] [Thus in the Ming epoch there began a certain democratization, larger\nsections of the population having the opportunity of gaining government\npositions; but this democratization brought no benefit to the general\npopulation but resulted in further exploitation of the peasants.] [The new \"small gentry\" did not consist of great families like the\noriginal gentry.] [When, therefore, people of that class wanted to play a\npolitical part in the central government, or to gain a position there,\nthey had either to get into close touch with one of the families of the\ngentry, or to try to approach the emperor directly.] [In the immediate\nentourage of the emperor, however, were the eunuchs.] [A good many members\nof the new class had themselves castrated after they had passed their\nstate examination.] [Originally eunuchs were forbidden to acquire\neducation.] [But soon the Ming emperors used the eunuchs as a tool to\ncounteract the power of gentry cliques and thus to strengthen their\npersonal power.] [When, later, eunuchs controlled appointments to\ngovernment posts, long established practices of bureaucratic\nadministration were eliminated and the court, i.e. the emperor and his\ntools, the eunuchs, could create a rule by way of arbitrary decisions, a\ndespotic rule.] [For such purposes, eunuchs had to have education, and\nthese new educated eunuchs, when they had once secured a position, were\nable to gain great influence in the immediate entourage of the emperor;\nlater such educated eunuchs were preferred, especially as many offices\nwere created which were only filled by eunuchs and for which educated\neunuchs were needed.] [Whole departments of eunuchs came into existence at\ncourt, and these were soon made use of for confidential business of the\nemperor's outside the palace.] [These eunuchs worked, of course, in the interest of their families.] [On\nthe other hand, they were very ready to accept large bribes from the\ngentry for placing the desires of people of the gentry before the\nemperor and gaining his consent.] [Thus the eunuchs generally accumulated\ngreat wealth, which they shared with their small gentry relatives.] [The\nrise of the small gentry class was therefore connected with the\nincreased influence of the eunuchs at court.] [7 _Literature, art, crafts_\n\nThe growth of the small gentry which had its stronghold in the\nprovincial towns and cities, as well as the rise of the merchant class\nand the liberation of the artisans, are reflected in the new literature\nof Ming time.] [While the Mongols had developed the theatre, the novel may\nbe regarded as the typical Ming creation.] [Its precursors were the\nstories of story-tellers centuries ago.] [They had developed many styles,\none of which, for instance, consisted of prose with intercalated poetic\nparts (_pien-wen_).] [Buddhists monks had used these forms of popular\nliterature and spread their teachings in similar forms; due to them,\nmany Indian stories and tales found their way into the Chinese\nfolklore.] [Soon, these stories of story-tellers or monks were written\ndown, and out of them developed the Chinese classical novel.] [It\npreserved many traits of the stories: it was cut into chapters\ncorresponding with the interruptions which the story-teller made in\norder to collect money; it was interspersed with poems.] [But most of all,\nit was written in everyday language, not in the language of the gentry.] [To this day every Chinese knows and reads with enthusiasm\n_Shui-hu-chuan_ (\"The Story of the River Bank\"), probably written about\n1550 by Wang Tao-k'un, in which the ruling class was first described in\nits decay.] [Against it are held up as ideals representatives of the\nmiddle class in the guise of the gentleman brigand.] [Every Chinese also\nknows the great satirical novel _Hsi-yu-chi_ (\"The Westward Journey\"),\nby Feng Meng-lung (1574-1645), in which ironical treatment is meted out\nto all religions and sects against a mythological background, with a\nfreedom that would not have been possible earlier.] [The characters are\nnot presented as individuals but as representatives of human types: the\nintellectual, the hedonist, the pious man, and the simpleton, are drawn\nwith incomparable skill, with their merits and defects.] [A third famous\nnovel is _San-kuo yen-i_ (\"The Tale of the Three Kingdoms\"), by Lo\nKuan-chung.] [Just as the European middle class read with avidity the\nromances of chivalry, so the comfortable class in China was enthusiastic\nover romanticized pictures of the struggle of the gentry in the third\ncentury.] [\"The Tale of the Three Kingdoms\" became the model for countless\nhistorical novels of its own and subsequent periods.] [Later, mainly in\nthe sixteenth century, the sensational and erotic novel developed, most\nof all in Nanking.] [It has deeply influenced Japanese writers, but was\nmercilessly suppressed by the Chinese gentry which resented the\nfrivolity of this wealthy and luxurious urban class of middle or small\ngentry families who associated with rich merchants, actors, artists and\nmusicians.] [Censorship of printed books had started almost with the\nbeginning of book printing as a private enterprise: to the famous\nhistorian, anti-Buddhist and conservative Ou-yang Hsiu (1007-1072), the\nenemy of Wang An-shih, belongs the sad glory of having developed the\nfirst censorship rules.] [Since Ming time, it became a permanent feature\nof Chinese governments.] [The best known of the erotic novels is the _Chin-p'ing-mei_ which, for\nreasons of our own censors can be published only in expurgated\ntranslations.] [It was written probably towards the end of the sixteenth\ncentury.] [This novel, as all others, has been written and re-written by\nmany authors, so that many different versions exist.] [It might be pointed\nout that many novels were printed in Hui-chou, the commercial centre of\nthe time.] [The short story which formerly served the entertainment of the educated\nonly and which was, therefore, written in classical Chinese, now also\nbecame a literary form appreciated by the middle classes.] [The collection\n_Chin-ku ch'i-kuan_ (\"Strange Stories of New Times and Old\"), compiled\nby Feng Meng-lung, is the best-known of these collections in vernacular\nChinese.] [Little original work was done in the Ming epoch in the fields generally\nregarded as \"literature\" by educated Chinese, those of poetry and the\nessay.] [There are some admirable essays, but these are only isolated\nexamples out of thousands.] [So also with poetry: the poets of the gentry,\nunited in \"clubs\", chose the poets of the Sung epoch as their models to\nemulate.] [The Chinese drama made further progress in the Ming epoch.] [Many of the\nfinest Chinese dramas were written under the Ming; they are still\nproduced again and again to this day.] [The most famous dramatists of the\nMing epoch are Wang Shih-chen (1526-1590) and T'ang Hsien-tsu\n(1556-1617).] [T'ang wrote the well-known drama _Mu-tan-ting_ (\"The Peony\nPavilion\"), one of the finest love-stories of Chinese literature, full\nof romance and remote from all reality.] [This is true also of the other\ndramas by T'ang, especially his \"Four Dreams\", a series of four plays.] [In them a man lives in dream through many years of his future life, with\nthe result that he realizes the worthlessness of life and decides to\nbecome a monk.] [Together with the development of the drama (or, rather, the opera) in\nthe Ming epoch went an important endeavour in the modernization of\nmusic, the attempt to create a \"well-tempered scale\" made in 1584 by Chu\nTsai-yue.] [This solved in China a problem which was not tackled till later\nin Europe.] [The first Chinese theorists of music who occupied themselves\nwith this problem were Ching Fang (77-37 B.C.) and Ho Ch'eng-t'ien (A.D.\n370-447).] [In the Mongol epoch, most of the Chinese painters had lived in central\nChina; this remained so in the Ming epoch.] [Of the many painters of the\nMing epoch, all held in high esteem in China, mention must be made\nespecially of Ch'in Ying (_c_. 1525), T'ang Yin (1470-1523), and Tung\nCh'i-ch'ang (1555-1636).] [Ch'in Ying painted in the Academic Style,\nindicating every detail, however small, and showing preference for a\nturquoise-green ground.] [T'ang Yin was the painter of elegant women; Tung\nbecame famous especially as a calligraphist and a theoretician of the\nart of painting; a textbook of the art was written by him.] [Just as puppet plays and shadow theatre are the \"opera of the common\nman\" and took a new development in Ming time, the wood-cut and\nblock-printing developed largely as a cheap substitute of real\npaintings.] [The new urbanites wanted to have paintings of the masters and\nfound in the wood-cut which soon became a multi-colour print a cheap\nmass medium.] [Block printing in colours, developed in the Yangtze valley,\nwas adopted by Japan and found its highest refinement there.] [But the\nMing are also famous for their monumental architecture which largely\nfollowed Mongol patterns.] [Among the most famous examples is the famous\nGreat Wall which had been in dilapidation and was rebuilt; the great\ncity walls of Peking; and large parts of the palaces of Peking, begun in\nthe Mongol epoch.] [It was at this time that the official style which we\nmay observe to this day in North China was developed, the style employed\neverywhere, until in the age of concrete it lost its justification.] [In the Ming epoch the porcelain with blue decoration on a white ground\nbecame general; the first examples, from the famous kilns in\nChing-te-chen, in the province of Kiangsi, were relatively coarse, but\nin the fifteenth century the production was much finer.] [In the sixteenth\ncentury the quality deteriorated, owing to the disuse of the cobalt from\nthe Middle East (perhaps from Persia) in favour of Sumatra cobalt, which\ndid not yield the same brilliant colour.] [In the Ming epoch there also\nappeared the first brilliant red colour, a product of iron, and a start\nwas then made with three-colour porcelain (with lead glaze) or\nfive-colour (enamel).] [The many porcelains exported to western Asia and\nEurope first influenced European ceramics (Delft), and then were\nimitated in Europe (Boettger); the early European porcelains long showed\nChinese influence (the so-called onion pattern, blue on a white ground).] [In addition to the porcelain of the Ming epoch, of which the finest\nspecimens are in the palace at Istanbul, especially famous are the\nlacquers (carved lacquer, lacquer painting, gold lacquer) of the Ming\nepoch and the cloisonne work of the same period.] [These are closely\nassociated with the contemporary work in Japan.] [8 _Politics at court_\n\nAfter the founding of the dynasty by Chu Yuean-chang, important questions\nhad to be dealt with apart from the social legislation.] [What was to be\ndone, for instance, with Chu's helpers?] [Chu, like many revolutionaries\nbefore and after him, recognized that these people had been serviceable\nin the years of struggle but could no longer remain useful.] [He got rid\nof them by the simple device of setting one against another so that they\nmurdered one another.] [In the first decades of his rule the dangerous\ncliques of gentry had formed again, and were engaged in mutual\nstruggles.] [The most formidable clique was led by Hu Wei-yung.] [Hu was a\nman of the gentry of Chu's old homeland, and one of his oldest\nsupporters.] [Hu and his relations controlled the country after 1370,\nuntil in 1380 Chu succeeded in beheading Hu and exterminating his\nclique.] [New cliques formed before long and were exterminated in turn.] [Chu had founded Nanking in the years of revolution, and he made it his\ncapital.] [In so doing he met the wishes of the rich grain producers of\nthe Yangtze delta.] [But the north was the most threatened part of his\nempire, so that troops had to be permanently stationed there in\nconsiderable strength.] [Thus Peking, where Chu placed one of his sons as\n\"king\", was a post of exceptional importance.] [In Chu Yuean-chang's last years (he was named T'ai Tsu as emperor)\ndifficulties arose in regard to the dynasty.] [The heir to the throne died\nin 1391; and when the emperor himself died in 1398, the son of the late\nheir-apparent was installed as emperor (Hui Ti, 1399-1402).] [This choice\nhad the support of some of the influential Confucian gentry families of\nthe south.] [But a protest against his enthronement came from the other\nson of Chu Yuean-chang, who as king in Peking had hoped to become\nemperor.] [With his strong army this prince, Ch'eng Tsu, marched south and\ncaptured Nanking, where the palaces were burnt down.] [There was a great\nmassacre of supporters of the young emperor, and the victor made himself\nemperor (better known under his reign name, Yung-lo).] [As he had\nestablished himself in Peking, he transferred the capital to Peking,\nwhere it remained throughout the Ming epoch.] [Nanking became a sort of\nsubsidiary capital.] [This transfer of the capital to the north, as the result of the victory\nof the military party and Buddhists allied to them, produced a new\nelement of instability: the north was of military importance, but the\nYangtze region remained the economic centre of the country.] [The\ninterests of the gentry of the Yangtze region were injured by the\ntransfer.] [The first Ming emperor had taken care to make his court\nresemble the court of the Mongol rulers, but on the whole had exercised\nrelative economy.] [Yung-lo (1403-1424), however, lived in the actual\npalaces of the Mongol rulers, and all the luxury of the Mongol epoch was\nrevived.] [This made the reign of Yung-lo the most magnificent period of\nthe Ming epoch, but beneath the surface decay had begun.] [Typical of the\nunmitigated absolutism which developed now, was the word of one of the\nemperor's political and military advisors, significantly a Buddhist\nmonk: \"I know the way of heaven.] [Why discuss the hearts of the people?] [\"\n\n9 _Navy.] [Southward expansion_\n\nAfter the collapse of Mongol rule in Indo-China, partly through the\nsimple withdrawal of the Mongols, and partly through attacks from\nvarious Chinese generals, there were independence movements in\nsouth-west China and Indo-China.] [In 1393 wars broke out in Annam.] [Yung-lo considered that the time had come to annex these regions to\nChina and so to open a new field for Chinese trade, which was suffering\ncontinual disturbance from the Japanese.] [He sent armies to Yuennan and\nIndo-China; at the same time he had a fleet built by one of his eunuchs,\nCheng Ho.] [The fleet was successfully protected from attack by the\nJapanese.] [Cheng Ho, who had promoted the plan and also carried it out,\nbegan in 1405 his famous mission to Indo-China, which had been envisaged\nas giving at least moral support to the land operations, but was also\nintended to renew trade connections with Indo-China, where they had been\ninterrupted by the collapse of Mongol rule.] [Cheng Ho sailed past\nIndo-China and ultimately reached the coast of Arabia.] [His account of\nhis voyage is an important source of information about conditions in\nsouthern Asia early in the fifteenth century.] [Cheng Ho and his fleet\nmade some further cruises, but they were discontinued.] [There may have\nbeen several reasons, (1) As state enterprises, the expeditions were\nvery costly.] [Foreign goods could be obtained more cheaply and with less\ntrouble if foreign merchants came themselves to China or Chinese\nmerchants travelled at their own risk.] [(2) The moral success of the\nnaval enterprises was assured.] [China was recognized as a power\nthroughout southern Asia, and Annam had been reconquered.] [(3) After the\ncollapse of the Mongol emperor Timur, who died in 1406, there no longer\nexisted any great power in Central Asia, so that trade missions from the\nkingdom of the Shahruk in North Persia were able to make their way to\nChina, including the famous mission of 1409-1411.] [(4) Finally, the fleet\nwould have had to be permanently guarded against the Japanese, as it had\nbeen stationed not in South China but in the Yangtze region.] [As early as\n1411 the canals had been repaired, and from 1415 onward all the traffic\nof the country went by the canals, so evading the Japanese peril.] [This\nended the short chapter of Chinese naval history.] [These travels of Cheng Ho seem to have had one more cultural result: a\nlarge number of fairy-tales from the Middle East were brought to China,\nor at all events reached China at that time.] [The Chinese, being a\nrealistically-minded people, have produced few fairy-tales of their own.] [The bulk of their finest fairy-tales were brought by Buddhist monks, in\nthe course of the first millennium A.D., from India by way of Central\nAsia.] [The Buddhists made use of them to render their sermons more\ninteresting and impressive.] [As time went on, these stories spread all\nover China, modified in harmony with the spirit of the people and\nadapted to the Chinese environment.] [Only the fables failed to strike\nroot in China: the matter-of-fact Chinese was not interested in animals\nthat talked and behaved to each other like human beings.] [In addition,\nhowever, to these early fairy-tales, there was another group of stories\nthat did not spread throughout China, but were found only in the\nsouth-eastern coastal provinces.] [These came from the Middle East,\nespecially from Persia.] [The fairy-tales of Indian origin spread not only\nto Central Asia but at the same time to Persia, where they found a very\ncongenial soil.] [The Persians made radical changes in the stories and\ngave them the form in which they came to Europe by various\nroutes--through North Africa to Spain and France; through\nConstantinople, Venice, or Genoa to France; through Russian Turkestan to\nRussia, Finland, and Sweden; through Turkey and the Balkans to Hungary\nand Germany.] [Thus the stories found a European home.] [And this same\nPersian form was carried by sea in Cheng Ho's time to South China.] [Thus\nwe have the strange experience of finding some of our own finest\nfairy-tales in almost the same form in South China.] [10 _Struggles between cliques_\n\nYung-lo's successor died early.] [Under the latter's son, the emperor\nHsuean Tsung (1426-1435; reign name Hsuean-te), fixed numbers of\ncandidates were assigned for the state examinations.] [It had been found\nthat almost the whole of the gentry in the Yangtze region sat at the\nexaminations; and that at these examinations their representatives made\nsure, through their mutual relations, that only their members should\npass, so that the candidates from the north were virtually excluded.] [The\nimportant military clique in the north protested against this, and a\ncompromise was arrived at: at every examination one-third of the\ncandidates must come from the north and two-thirds from the south.] [This\nsystem lasted for a long time, and led to many disputes.] [At his death Hsuean Tsung left the empire to his eight-year-old son Ying\nTsung (1436-49 and 1459-64), who was entirely in the hands of the Yang\nclique, which was associated with his grandmother.] [Soon, however,\nanother clique, led by the eunuch Wang Chen, gained the upper hand at\ncourt.] [The Mongols were very active at this time, and made several raids\non the province of Shansi; Wang Chen proposed a great campaign against\nthem, and in this campaign he took with him the young emperor, who had\nreached his twenty-first birthday in 1449.] [The emperor had grown up in\nthe palace and knew nothing of the world outside; he was therefore glad\nto go with Wang Chen; but that eunuch had also lived in the palace and\nalso knew nothing of the world, and in particular of war.] [Consequently\nhe failed in the organization of reinforcements for his army, some\n100,000 strong; after a few brief engagements the Oirat-Mongol prince\nEsen had the imperial army surrounded and the emperor a prisoner.] [The\neunuch Wang Chen came to his end, and his clique, of course, no longer\ncounted.] [The Mongols had no intention of killing the emperor; they\nproposed to hold him to ransom, at a high price.] [The various cliques at\ncourt cared little, however, about their ruler.] [After the fall of the\nWang clique there were two others, of which one, that of General Yue,\nbecame particularly powerful, as he had been able to repel a Mongol\nattack on Peking.] [Yue proclaimed a new emperor--not the captive emperor's\nson, a baby, but his brother, who became the emperor Ching Tsung.] [The\nYang clique insisted on the rights of the imperial baby.] [From all this\nthe Mongols saw that the Chinese were not inclined to spend a lot of\nmoney on their imperial captive.] [Accordingly they made an enormous\nreduction in the ransom demanded, and more or less forced the Chinese to\ntake back their former emperor.] [The Mongols hoped that this would at\nleast produce political disturbances by which they might profit, once\nthe old emperor was back in Peking.] [And this did soon happen.] [At first\nthe ransomed emperor was pushed out of sight into a palace, and Ching\nTsung continued to reign.] [But in 1456 Ching Tsung fell ill, and a\nsuccessor to him had to be chosen.] [The Yue clique wanted to have the son\nof Ching Tsung; the Yang clique wanted the son of the deposed emperor\nYing Tsung.] [No agreement was reached, so that in the end a third clique,\nled by the soldier Shih Heng, who had helped to defend Peking against\nthe Mongols, found its opportunity, and by a _coup d'etat_ reinstated\nthe deposed emperor Ying Tsung.] [This was not done out of love for the emperor, but because Shih Heng\nhoped that under the rule of the completely incompetent Ying Tsung he\ncould best carry out a plan of his own, to set up his own dynasty.] [It is\nnot so easy, however, to carry a conspiracy to success when there are\nseveral rival parties, each of which is ready to betray any of the\nothers.] [Shih Heng's plan became known before long, and he himself was\nbeheaded (1460).] [The next forty years were filled with struggles between cliques, which\nsteadily grew in ferocity, particularly since a special office, a sort\nof secret police headquarters, was set up in the palace, with functions\nwhich it extended beyond the palace, with the result that many people\nwere arrested and disappeared.] [This office was set up by the eunuchs and\nthe clique at their back, and was the first dictatorial organ created in\nthe course of a development towards despotism that made steady progress\nin these years.] [In 1505 Wu Tsung came to the throne, an inexperienced youth of fifteen\nwho was entirely controlled by the eunuchs who had brought him up.] [The\nleader of the eunuchs was Liu Chin, who had the support of a group of\npeople of the gentry and the middle class.] [Liu Chin succeeded within a\nyear in getting rid of the eunuchs at court who belonged to other\ncliques and were working against him.] [After that he proceeded to\nestablish his power.] [He secured in entirely official form the emperor's\npermission for him to issue all commands himself; the emperor devoted\nhimself only to his pleasures, and care was taken that they should keep\nhim sufficiently occupied to have no chance to notice what was going on\nin the country.] [The first important decree issued by Liu Chin resulted\nin the removal from office or the punishment or murder of over three\nhundred prominent persons, the leaders of the cliques opposed to him.] [He\nfilled their posts with his own supporters, until all the higher posts\nin every department were in the hands of members of his group.] [He\ncollected large sums of money which he quite openly extracted from the\nprovinces as a special tax for his own benefit.] [When later his house was\nsearched there were found 240,000 bars and 57,800 pieces of gold (a bar\nwas equivalent of ten pieces), 791,800 ounces and 5,000,000 bars of\nsilver (a bar was five ounces), three bushels of precious stones, two\ngold cuirasses, 3,000 gold rings, and much else--of a total value\nexceeding the annual budget of the state!] [The treasure was to have been\nused to finance a revolt planned by Liu Chin and his supporters.] [Among the people whom Liu Chin had punished were several members of the\nformer clique of the Yang, and also the philosopher Wang Yang-ming, who\nlater became so famous, a member of the Wang family which was allied to\nthe Yang.] [In 1510 the Yang won over one of the eunuchs in the palace and\nso became acquainted with Liu Chin's plans.] [When a revolt broke out in\nwestern China, this eunuch (whose political allegiance was, of course,\nunknown to Liu Chin) secured appointment as army commander.] [With the\narmy intended for the crushing of the revolt, Liu Chin's palace was\nattacked when he was asleep, and he and all his supporters were\narrested.] [Thus the other group came into power in the palace, including\nthe philosopher Wang Yang-ming (1473-1529).] [Liu Chin's rule had done\ngreat harm to the country, as enormous taxation had been expended for\nthe private benefit of his clique.] [On top of this had been the young\nemperor's extravagance: his latest pleasures had been the building of\npalaces and the carrying out of military games; he constantly assumed\nnew military titles and was burning to go to war.] [11 _Risings_\n\nThe emperor might have had a good opportunity for fighting, for his\nmisrule had resulted in a great popular rising which began in the west,\nin Szechwan, and then spread to the east.] [As always, the rising was\njoined by some ruined scholars, and the movement, which had at first\nbeen directed against the gentry as such, was turned into a movement\nagainst the government of the moment.] [No longer were all the wealthy and\nall officials murdered, but only those who did not join the movement.] [In\n1512 the rebels were finally overcome, not so much by any military\ncapacity of the government armies as through the loss of the rebels'\nfleet of boats in a typhoon.] [In 1517 a new favourite of the emperor's induced him to make a great\ntour in the north, to which the favourite belonged.] [The tour and the\nhunting greatly pleased the emperor, so that he continued his\njourneying.] [This was the year in which the Portuguese Fernao Pires de\nAndrade landed in Canton--the first modern European to enter China.] [In 1518 Wang Yang-ming, the philosopher general, crushed a rising in\nKiangsi.] [The rising had been the outcome of years of unrest, which had\ntwo causes: native risings of the sort we described above, and loss for\nthe gentry due to the transfer of the capital.] [The province of Kiangsi\nwas a part of the Yangtze region, and the great landowners there had\nlived on the profit from their supplies to Nanking.] [When the capital was\nmoved to Peking, their takings fell.] [They placed themselves under a\nprince who lived in Nanking.] [This prince regarded Wang Yang-ming's move\ninto Kiangsi as a threat to him, and so rose openly against the\ngovernment and supported the Kiangsi gentry.] [Wang Yang-ming defeated\nhim, and so came into the highest favour with the incompetent emperor.] [When peace had been restored in Nanking, the emperor dressed himself up\nas an army commander, marched south, and made a triumphal entry into\nNanking.] [One other aspect of Wang Yang-ming's expeditions has not yet been\nstudied: he crushed also the so-called salt-merchant rebels in the\nsouthernmost part of Kiangsi and adjoining Kwangtung.] [These\nmerchants-turned-rebels had dominated a small area, off and on since\nthe eleventh century.] [At this moment, they seem to have had connections\nwith the rich inland merchants of Hsin-an and perhaps also with\nforeigners.] [Information is still too scanty to give more details, but a\nlocal movement as persistent as this one deserves attention.] [Wang Yang-ming became acquainted as early as 1519 with the first\nEuropean rifles, imported by the Portuguese who had landed in 1517.] [(The\nChinese then called them Fu-lan-chi, meaning Franks.] [Wang was the first\nChinese who spoke of the \"Franks\".] [) The Chinese had already had mortars\nwhich hurled stones, as early as the second century A.D.] [In the seventh\nor eighth century their mortars had sent stones of a couple of\nhundredweights some four hundred yards.] [There is mention in the eleventh\ncentury of cannon which apparently shot with a charge of a sort of\ngunpowder.] [The Mongols were already using true cannon in their sieges.] [In 1519, the first Portuguese were presented to the Chinese emperor in\nNanking, where they were entertained for about a year in a hostel, a\ncertain Lin Hsuen learned about their rifles and copied them for Wang\nYang-ming.] [In general, however, the Chinese had no respect for the\nEuropeans, whom they described as \"bandits\" who had expelled the lawful\nking of Malacca and had now come to China as its representatives.] [Later\nthey were regarded as a sort of Japanese, because they, too, practiced\npiracy.] [12 _Machiavellism_\n\nAll main schools of Chinese philosophy were still based on Confucius.] [Wang Yang-ming's philosophy also followed Confucius, but he liberated\nhimself from the Neo-Confucian tendency as represented by Chu Hsi, which\nstarted in the Sung epoch and continued to rule in China in his time and\nafter him; he introduced into Confucian philosophy the conception of\n\"intuition\".] [He regarded intuition as the decisive philosophic\nexperience; only through intuition could man come to true knowledge.] [This idea shows an element of meditative Buddhism along lines which the\nphilosopher Lu Hsiang-shan (1139-1192) had first developed, while\nclassical Neo-Confucianism was more an integration of monastic Buddhism\ninto Confucianism.] [Lu had felt himself close to Wang An-shih\n(1021-1086), and this whole school, representing the small gentry of the\nYangtze area, was called the Southern or the Lin-ch'uan school,\nLin-ch'uan in Kiangsi being Wang An-shih's home.] [During the Mongol\nperiod, a Taoist group, the _Cheng-i-chiao_ (Correct Unity Sect) had\ndeveloped in Lin-ch'uan and had accepted some of the Lin-ch'uan\nschool's ideas.] [Originally, this group was a continuation of Chang\nLing's church Taoism.] [Through the _Cheng-i_ adherents, the Southern\nschool had gained political influence on the despotic Mongol rulers.] [The\ndespotic Yung-lo emperor had favoured the monk Tao-yen (_c_. 1338-1418)\nwho had also Taoist training and proposed a philosophy which also\nstressed intuition.] [He was, incidentally, in charge of the compilation\nof the largest encyclopaedia ever written, the _Yung-lo ta-tien_\ncommissioned by the Yung-lo emperor.] [Wang Yang-ming followed the Lin-ch'uan tradition.] [The introduction of\nthe conception of intuition, a highly subjective conception, into the\nsystem of a practical state philosophy like Confucianism could not but\nlead in the practice of the statesman to Machiavellism.] [The statesman\nwho followed the teaching of Wang Yang-ming had the opportunity of\njustifying whatever he did by his intuition.] [Wang Yang-ming failed to gain acceptance for his philosophy.] [His\ndisciples also failed to establish his doctrine in China, because it\nserved the interests of an individual despot against those of the gentry\nas a class, and the middle class, which might have formed a\ncounterweight against them, was not yet politically ripe for the seizure\nof the opportunity here offered to it.] [In Japan, however, Wang's\ndoctrine gained many followers, because it admirably served the\ndictatorial state system which had developed in that country.] [Incidentally, Chiang Kai-shek in those years in which he showed Fascist\ntendencies, also got interested in Wang Yang-ming.] [13 _Foreign relations in the sixteenth century_\n\nThe feeble emperor Wu Tsung died in 1521, after an ineffective reign,\nwithout leaving an heir.] [The clique then in power at court looked among\nthe possible pretenders for the one who seemed least likely to do\nanything, and their choice fell on the fifteen-year-old Shih Tsung, who\nwas made emperor.] [The forty-five years of his reign were filled in home\naffairs with intrigues between the cliques at court, with growing\ndistress in the country, and with revolts on a larger and larger scale.] [Abroad there were wars with Annam, increasing raids by the Japanese,\nand, above all, long-continued fighting against the famous Mongol ruler\nYen-ta, from 1549 onward.] [At one time Yen-ta reached Peking and laid\nsiege to it.] [The emperor, who had no knowledge of affairs, and to whom\nYen-ta had been represented as a petty bandit, was utterly dismayed and\nready to do whatever Yen-ta asked; in the end he was dissuaded from\nthis, and an agreement was arrived at with Yen-ta for state-controlled\nmarkets to be set up along the frontier, where the Mongols could\ndispose of their goods against Chinese goods on very favourable terms.] [After further difficulties lasting many years, a compromise was arrived\nat: the Mongols were earning good profits from the markets, and in 1571\nYen-ta accepted a Chinese title.] [On the Chinese side, this Mongol trade,\nwhich continued in rather different form in the Manchu epoch, led to the\nformation of a local merchant class in the frontier province of Shansi,\nwith great experience in credit business; later the first Chinese\nbankers came almost entirely from this quarter.] [After a brief interregnum there came once more to the throne a\nten-year-old boy, the emperor Shen Tsung (reign name Wan-li; 1573-1619).] [He, too, was entirely under the influence of various cliques, at first\nthat of his tutor, the scholar Chang Chue-chan.] [About the time of the\ndeath, in 1582, of Yen-ta we hear for the first time of a new people.] [In\n1581 there had been unrest in southern Manchuria.] [The Mongolian tribal\nfederation of the Tuemet attacked China, and there resulted collisions\nnot only with the Chinese but between the different tribes living there.] [In southern and central Manchuria were remnants of the Tungus Juchen.] [The Mongols had subjugated the Juchen, but the latter had virtually\nbecome independent after the collapse of Mongol rule over China.] [They\nhad formed several tribal alliances, but in 1581-83 these fought each\nother, so that one of the alliances to all intents was destroyed.] [The\nChinese intervened as mediators in these struggles, and drew a\ndemarcation line between the territories of the various Tungus tribes.] [All this is only worth mention because it was from these tribes that\nthere developed the tribal league of the Manchus, who were then to rule\nChina for some three hundred years.] [In 1592 the Japanese invaded Korea.] [This was their first real effort to\nset foot on the continent, a purely imperialistic move.] [Korea, as a\nChinese vassal, appealed for Chinese aid.] [At first the Chinese army had\nno success, but in 1598 the Japanese were forced to abandon Korea.] [They\nrevenged themselves by intensifying their raids on the coast of central\nChina; they often massacred whole towns, and burned down the looted\nhouses.] [The fighting in Korea had its influence on the Tungus tribes: as\nthey were not directly involved, it contributed to their further\nstrengthening.] [The East India Company was founded in 1600.] [At this time, while the\nEnglish were trying to establish themselves in India, the Chinese tried\nto gain increased influence in the south by wars in Annam, Burma, and\nThailand (1594-1604).] [These wars were for China colonial wars, similar\nto the colonial fighting by the British in India.] [But there began to be\ndefined already at that time in the south of Asia the outlines of the\nstates as they exist at the present time.] [In 1601 the first European, the Jesuit Matteo Ricci, succeeded in\ngaining access to the Chinese court, through the agency of a eunuch.] [He\nmade some presents, and the Chinese regarded his visit as a mission from\nEurope bringing tribute.] [Ricci was therefore permitted to remain in\nPeking.] [He was an astronomer and was able to demonstrate to his Chinese\ncolleagues the latest achievements of European astronomy.] [In 1613, after\nRicci's death, the Jesuits and some Chinese whom they had converted were\ncommissioned to reform the Chinese calendar.] [In the time of the Mongols,\nArabs had been at work in Peking as astronomers, and their influence had\ncontinued under the Ming until the Europeans came.] [By his astronomical\nlabours Ricci won a place of honour in Chinese literature; he is the\nEuropean most often mentioned.] [The missionary work was less effective.] [The missionaries penetrated by\nthe old trade routes from Canton and Macao into the province of Kiangsi\nand then into Nanking.] [Kiangsi and Nanking were their chief centres.] [They soon realized that missionary activity that began in the lower\nstrata would have no success; it was necessary to work from above,\nbeginning with the emperor, and then, they hoped, the whole country\ncould be converted to Christianity.] [When later the emperors of the Ming\ndynasty were expelled and fugitives in South China, one of the\npretenders to the throne was actually converted--but it was politically\ntoo late.] [The missionaries had, moreover, mistaken ideas as to the\nnature of Chinese religion; we know today that a universal adoption of\nChristianity in China would have been impossible even if an emperor had\npersonally adopted that foreign faith: there were emperors who had been\ninterested in Buddhism or in Taoism, but that had been their private\naffair and had never prevented them, as heads of the state, from\npromoting the religious system which politically was the most\nexpedient--that is to say, usually Confucianism.] [What we have said here\nin regard to the Christian mission at the Ming court is applicable also\nto the missionaries at the court of the first Manchu emperors, in the\nseventeenth century.] [Early in the eighteenth century missionary activity\nwas prohibited--not for religious but for political reasons, and only\nunder the pressure of the Capitulations in the nineteenth century were\nthe missionaries enabled to resume their labours.] [14 _External and internal perils_\n\nTowards the end of the reign of Wan-li, about 1620, the danger that\nthreatened the empire became more and more evident.] [The Manchus\ncomplained, no doubt with justice, of excesses on the part of Chinese\nofficials; the friction constantly increased, and the Manchus began to\nattack the Chinese cities in Manchuria.] [In 1616, after his first\nconsiderable successes, their leader Nurhachu assumed the imperial\ntitle; the name of the dynasty was Tai Ch'ing (interpreted as \"The great\nclarity\", but probably a transliteration of a Manchurian word meaning\n\"hero\").] [In 1618, the year in which the Thirty Years War started in\nEurope, the Manchus conquered the greater part of Manchuria, and in 1621\ntheir capital was Liaoyang, then the largest town in Manchuria.] [But the Manchu menace was far from being the only one.] [On the south-east\ncoast a pirate made himself independent; later, with his family, he\ndominated Formosa and fought many battles with the Europeans there\n(European sources call him Coxinga).] [In western China there came a great\npopular rising, in which some of the natives joined, and which spread\nthrough a large part of the southern provinces.] [This rising was\nparticularly sanguinary, and when it was ultimately crushed by the\nManchus the province of Szechwan, formerly so populous, was almost\ndepopulated, so that it had later to be resettled.] [And in the province\nof Shantung in the east there came another great rising, also very\nsanguinary, that of the secret society of the \"White Lotus\".] [We have\nalready pointed out that these risings of secret societies were always a\nsign of intolerable conditions among the peasantry.] [This was now the\ncase once more.] [All the elements of danger which we mentioned at the\noutset of this chapter began during this period, between 1610 and 1640,\nto develop to the full.] [Then there were the conditions in the capital itself.] [The struggles\nbetween cliques came to a climax.] [On the death of Shen Tsung (or Wan-li;\n1573-1619), he was succeeded by his son, who died scarcely a month\nlater, and then by his sixteen-year-old grandson.] [The grandson had been\nfrom his earliest youth under the influence of a eunuch, Wei\nChung-hsien, who had castrated himself.] [With the emperor's wet-nurse and\nother people, mostly of the middle class, this man formed a powerful\ngroup.] [The moment the new emperor ascended the throne, Wei was\nall-powerful.] [He began by murdering every eunuch who did not belong to\nhis clique, and then murdered the rest of his opponents.] [Meanwhile the\ngentry had concluded among themselves a defensive alliance that was a\nsort of party; this party was called the Tung-lin Academy.] [It was\nconfined to literati among the gentry, and included in particular the\nliterati who had failed to make their way at court, and who lived on\ntheir estates in Central China and were trying to gain power themselves.] [This group was opposed to Wei Chung-hsien, who ruthlessly had every\ndiscoverable member murdered.] [The remainder went into hiding and\norganized themselves secretly under another name.] [As the new emperor had\nno son, the attempt was made to foist a son upon him; at his death in\n1627, eight women of the harem were suddenly found to be pregnant!] [He\nwas succeeded by his brother, who was one of the opponents of Wei\nChung-hsien and, with the aid of the opposing clique, was able to bring\nhim to his end.] [The new emperor tried to restore order at court and in\nthe capital by means of political and economic decrees, but in spite of\nhis good intentions and his unquestionable capacity he was unable to\ncope with the universal confusion.] [There was insurrection in every part\nof the country.] [The gentry, organized in their \"Academies\", and secretly\nat work in the provinces, no longer supported the government; the\ncentral power no longer had adequate revenues, so that it was unable to\npay the armies that should have marched against all the rebels and also\nagainst external enemies.] [It was clear that the dynasty was approaching\nits end, and the only uncertainty was as to its successor.] [The various\ninsurgents negotiated or fought with each other; generals loyal to the\ngovernment won occasional successes against the rebels; other generals\nwent over to the rebels or to the Manchus.] [The two most successful\nleaders of bands were Li Tz[)u]-ch'eng and Chang Hsien-chung.] [Li came\nfrom the province of Shensi; he had come to the fore during a disastrous\nfamine in his country.] [The years around 1640 brought several widespread\ndroughts in North China, a natural phenomenon that was repeated in the\nnineteenth century, when unrest again ensued.] [Chang Hsien-chung returned\nfor a time to the support of the government, but later established\nhimself in western China.] [It was typical, however, of all these\ninsurgents that none of them had any great objective in view.] [They\nwanted to get enough to eat for themselves and their followers; they\nwanted to enrich themselves by conquest; but they were incapable of\nbuilding up an ordered and new administration.] [Li ultimately made\nhimself \"king\" in the province of Shensi and called his dynasty \"Shun\",\nbut this made no difference: there was no distribution of land among the\npeasants serving in Li's army; no plan was set into operation for the\ncollection of taxes; not one of the pressing problems was faced.] [Meanwhile the Manchus were gaining support.] [Almost all the Mongol\nprinces voluntarily joined them and took part in the raids into North\nChina.] [In 1637 the united Manchus and Mongols conquered Korea.] [Their\npower steadily grew.] [What the insurgents in China failed to achieve, the\nManchus achieved with the aid of their Chinese advisers: they created a\nnew military organization, the \"Banner Organization\".] [The men fit for\nservice were distributed among eight \"banners\", and these banners became\nthe basis of the Manchu state administration.] [By this device the\nManchus emerged from the stage of tribal union, just as before them\nTurks and other northern peoples had several times abandoned the\ntraditional authority of a hierarchy of tribal leaders, a system of\nruling families, in favour of the authority, based on efficiency, of\nmilitary leaders.] [At the same time the Manchus set up a central\ngovernment with special ministries on the Chinese model.] [In 1638 the\nManchus appeared before Peking, but they retired once more.] [Manchu\narmies even reached the province of Shantung.] [They were hampered by the\ndeath at the critical moment of the Manchu ruler Abahai (1626-1643).] [His\nson Fu Lin was not entirely normal and was barely six years old; there\nwas a regency of princes, the most prominent among them being Prince\nDorgon.] [Meanwhile Li Tz[)u]-ch'eng broke through to Peking.] [The city had a\nstrong garrison, but owing to the disorganization of the government the\ndifferent commanders were working against each other; and the soldiers\nhad no fighting spirit because they had no pay for a long time.] [Thus the\ncity fell, on April 24th, 1644, and the last Ming emperor killed\nhimself.] [A prince was proclaimed emperor; he fled through western and\nsouthern China, continually trying to make a stand, but it was too late;\nwithout the support of the gentry he had no resource, and ultimately, in\n1659, he was compelled to flee into Burma.] [Thus Li Tz[)u]-ch'eng was now emperor.] [It should have been his task\nrapidly to build up a government, and to take up arms against the other\nrebels and against the Manchus.] [Instead of this he behaved in such a way\nthat he was unable to gain any support from the existing officials in\nthe capital; and as there was no one among his former supporters who had\nany positive, constructive ideas, just nothing was done.] [This, however, improved the chances of all the other aspirants to the\nimperial throne.] [The first to realize this clearly, and also to possess\nenough political sagacity to avoid alienating the gentry, was General Wu\nSan-kui, who was commanding on the Manchu front.] [He saw that in the\nexisting conditions in the capital he could easily secure the imperial\nthrone for himself if only he had enough soldiers.] [Accordingly he\nnegotiated with the Manchu Prince Dorgon, formed an alliance with the\nManchus, and with them entered Peking on June 6th, 1644.] [Li\nTz[)u]-ch'eng quickly looted the city, burned down whatever he could,\nand fled into the west, continually pursued by Wu San-kui.] [In the end he\nwas abandoned by all his supporters and killed by peasants.] [The Manchus,\nhowever, had no intention of leaving Wu San-kui in power: they\nestablished themselves in Peking, and Wu became their general.] [(C) The Manchu Dynasty (1644-1911)\n\n1 _Installation of Manchus_\n\nThe Manchus had gained the mastery over China owing rather to China's\ninternal situation than to their military superiority.] [How was it that\nthe dynasty could endure for so long, although the Manchus were not\nnumerous, although the first Manchu ruler (Fu Lin, known under the rule\nname Shun-chih; 1644-1662) was a psychopathic youth, although there were\nprinces of the Ming dynasty ruling in South China, and although there\nwere strong groups of rebels all over the country?] [The Manchus were\naliens; at that time the national feeling of the Chinese had already\nbeen awakened; aliens were despised.] [In addition to this, the Manchus\ndemanded that as a sign of their subjection the Chinese should wear\npigtails and assume Manchurian clothing (law of 1645).] [Such laws could\nnot but offend national pride.] [Moreover, marriages between Manchus and\nChinese were prohibited, and a dual government was set up, with Manchus\nalways alongside Chinese in every office, the Manchus being of course in\nthe superior position.] [The Manchu soldiers were distributed in military\ngarrisons among the great cities, and were paid state pensions, which\nhad to be provided by taxation.] [They were the master race, and had no\nneed to work.] [Manchus did not have to attend the difficult state\nexaminations which the Chinese had to pass in order to gain an\nappointment.] [How was it that in spite of all this the Manchus were able\nto establish themselves?] [The conquering Manchu generals first went south from eastern China, and\nin 1645 captured Nanking, where a Ming prince had ruled.] [The region\nround Nanking was the economic centre of China.] [Soon the Manchus were in\nthe adjoining southern provinces, and thus they conquered the whole of\nthe territory of the landowning gentry, who after the events of the\nbeginning of the seventeenth century had no longer trusted the Ming\nrulers.] [The Ming prince in Nanking was just as incapable, and surrounded\nby just as evil a clique, as the Ming emperors of the past.] [The gentry\nwere not inclined to defend him.] [A considerable section of the gentry\nwere reduced to utter despair; they had no desire to support the Ming\nany longer; in their own interest they could not support the rebel\nleaders; and they regarded the Manchus as just a particular sort of\n\"rebels\".] [Interpreting the refusal of some Sung ministers to serve the\nforeign Mongols as an act of loyalty, it was now regarded as shameful to\ndesert a dynasty when it came to an end and to serve the new ruler, even\nif the new regime promised to be better.] [Many thousands of officials,\nscholars, and great landowners committed suicide.] [Many books, often\nreally moving and tragic, are filled with the story of their lives.] [Some\nof them tried to form insurgent bands with their peasants and went into\nthe mountains, but they were unable to maintain themselves there.] [The\ngreat bulk of the elite soon brought themselves to collaborate with the\nconquerors when they were offered tolerable conditions.] [In the end the\nManchus did not interfere in the ownership of land in central China.] [At the time when in Europe Louis XIV was reigning, the Thirty Years War\nwas coming to an end, and Cromwell was carrying out his reforms in\nEngland, the Manchus conquered the whole of China.] [Chang Hsien-chung and\nLi Tz[)u]-ch'eng were the first to fall; the pirate Coxinga lasted a\nlittle longer and was even able to plunder Nanking in 1659, but in 1661\nhe had to retire to Formosa.] [Wu San-kui, who meanwhile had conquered\nwestern China, saw that the situation was becoming difficult for him.] [His task was to drive out the last Ming pretenders for the Manchus.] [As\nhe had already been opposed to the Ming in 1644, and as the Ming no\nlonger had any following among the gentry, he could not suddenly work\nwith them against the Manchus.] [He therefore handed over to the Manchus\nthe last Ming prince, whom the Burmese had delivered up to him in 1661.] [Wu San-kui's only possible allies against the Manchus were the gentry.] [But in the west, where he was in power, the gentry counted for nothing;\nthey had in any case been weaker in the west, and they had been\ndecimated by the insurrection of Chang Hsien-chung.] [Thus Wu San-kui was\ncompelled to try to push eastwards, in order to unite with the gentry of\nthe Yangtze region against the Manchus.] [The Manchus guessed Wu San-kui's\nplan, and in 1673, after every effort at accommodation had failed, open\nwar came.] [Wu San-kui made himself emperor, and the Manchus marched\nagainst him.] [Meanwhile, the Chinese gentry of the Yangtze region had\ncome to terms with the Manchus, and they gave Wu San-kui no help.] [He\nvegetated in the south-west, a region too poor to maintain an army that\ncould conquer all China, and too small to enable him to last\nindefinitely as an independent power.] [He was able to hold his own until\nhis death, although, with the loss of the support of the gentry, he had\nno prospect of final success.] [Not until 1681 was his successor, his\ngrandson Wu Shih-fan, defeated.] [The end of the rule of Wu San-kui and\nhis successor marked the end of the national governments of China; the\nwhole country was now under alien domination, for the simple reason that\nall the opponents of the Manchus had failed.] [Only the Manchus were\naccredited with the ability to bring order out of the universal\nconfusion, so that there was clearly no alternative but to put up with\nthe many insults and humiliations they inflicted--with the result that\nthe national feeling that had just been aroused died away, except where\nit was kept alive in a few secret societies.] [There will be more to say\nabout this, once the works which were suppressed by the Manchus are\npublished.] [In the first phase of the Manchu conquest the gentry had refused to\nsupport either the Ming princes or Wu San-kui, or any of the rebels, or\nthe Manchus themselves.] [A second phase began about twenty years after\nthe capture of Peking, when the Manchus won over the gentry by desisting\nfrom any interference with the ownership of land, and by the use of\nManchu troops to clear away the \"rebels\" who were hostile to the gentry.] [A reputable government was then set up in Peking, free from eunuchs and\nfrom all the old cliques; in their place the government looked for\nChinese scholars for its administrative posts.] [Literati and scholars\nstreamed into Peking, especially members of the \"Academies\" that still\nexisted in secret, men who had been the chief sufferers from the\nconditions at the end of the Ming epoch.] [The young emperor Sheng Tsu\n(1663-1722; K'ang-hsi is the name by which his rule was known, not his\nname) was keenly interested in Chinese culture and gave privileged\ntreatment to the scholars of the gentry who came forward.] [A rapid\nrecovery quite clearly took place.] [The disturbances of the years that\nhad passed had got rid of the worst enemies of the people, the\nformidable rival cliques and the individuals lusting for power; the\ngentry had become more cautious in their behaviour to the peasants; and\nbribery had been largely stamped out.] [Finally, the empire had been\ngreatly expanded.] [All these things helped to stabilize the regime of the\nManchus.] [2 _Decline in the eighteenth century_\n\nThe improvement continued until the middle of the eighteenth century.] [About the time of the French Revolution there began a continuous\ndecline, slow at first and then gathering speed.] [The European works on\nChina offer various reasons for this: the many foreign wars (to which we\nshall refer later) of the emperor, known by the name of his ruling\nperiod, Ch'ien-lung, his craze for building, and the irruption of the\nEuropeans into Chinese trade.] [In the eighteenth century the court\nsurrounded itself with great splendour, and countless palaces and other\nluxurious buildings were erected, but it must be borne in mind that so\ngreat an empire as the China of that day possessed very considerable\nfinancial strength, and could support this luxury.] [The wars were\ncertainly not inexpensive, as they took place along the Russian\nfrontier and entailed expenditure on the transport of reinforcements and\nsupplies; the wars against Turkestan and Tibet were carried on with\nrelatively small forces.] [This expenditure should not have been beyond\nthe resources of an ordered budget.] [Interestingly enough, the period\nbetween 1640 and 1840 belongs to those periods for which almost no\nsignificant work in the field of internal social and economic\ndevelopments has been made; Western scholars have been too much\ninterested in the impact of Western economy and culture or in the\nmilitary events.] [Chinese scholars thus far have shown a prejudice\nagainst the Manchu dynasty and were mainly interested in the study of\nanti-Manchu movements and the downfall of the dynasty.] [On the other\nhand, the documentary material for this period is extremely extensive,\nand many years of work are necessary to reach any general conclusions\neven in one single field.] [The following remarks should, therefore, be\ntaken as very tentative and preliminary, and they are, naturally,\nfragmentary.] [[Illustration: 14 Aborigines of South China, of the 'Black Miao' tribe,\nat a festival.] [China-ink drawing of the eighteenth century.] [_Collection\nof the Museum fuer Voelkerkunde, Berlin.] [No.] [1D 8756, 68_.]\n\n[Illustration: 15 Pavilion on the 'Coal Hill' at Peking, in which the\nlast Ming emperor committed suicide.] [_Photo Eberhard_.] []\n\n[Illustration: Chart POPULATION GROWTH OF CHINA]\n\nThe decline of the Manchu dynasty began at a time when the European\ntrade was still insignificant, and not as late as after 1842, when China\nhad to submit to the foreign Capitulations.] [These cannot have been the\ntrue cause of the decline.] [Above all, the decline was not so noticeable\nin the state of the Exchequer as in a general impoverishment of China.] [The number of really wealthy persons among the gentry diminished, but\nthe middle class, that is to say the people who had education but little\nor no money and property, grew steadily in number.] [One of the deeper reasons for the decline of the Manchu dynasty seems to\nlie in the enormous increase in the population.] [Here are a few Chinese\nstatistics:\n\n _Year_ _Population_\n\n 1578(before the Manchus) 10,621,463 families or 60,692,856 individuals\n 1662 19,203,233 \" 100,000,000 \" [*]\n 1710 23,311,236 \" 116,000,000 \" [*]\n 1729 25,480,498 \" 127,000,000 \" [*]\n 1741 \" 143,411,559 \"\n 1754 184,504,493 \"\n 1778 242,965,618 \"\n 1796 275,662,414 \"\n 1814 374,601,132 \"\n 1850 414,493,899 \"\n (1953) (601,938,035 \")\n\n [*] Approximately\n\nIt may be objected that these figures are incorrect and exaggerated.] [Undoubtedly they contain errors.] [But the first figure (for 1578) of some\nsixty millions is in close agreement with all other figures of early\ntimes; the figure for 1850 seems high, but cannot be far wrong, for even\nafter the great T'ai P'ing Rebellion of 1851, which, together with its\nafter-effects, costs the lives of countless millions, all statisticians\nof today estimate the population of China at more than four hundred\nmillions.] [If we enter these data together with the census of 1953 into a\nchart (see p. 273), a fairly smooth curve emerges; the special features\nare that already under the Ming the population was increasing and,\nsecondly, that the high rate of increase in the population began with\nthe long period of internal peace since about 1700.] [From that time\nonwards, all China's wars were fought at so great a distance from China\nproper that the population was not directly affected.] [Moreover, in the\nseventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Manchus saw to the maintenance\nof the river dykes, so that the worst inundations were prevented.] [Thus\nthere were not so many of the floods which had often cost the lives of\nmany million people in China; and there were no internal wars, with\ntheir heavy cost in lives.] [But while the population increased, the tillage failed to increase in\nthe needed proportion.] [I have, unfortunately, no statistics for all\nperiods; but the general tendency is shown by the following table:\n\n _Date Cultivated area_ mou _per person_\n _in_ mou\n\n 1578 701,397,600 11.6\n 1662 531,135,800\n 1719 663,113,200\n 1729 878,176,000 6.1\n (1953) (1,627,930,000) (2.7)\n\nSix _mou_ are about one acre.] [In 1578, there were 66 _mou_ land per\nfamily of the total population.] [This was close to the figures regarded\nas ideal by Chinese early economists for the producing family (100\n_mou_) considering the fact that about 80 per cent of all families at\nthat time were producers.] [By 1729 it was only 35 _mou_ per family, i.e.\nthe land had to produce almost twice as much as before.] [We have shown\nthat the agricultural developments in the Ming time greatly increased\nthe productivity of the land.] [This then, obviously resulted in an\nincrease of population.] [But by the middle of the eighteenth century,\nassuming that production doubled since the sixteenth century, population\npressure was again as heavy as it had been then.] [And after _c_. 1750,\npopulation pressure continued to build up to the present time.] [Internal colonization continued during the Manchu time; there was a\ncontinuous, but slow flow of people into Kwangsi, Kweichow, Yuennan.] [In\nspite of laws which prohibited emigration, Chinese also moved into\nSouth-East Asia.] [Chinese settlement in Manchuria was allowed only in the\nlast years of the Manchus.] [But such internal colonization or emigration\ncould alleviated the pressure only in some areas, while it continued to\nbuild up in others.] [In Europe as well as in Japan, we find a strong population increase; in\nEurope at almost the same time as in China.] [But before population\npressure became too serious in Europe or Japan, industry developed and\nabsorbed the excess population.] [Thus, farms did not decrease too much in\nsize.] [Too small farms are always and in many ways uneconomical.] [With the\ndevelopment of industries, the percentage of farm population decreased.] [In China, however, the farm population was still as high as 73.3 per\ncent of the total population in 1932 and the percentage rose to 81 per\ncent in 1950.] [From the middle of the seventeenth century on, commercial activities,\nespecially along the coast, continued to increase and we find gentry\nfamilies who equip sons who were unwilling or not capable to study and\nto enter the ranks of the officials, but who were too unruly to sit in\nvillages and collect the rent from the tenants of the family, with money\nto enter business.] [The newly settled areas of Kwangtung and Kwangsi were\nideal places for them: here they could sell Chinese products to the\nnative tribes or to the new settlers at high prices.] [Some of these men\nintroduced new techniques from the old provinces of China into the\n\"colonial\" areas and set up dye factories, textile factories, etc., in\nthe new towns of the south.] [But the greatest stimulus for these\ncommercial activities was foreign, European trade.] [American silver which\nhad flooded Europe in the sixteenth century, began to flow into China\nfrom the beginning of the seventeenth century on.] [The influx was stopped\nnot until between 1661 and 1684 when the government again prohibited\ncoastal shipping and removed coastal settlements into the interior in\norder to stop piracy along the coasts of Fukien and independence\nmovements on Formosa.] [But even during these twenty-three years, the\nprice of silver was so low that home production was given up because it\ndid not pay off.] [In the eighteenth century, silver again continued to\nenter China, while silk and tea were exported.] [This demand led to a\nstrong rise in the prices of silk and tea, and benefited the merchants.] [When, from the late eighteenth century on, opium began to be imported,\nthe silver left China again.] [The merchants profited this time from the\nopium trade, but farmers had to suffer: the price of silver went up, and\ntaxes had to be paid in silver, while farm products were sold for\ncopper.] [By 1835, the ounce of silver had a value of 2,000 copper coins\ninstead of one thousand before 1800.] [High gains in commerce prevented\ninvestment in industries, because they would give lower and later\nprofits than commerce.] [From the nineteenth century on, more and more\nindustrial goods were offered by importers which also prevented\nindustrialization.] [Finally, the gentry basically remained\nanti-industrial and anti-business.] [They tried to operate necessary\nenterprises such as mining, melting, porcelain production as far as\npossible as government establishments; but as the operators were\nofficials, they were not too business-minded and these enterprises did\nnot develop well.] [The businessmen certainly had enough capital, but they\ninvested it in land instead of investing it in industries which could at\nany moment be taken away by the government, controlled by the officials\nor forced to sell at set prices, and which were always subject to\nexploitation by dishonest officials.] [A businessman felt secure only when\nhe had invested in land, when he had received an official title upon the\npayment of large sums of money, or when he succeeded to push at least\none of his sons into the government bureaucracy.] [No doubt, in spite of\nall this, Chinese business and industry kept on developing in the Manchu\ntime, but they did not develop at such a speed as to transform the\ncountry from an agrarian into a modern industrial nation.] [3 _Expansion in Central Asia; the first State treaty_\n\nThe rise of the Manchu dynasty actually began under the K'ang-hsi rule\n(1663-1722).] [The emperor had three tasks.] [The first was the removal of\nthe last supporters of the Ming dynasty and of the generals, such as Wu\nSan-kui, who had tried to make themselves independent.] [This necessitated\na long series of campaigns, most of them in the south-west or south of\nChina; these scarcely affected the population of China proper.] [In 1683\nFormosa was occupied and the last of the insurgent army commanders was\ndefeated.] [It was shown above that the situation of all these leaders\nbecame hopeless as soon as the Manchus had occupied the rich Yangtze\nregion and the intelligentsia and the gentry of that region had gone\nover to them.] [A quite different type of insurgent commander was the Mongol prince\nGaldan.] [He, too, planned to make himself independent of Manchu\noverlordship.] [At first the Mongols had readily supported the Manchus,\nwhen the latter were making raids into China and there was plenty of\nbooty.] [Now, however, the Manchus, under the influence of the Chinese\ngentry whom they brought, and could not but bring, to their court, were\nrapidly becoming Chinese in respect to culture.] [Even in the time of\nK'ang-hsi the Manchus began to forget Manchurian; they brought tutors to\ncourt to teach the young Manchus Chinese.] [Later even the emperors did\nnot understand Manchurian!] [As a result of this process, the Mongols\nbecame alienated from the Manchurians, and the situation began once more\nto be the same as at the time of the Ming rulers.] [Thus Galdan tried to\nfound an independent Mongol realm, free from Chinese influence.] [The Manchus could not permit this, as such a realm would have threatened\nthe flank of their homeland, Manchuria, and would have attracted those\nManchus who objected to sinification.] [Between 1690 and 1696 there were\nbattles, in which the emperor actually took part in person.] [Galdan was\ndefeated.] [In 1715, however, there were new disturbances, this time in\nwestern Mongolia.] [Tsewang Rabdan, whom the Chinese had made khan of the\nOeloet, rose against the Chinese.] [The wars that followed, extending far\ninto Turkestan and also involving its Turkish population together with\nthe Dzungars, ended with the Chinese conquest of the whole of Mongolia\nand of parts of eastern Turkestan.] [As Tsewang Rabdan had tried to extend\nhis power as far as Tibet, a campaign was undertaken also into Tibet,\nLhasa was occupied, a new Dalai Lama was installed there as supreme\nruler, and Tibet was made into a protectorate.] [Since then Tibet has\nremained to this day under some form of Chinese colonial rule.] [This penetration of the Chinese into Turkestan took place just at the\ntime when the Russians were enormously expanding their empire in Asia,\nand this formed the third problem for the Manchus.] [In 1650 the Russians\nhad established a fort by the river Amur.] [The Manchus regarded the Amur\n(which they called the \"River of the Black Dragon\") as part of their own\nterritory, and in 1685 they destroyed the Russian settlement.] [After this\nthere were negotiations, which culminated in 1689 in the Treaty of\nNerchinsk.] [This treaty was the first concluded by the Chinese state with\na European power.] [Jesuit missionaries played a part in the negotiations\nas interpreters.] [Owing to the difficulties of translation the text of\nthe treaty, in Chinese, Russian, and Manchurian, contained some\nobscurities, particularly in regard to the frontier line.] [Accordingly,\nin 1727 the Russians asked for a revision of the old treaty.] [The Chinese\nemperor, whose rule name was Yung-cheng, arranged for the negotiations\nto be carried on at the frontier, in the town of Kyakhta, in Mongolia,\nwhere after long discussions a new treaty was concluded.] [Under this\ntreaty the Russians received permission to set up a legation and a\ncommercial agency in Peking, and also to maintain a church.] [This was the\nbeginning of the foreign Capitulations.] [From the Chinese point of view\nthere was nothing special in a facility of this sort.] [For some fifteen\ncenturies all the \"barbarians\" who had to bring tribute had been given\nhouses in the capital, where their envoys could wait until the emperor\nwould receive them--usually on New Year's Day.] [The custom had sprung up\nat the reception of the Huns.] [Moreover, permission had always been given\nfor envoys to be accompanied by a few merchants, who during the envoy's\nstay did a certain amount of business.] [Furthermore the time had been\nwhen the Uighurs were permitted to set up a temple of their own.] [At the\ntime of the permission given to the Russians to set up a \"legation\", a\nsimilar office was set up (in 1729) for \"Uighur\" peoples (meaning\nMohammedans), again under the control of an office, called the Office\nfor Regulation of Barbarians.] [The Mohammedan office was placed under two\nMohammedan leaders who lived in Peking.] [The Europeans, however, had\nquite different ideas about a \"legation\", and about the significance of\npermission to trade.] [They regarded this as the opening of diplomatic\nrelations between states on terms of equality, and the carrying on of\ntrade as a special privilege, a sort of Capitulation.] [This reciprocal\nmisunderstanding produced in the nineteenth century a number of serious\npolitical conflicts.] [The Europeans charged the Chinese with breach of\ntreaties, failure to meet their obligations, and other such things,\nwhile the Chinese considered that they had acted with perfect\ncorrectness.] [4 _Culture_\n\nIn this K'ang-hsi period culture began to flourish again.] [The emperor\nhad attracted the gentry, and so the intelligentsia, to his court\nbecause his uneducated Manchus could not alone have administered the\nenormous empire; and he showed great interest in Chinese culture,\nhimself delved deeply into it, and had many works compiled, especially\nworks of an encyclopaedic character.] [The encyclopaedias enabled\ninformation to be rapidly gained on all sorts of subjects, and thus were\njust what an interested ruler needed, especially when, as a foreigner,\nhe was not in a position to gain really thorough instruction in things\nChinese.] [The Chinese encyclopaedias of the seventeenth and especially of\nthe eighteenth century were thus the outcome of the initiative of the\nManchurian emperor, and were compiled for his information; they were not\ndue, like the French encyclopaedias of the eighteenth century, to a\nmovement for the spread of knowledge among the people.] [For this latter\npurpose the gigantic encyclopaedias of the Manchus, each of which fills\nseveral bookcases, were much too expensive and were printed in much too\nlimited editions.] [The compilations began with the great geographical\nencyclopaedia of Ku Yen-wu (1613-1682), and attained their climax in the\ngigantic eighteenth-century encyclopaedia _T'u-shu chi-ch'eng_,\nscientifically impeccable in the accuracy of its references to sources.] [Here were already the beginnings of the \"Archaeological School\", built\nup in the course of the eighteenth century.] [This school was usually\ncalled \"Han school\" because the adherents went back to the commentaries\nof the classical texts written in Han time and discarded the orthodox\nexplanations of Chu Hsi's school of Sung time.] [Later, its most prominent\nleader was Tai Chen (1723-1777).] [Tai was greatly interested in\ntechnology and science; he can be regarded as the first philosopher who\nexhibited an empirical, scientific way of thinking.] [Late nineteenth and\nearly twentieth century Chinese scholarship is greatly obliged to him.] [The most famous literary works of the Manchu epoch belong once more to\nthe field which Chinese do not regard as that of true literature--the\nnovel, the short story, and the drama.] [Poetry did exist, but it kept to\nthe old paths and had few fresh ideas.] [All the various forms of the Sung\nperiod were made use of.] [The essayists, too, offered nothing new, though\ntheir number was legion.] [One of the best known is Yuean Mei (1716-1797),\nwho was also the author of the collection of short stories _Tse-pu-yue_\n(\"The Master did not tell\"), which is regarded very highly by the\nChinese.] [The volume of short stories entitled _Liao-chai chich-i_, by\nP'u Sung-lin (1640-1715?] [), is world-famous and has been translated into\nevery civilized language.] [Both collections are distinguished by their\nsimple but elegant style.] [The short story was popular among the greater\ngentry; it abandoned the popular style it had in the Ming epoch, and\nadopted the polished language of scholars.] [The Manchu epoch has left to us what is by general consent the finest\nnovel in Chinese literature, _Hung-lou-meng_ (\"The Dream of the Red\nChamber\"), by Ts'ao Hsueeh-ch'in, who died in 1763.] [It describes the\ndownfall of a rich and powerful family from the highest rank of the\ngentry, and the decadent son's love of a young and emotional lady of the\nhighest circles.] [The story is clothed in a mystical garb that does\nsomething to soften its tragic ending.] [The interesting novel _Ju-lin\nwai-shih_ (\"Private Reports from the Life of Scholars\"), by Wu\nChing-tz[)u] (1701-1754), is a mordant criticism of Confucianism with\nits rigid formalism, of the social system, and of the examination\nsystem.] [Social criticism is the theme of many novels.] [The most modern in\nspirit of the works of this period is perhaps the treatment of feminism\nin the novel _Ching-hua-yuean_, by Li Yu-chen (d.] [1830), which demanded\nequal rights for men and women.] [The drama developed quickly in the Manchu epoch, particularly in\nquantity, especially since the emperors greatly appreciated the theatre.] [A catalogue of plays compiled in 1781 contains 1,013 titles!] [Some of\nthese dramas were of unprecedented length.] [One of them was played in 26\nparts containing 240 acts; a performance took two years to complete!] [Probably the finest dramas of the Manchu epoch are those of Li Yue (born\n1611), who also became the first of the Chinese dramatic critics.] [What\nhe had to say about the art of the theatre, and about aesthetics in\ngeneral, is still worth reading.] [About the middle of the nineteenth century the influence of Europe\nbecame more and more marked.] [Translation began with Yen Fu (1853-1921),\nwho translated the first philosophical and scientific books and books on\nsocial questions and made his compatriots acquainted with Western\nthought.] [At the same time Lin Shu (1852-1924) translated the first\nWestern short stories and novels.] [With these two began the new style,\nwhich was soon elaborated by Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, a collaborator of Sun\nYat-sen's, and by others, and which ultimately produced the \"literary\nrevolution\" of 1917.] [Translation has continued to this day; almost every\nbook of outstanding importance in world literature is translated within\na few months of its appearance, and on the average these translations\nare of a fairly high level.] [Particularly fine work was produced in the field of porcelain in the\nManchu epoch.] [In 1680 the famous kilns in the province of Kiangsi were\nreopened, and porcelain that is among the most artistically perfect in\nthe world was fired in them.] [Among the new colours were especially green\nshades (one group is known as _famille verte_) and also black and yellow\ncompositions.] [Monochrome porcelain also developed further, including\nvery fine dark blue, brilliant red (called \"ox-blood\"), and white.] [In\nthe eighteenth century, however, there began an unmistakable decline,\nwhich has continued to this day, although there are still a few\ncraftsmen and a few kilns that produce outstanding work (usually\nattempts to imitate old models), often in small factories.] [In painting, European influence soon shows itself.] [The best-known\nexample of this is Lang Shih-ning, an Italian missionary whose original\nname was Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766); he began to work in China in\n1715.] [He learned the Chinese method of painting, but introduced a number\nof technical tricks of European painters, which were adopted in general\npractice in China, especially by the official court painters: the\npainting of the scholars who lived in seclusion remained uninfluenced.] [Dutch flower-painting also had some influence in China as early as the\neighteenth century.] [The missionaries played an important part at court.] [The first Manchu\nemperors were as generous in this matter as the Mongols had been, and\nallowed the foreigners to work in peace.] [They showed special interest in\nthe European science introduced by the missionaries; they had less\nsympathy for their religious message.] [The missionaries, for their part,\nsent to Europe enthusiastic accounts of the wonderful conditions in\nChina, and so helped to popularize the idea that was being formed in\nEurope of an \"enlightened\", a constitutional, monarchy.] [The leaders of\nthe Enlightenment read these reports with enthusiasm, with the result\nthat they had an influence on the French Revolution.] [Confucius was found\nparticularly attractive, and was regarded as a forerunner of the\nEnlightenment.] [The \"Monadism\" of the philosopher Leibniz was influenced\nby these reports.] [The missionaries gained a reputation at court as \"scientists\", and in\nthis they were of service both to China and to Europe.] [The behaviour of\nthe European merchants who followed the missions, spreading gradually in\ngrowing numbers along the coasts of China, was not by any means so\nirreproachable.] [The Chinese were certainly justified when they declared\nthat European ships often made landings on the coast and simply looted,\njust as the Japanese had done before them.] [Reports of this came to the\ncourt, and as captured foreigners described themselves as \"Christians\"\nand also seemed to have some connection with the missionaries living at\ncourt, and as disputes had broken out among the missionaries themselves\nin connection with papal ecclesiastical policy, in the Yung-cheng period\n(1723-1736; the name of the emperor was Shih Tsung) Christianity was\nplaced under a general ban, being regarded as a secret political\norganization.] [5 _Relations with the outer world_\n\nDuring the Yung-cheng period there was long-continued guerrilla fighting\nwith natives in south-west China.] [The pressure of population in China\nsought an outlet in emigration.] [More and more Chinese moved into the\nsouth-west, and took the land from the natives, and the fighting was the\nconsequence of this.] [At the beginning of the Ch'ien-lung period (1736-1796), fighting started\nagain in Turkestan.] [Mongols, now called Kalmuks, defeated by the\nChinese, had migrated to the Ili region, where after heavy fighting they\ngained supremacy over some of the Kazaks and other Turkish peoples\nliving there and in western Turkestan.] [Some Kazak tribes went over to\nthe Russians, and in 1735 the Russian colonialists founded the town of\nOrenburg in the western Kazak region.] [The Kalmuks fought the Chinese\nwithout cessation until, in 1739, they entered into an agreement under\nwhich they ceded half their territory to Manchu China, retaining only\nthe Ili region.] [The Kalmuks subsequently reunited with other sections of\nthe Kazaks against the Chinese.] [In 1754 peace was again concluded with\nChina, but it was followed by raids on both sides, so that the Manchus\ndetermined to enter on a great campaign against the Ili region.] [This\nended with a decisive victory for the Chinese (1755).] [In the years that\nfollowed, however, the Chinese began to be afraid that the various Kazak\ntribes might unite in order to occupy the territory of the Kalmuks,\nwhich was almost unpopulated owing to the mass slaughter of Kalmuks by\nthe Chinese.] [Unrest began among the Mohammedans throughout the\nneighbouring western Turkestan, and the same Chinese generals who had\nfought the Kalmuks marched into Turkestan and captured the Mohammedan\ncity states of Uch, Kashgar, and Yarkand.] [The reinforcements for these campaigns, and for the garrisons which in\nthe following decades were stationed in the Ili region and in the west\nof eastern Turkestan, marched along the road from Peking that leads\nnorthward through Mongolia to the far distant Uliassutai and Kobdo.] [The\ncost of transport for one _shih_ (about 66 lb.) amounted to 120 pieces\nof silver.] [In 1781 certain economies were introduced, but between 1781\nand 1791 over 30,000 tons, making some 8 tons a day, was transported to\nthat region.] [The cost of transport for supplies alone amounted in the\ncourse of time to the not inconsiderable sum of 120,000,000 pieces of\nsilver.] [In addition to this there was the cost of the transported goods\nand of the pay of soldiers and of the administration.] [These figures\napply to the period of occupation, of relative peace: during the actual\nwars of conquest the expenditure was naturally far higher.] [Thus these\ncampaigns, though I do not think they brought actual economic ruin to\nChina, were nevertheless a costly enterprise, and one which produced\nlittle positive advantage.] [In addition to this, these wars brought China into conflict with the\nEuropean colonial powers.] [In the years during which the Chinese armies\nwere fighting in the Ili region, the Russians were putting out their\nfeelers in that direction, and the Chinese annals show plainly how the\nRussians intervened in the fighting with the Kalmuks and Kazaks.] [The Hi\nregion remained thereafter a bone of contention between China and\nRussia, until it finally went to Russia, bit by bit, between 1847 and\n1881.] [The Kalmuks and Kazaks played a special part in Russo-Chinese\nrelations.] [The Chinese had sent a mission to the Kalmuks farthest west,\nby the lower Volga, and had entered into relations with them, as early\nas 1714.] [As Russian pressure on the Volga region continually grew, these\nKalmuks (mainly the Turgut tribe), who had lived there since 1630,\ndecided to return into Chinese territory (1771).] [During this enormously\ndifficult migration, almost entirely through hostile territory, a large\nnumber of the Turgut perished; 85,000, however, reached the Hi region,\nwhere they were settled by the Chinese on the lands of the eastern\nKalmuks, who had been largely exterminated.] [In the south, too, the Chinese came into direct touch with the European\npowers.] [In 1757 the English occupied Calcutta, and in 1766 the province\nof Bengal.] [In 1767 a Manchu general, Ming Jui, who had been victorious\nin the fighting for eastern Turkestan, marched against Burma, which was\nmade a dependency once more in 1769.] [And in 1790-1791 the Chinese\nconquered Nepal, south of Tibet, because Nepalese had made two attacks\non Tibet.] [Thus English and Chinese political interests came here into\ncontact.] [For the Ch'ien-lung period's many wars of conquest there seem to have\nbeen two main reasons.] [The first was the need for security.] [The Mongols\nhad to be overthrown because otherwise the homeland of the Manchus was\nmenaced; in order to make sure of the suppression of the eastern\nMongols, the western Mongols (Kalmuks) had to be overthrown; to make\nthem harmless, Turkestan and the Ili region had to be conquered; Tibet\nwas needed for the security of Turkestan and Mongolia--and so on.] [Vast\nterritories, however, were conquered in this process which were of no\neconomic value, and most of which actually cost a great deal of money\nand brought nothing in.] [They were conquered simply for security.] [That\nadvantage had been gained: an aggressor would have to cross great areas\nof unproductive territory, with difficult conditions for reinforcements,\nbefore he could actually reach China.] [In the second place, the Chinese\nmay actually have noticed the efforts that were being made by the\nEuropean powers, especially Russia and England, to divide Asia among\nthemselves, and accordingly they made sure of their own good share.] [6 _Decline; revolts_\n\nThe period of Ch'ien-lung is not only that of the greatest expansion of\nthe Chinese empire, but also that of the greatest prosperity under the\nManchu regime.] [But there began at the same time to be signs of internal\ndecline.] [If we are to fix a particular year for this, perhaps it should\nbe the year 1774, in which came the first great popular rising, in the\nprovince of Shantung.] [In 1775 there came another popular rising, in\nHonan--that of the \"Society of the White Lotus\".] [This society, which had\nlong existed as a secret organization and had played a part in the Ming\nepoch, had been reorganized by a man named Liu Sung.] [Liu Sung was\ncaptured and was condemned to penal servitude.] [His followers, however,\nregrouped themselves, particularly in the province of Anhui.] [These\nrisings had been produced, as always, by excessive oppression of the\npeople by the government or the governing class.] [As, however, the anger\nof the population was naturally directed also against the idle Manchus\nof the cities, who lived on their state pensions, did no work, and\nbehaved as a ruling class, the government saw in these movements a\nnationalist spirit, and took drastic steps against them.] [The popular\nleaders now altered their program, and acclaimed a supposed descendant\nfrom the Ming dynasty as the future emperor.] [Government troops caught\nthe leader of the \"White Lotus\" agitation, but he succeeded in escaping.] [In the regions through which the society had spread, there then began a\nsort of Inquisition, of exceptional ferocity.] [Six provinces were\naffected, and in and around the single city of Wuch'ang in four months\nmore than 20,000 people were beheaded.] [The cost of the rising to the\ngovernment ran into millions.] [In answer to this oppression, the popular\nleaders tightened their organization and marched north-west from the\nwestern provinces of which they had gained control.] [The rising was\nsuppressed only by a very big military operation, and not until 1802.] [There had been very heavy fighting between 1793 and 1802--just when in\nEurope, in the French Revolution, another oppressed population won its\nfreedom.] [The Ch'ien-lung emperor abdicated on New Year's Day, 1795, after ruling\nfor sixty years.] [He died in 1799.] [His successor was Jen Tsung\n(1796-1821; reign name: Chia-ch'ing).] [In the course of his reign the\nrising of the \"White Lotus\" was suppressed, but in 1813 there began a\nnew rising, this time in North China--again that of a secret\norganization, the \"Society of Heaven's Law\".] [One of its leaders bribed\nsome eunuchs, and penetrated with a group of followers into the palace;\nhe threw himself upon the emperor, who was only saved through the\nintervention of his son.] [At the same time the rising spread in the\nprovinces.] [Once more the government succeeded in suppressing it and\ncapturing the leaders.] [But the memory of these risings was kept alive\namong the Chinese people.] [For the government failed to realize that the\nactual cause of the risings was the general impoverishment, and saw in\nthem a nationalist movement, thus actually arousing a national\nconsciousness, stronger than in the Ming epoch, among the middle and\nlower classes of the people, together with hatred of the Manchus.] [They\nwere held responsible for every evil suffered, regardless of the fact\nthat similar evils had existed earlier.] [7 _European Imperialism in the Far East_\n\nWith the Tao-kuang period (1821-1850) began a new period in Chinese\nhistory, which came to an end only in 1911.] [In foreign affairs these ninety years were marked by the steadily\ngrowing influence of the Western powers, aimed at turning China into a\ncolony.] [Culturally this period was that of the gradual infiltration of\nWestern civilization into the Far East; it was recognized in China that\nit was necessary to learn from the West.] [In home affairs we see the\ncollapse of the dynasty and the destruction of the unity of the empire;\nof four great civil wars, one almost brought the dynasty to its end.] [North and South China, the coastal area and the interior, developed in\ndifferent ways.] [Great Britain had made several attempts to improve her trade relations\nwith China, but the mission of 1793 had no success, and that of 1816\nalso failed.] [English merchants, like all foreign merchants, were only\npermitted to settle in a small area adjoining Canton and at Macao, and\nwere only permitted to trade with a particular group of monopolists,\nknown as the \"Hong\".] [The Hong had to pay taxes to the state, but they\nhad a wonderful opportunity of enriching themselves.] [The Europeans were\nentirely at their mercy, for they were not allowed to travel inland, and\nthey were not allowed to try to negotiate with other merchants, to\nsecure lower prices by competition.] [The Europeans concentrated especially on the purchase of silk and tea;\nbut what could they import into China?] [The higher the price of the goods\nand the smaller the cargo space involved, the better were the chances of\nprofit for the merchants.] [It proved, however, that European woollens or\nluxury goods could not be sold; the Chinese would probably have been\nglad to buy food, but transport was too expensive to permit profitable\nbusiness.] [Thus a new article was soon discovered--opium, carried from\nIndia to China: the price was high and the cargo space involved was very\nsmall.] [The Chinese were familiar with opium, and bought it readily.] [Accordingly, from 1800 onwards opium became more and more the chief\narticle of trade, especially for the English, who were able to bring it\nconveniently from India.] [Opium is harmful to the people; the opium trade\nresulted in certain groups of merchants being inordinately enriched; a\ngreat deal of Chinese money went abroad.] [The government became\napprehensive and sent Lin Tse-hsue as its commissioner to Canton.] [In 1839\nhe prohibited the opium trade and burned the chests of opium found in\nBritish possession.] [The British view was that to tolerate the Chinese\naction might mean the destruction of British trade in the Far East and\nthat, on the other hand, it might be possible by active intervention to\ncompel the Chinese to open other ports to European trade and to shake\noff the monopoly of the Canton merchants.] [In 1840 British ships-of-war\nappeared off the south-eastern coast of China and bombarded it.] [In 1841\nthe Chinese opened negotiations and dismissed Lin Tse-hsue.] [As the\nChinese concessions were regarded as inadequate, hostilities continued;\nthe British entered the Yangtze estuary and threatened Nanking.] [In this\nfirst armed conflict with the West, China found herself defenceless\nowing to her lack of a navy, and it was also found that the European\nweapons were far superior to those of the Chinese.] [In 1842 China was\ncompelled to capitulate: under the Treaty of Nanking Hong Kong was ceded\nto Great Britain, a war indemnity was paid, certain ports were thrown\nopen to European trade, and the monopoly was brought to an end.] [A great\ndeal of opium came, however, into China through smuggling--regrettably,\nfor the state lost the customs revenue!] [This treaty introduced the period of the Capitulations.] [It contained\nthe dangerous clause which added most to China's misfortunes--the Most\nFavoured Nation clause, providing that if China granted any privilege to\nany other state, that privilege should also automatically be granted to\nGreat Britain.] [In connection with this treaty it was agreed that the\nChinese customs should be supervised by European consuls; and a trade\ntreaty was granted.] [Similar treaties followed in 1844 with France and\nthe United States.] [The missionaries returned; until 1860, however, they\nwere only permitted to work in the treaty ports.] [Shanghai was thrown\nopen in 1843, and developed with extraordinary rapidity from a town to a\ncity of a million and a centre of world-wide importance.] [The terms of the Nanking Treaty were not observed by either side; both\nevaded them.] [In order to facilitate the smuggling, the British had\npermitted certain Chinese junks to fly the British flag.] [This also\nenabled these vessels to be protected by British ships-of-war from\npirates, which at that time were very numerous off the southern coast\nowing to the economic depression.] [The Chinese, for their part, placed\nevery possible obstacle in the way of the British.] [In 1856 the Chinese\nheld up a ship sailing under the British flag, pulled down its flag, and\narrested the crew on suspicion of smuggling.] [In connection with this and\nother events, Britain decided to go to war.] [Thus began the \"Lorcha War\"\nof 1857, in which France joined for the sake of the booty to be\nexpected.] [Britain had just ended the Crimean War, and was engaged in\nheavy fighting against the Moguls in India.] [Consequently only a small\nforce of a few thousand men could be landed in China; Canton, however,\nwas bombarded, and also the forts of Tientsin.] [There still seemed no\nprospect of gaining the desired objectives by negotiation, and in 1860 a\nnew expedition was fitted out, this time some 20,000 strong.] [The troops\nlanded at Tientsin and marched on Peking; the emperor fled to Jehol and\ndid not return; he died in 1861.] [The new Treaty of Tientsin (1860)\nprovided for (a) the opening of further ports to European traders; (b)\nthe session of Kowloon, the strip of land lying opposite Hong Kong; (c)\nthe establishment of a British legation in Peking; (d) freedom of\nnavigation along the Yangtze; (e) permission for British subjects to\npurchase land in China; (f) the British to be subject to their own\nconsular courts and not to the Chinese courts; (g) missionary activity\nto be permitted throughout the country.] [In addition to this, the\ncommercial treaty was revised, the opium trade was permitted once more,\nand a war indemnity was to be paid by China.] [In the eyes of Europe,\nBritain had now succeeded in turning China not actually into a colony,\nbut at all events into a semi-colony; China must be expected soon to\nshare the fate of India.] [China, however, with her very different\nconceptions of intercourse between states, did not realize the full\nimport of these terms; some of them were regarded as concessions on\nunimportant points, which there was no harm in granting to the trading\n\"barbarians\", as had been done in the past; some were regarded as simple\ninjustices, which at a given moment could be swept away by\nadministrative action.] [But the result of this European penetration was that China's balance of\ntrade was adverse, and became more and more so, as under the commercial\ntreaties she could neither stop the importation of European goods nor\nset a duty on them; and on the other hand she could not compel\nforeigners to buy Chinese goods.] [The efflux of silver brought general\nimpoverishment to China, widespread financial stringency to the state,\nand continuous financial crises and inflation.] [China had never had much\nliquid capital, and she was soon compelled to take up foreign loans in\norder to pay her debts.] [At that time internal loans were out of the\nquestion (the first internal loan was floated in 1894): the population\ndid not even know what a state loan meant; consequently the loans had to\nbe issued abroad.] [This, however, entailed the giving of securities,\ngenerally in the form of economic privileges.] [Under the Most Favoured\nNation clause, however, these privileges had then to be granted to other\nstates which had made no loans to China.] [Clearly a vicious spiral, which\nin the end could only bring disaster.] [The only exception to the general impoverishment, in which not only the\npeasants but the old upper classes were involved, was a certain section\nof the trading community and the middle class, which had grown rich\nthrough its dealings with the Europeans.] [These people now accumulated\ncapital, became Europeanized with their staffs, acquired land from the\nimpoverished gentry, and sent their sons abroad to foreign universities.] [They founded the first industrial undertakings, and learned European\ncapitalist methods.] [This class was, of course, to be found mainly in the\ntreaty ports in the south and in their environs.] [The south, as far north\nas Shanghai, became more modern and more advanced; the north made no\nadvance.] [In the south, European ways of thought were learnt, and Chinese\nand European theories were compared.] [Criticism began.] [The first\nrevolutionary societies were formed in this atmosphere in the south.] [8 _Risings in Turkestan and within China: the T'ai P'ing Rebellion_\n\nBut the emperor Hsuean Tsung (reign name Tao-kuang), a man in poor health\nthough not without ability, had much graver anxieties than those caused\nby the Europeans.] [He did not yet fully realize the seriousness of the\nEuropean peril.] [[Illustration: 16 The imperial summer palace of the Manchu rulers, at\nJehol.] [_Photo H.] [Hammer-Morrisson_.] []\n\n[Illustration: 17 Tower on the city wall of Peking.] [_Photo H.] [Hammer-Morrisson_.] []\n\nIn Turkestan, where Turkish Mohammedans lived under\nChinese rule, conditions were far from being as the Chinese desired.] [The\nChinese, a fundamentally rationalistic people, regarded religion as a\npurely political matter, and accordingly required every citizen to take\npart in the official form of worship.] [Subject to that, he might\nprivately belong to any other religion.] [To a Mohammedan, this was\nimpossible and intolerable.] [The Mohammedans were only ready to practice\ntheir own religion, and absolutely refused to take part in any other.] [The Chinese also tried to apply to Turkestan in other matters the same\nlegislation that applied to all China, but this proved irreconcilable\nwith the demands made by Islam on its followers.] [All this produced\ncontinual unrest.] [Turkestan had a feudal system of government with a number of feudal\nlords (_beg_), who tried to maintain their influence and who had the\nsupport of the Mohammedan population.] [The Chinese had come to Turkestan\nas soldiers and officials, to administer the country.] [They regarded\nthemselves as the lords of the land and occupied themselves with the\nextraction of taxes.] [Most of the officials were also associated with the\nChinese merchants who travelled throughout Turkestan and as far as\nSiberia.] [The conflicts implicit in this situation produced great\nMohammedan risings in the nineteenth century.] [The first came in\n1825-1827; in 1845 a second rising flamed up, and thirty years later\nthese revolts led to the temporary loss of the whole of Turkestan.] [In 1848, native unrest began in the province of Hunan, as a result of\nthe constantly growing pressure of the Chinese settlers on the native\npopulation; in the same year there was unrest farther south, in the\nprovince of Kwangsi, this time in connection with the influence of the\nEuropeans.] [The leader was a quite simple man of Hakka blood, Hung\nHsiu-ch'uean (born 1814), who gathered impoverished Hakka peasants round\nhim as every peasant leader had done in the past.] [Very often the nucleus\nof these peasant movements had been a secret society with a particular\nreligious tinge; this time the peasant revolutionaries came forward as\nat the same time the preachers of a new religion of their own.] [Hung had\nheard of Christianity from missionaries (1837), and he mixed up\nChristian ideas with those of ancient China and proclaimed to his\nfollowers a doctrine that promised the Kingdom of God on earth.] [He\ncalled himself \"Christ's younger brother\", and his kingdom was to be\ncalled _T'ai P'ing_ (\"Supreme Peace\").] [He made his first comrades,\ncharcoal makers, local doctors, peddlers and farmers, into kings, and\nmade himself emperor.] [At bottom the movement, like all similar ones\nbefore it, was not religious but social; and it produced a great\nresponse from the peasants.] [The program of the T'ai P'ing, in some\npoints influenced by Christian ideas but more so by traditional Chinese\nthought, was in many points revolutionary: (a) all property was communal\nproperty; (b) land was classified into categories according to its\nfertility and equally distributed among men and women.] [Every producer\nkept of the produce as much as he and his family needed and delivered\nthe rest into the communal granary; (c) administration and tax systems\nwere revised; (d) women were given equal rights: they fought together\nwith men in the army and had access to official position.] [They had to\nmarry, but monogamy was requested; (e) the use of opium, tobacco and\nalcohol was prohibited, prostitution was illegal; (f) foreigners were\nregarded as equals, capitulations as the Manchus had accepted were not\nrecognized.] [A large part of the officials, and particularly of the\nsoldiers sent against the revolutionaries, were Manchus, and\nconsequently the movement very soon became a nationalist movement, much\nas the popular movement at the end of the Mongol epoch had done.] [Hung\nmade rapid progress; in 1852 he captured Hankow, and in 1853 Nanking,\nthe important centre in the east.] [With clear political insight he made\nNanking his capital.] [In this he returned to the old traditions of the\nbeginning of the Ming epoch, no doubt expecting in this way to attract\nsupport from the eastern Chinese gentry, who had no liking for a capital\nfar away in the north.] [He made a parade of adhesion to the ancient\nChinese tradition: his followers cut off their pigtails and allowed\ntheir hair to grow as in the past.] [He did not succeed, however, in carrying his reforms from the stage of\nsporadic action to a systematic reorganization of the country, and he\nalso failed to enlist the elements needed for this as for all other\nadministrative work, so that the good start soon degenerated into a\nterrorist regime.] [Hung's followers pressed on from Nanking, and in 1853-1855 they advanced\nnearly to Tientsin; but they failed to capture Peking itself.] [The new T'ai P'ing state faced the Europeans with big problems.] [Should\nthey work with it or against it?] [The T'ai P'ing always insisted that\nthey were Christians; the missionaries hoped now to have the opportunity\nof converting all China to Christianity.] [The T'ai P'ing treated the\nmissionaries well but did not let them operate.] [After long hesitation\nand much vacillation, however, the Europeans placed themselves on the\nside of the Manchus.] [Not out of any belief that the T'ai P'ing movement\nwas without justification, but because they had concluded treaties with\nthe Manchu government and given loans to it, of which nothing would\nhave remained if the Manchus had fallen; because they preferred the weak\nManchu government to a strong T'ai P'ing government; and because they\ndisliked the socialistic element in many of the measured adopted by the\nT'ai P'ing.] [At first it seemed as if the Manchus would be able to cope unaided with\nthe T'ai P'ing, but the same thing happened as at the end of the Mongol\nrule: the imperial armies, consisting of the \"banners\" of the Manchus,\nthe Mongols, and some Chinese, had lost their military skill in the long\nyears of peace; they had lost their old fighting spirit and were glad to\nbe able to live in peace on their state pensions.] [Now three men came to\nthe fore--a Mongol named Seng-ko-lin-ch'in, a man of great personal\nbravery, who defended the interests of the Manchu rulers; and two\nChinese, Tseng Kuo-fan (1811-1892) and Li Hung-chang (1823-1901), who\nwere in the service of the Manchus but used their position simply to\nfurther the interests of the gentry.] [The Mongol saved Peking from\ncapture by the T'ai P'ing.] [The two Chinese were living in central China,\nand there they recruited, Li at his own expense and Tseng out of the\nresources at his disposal as a provincial governor, a sort of militia,\nconsisting of peasants out to protect their homes from destruction by\nthe peasants of the T'ai P'ing.] [Thus the peasants of central China, all\nsuffering from impoverishment, were divided into two groups, one\nfollowing the T'ai P'ing, the other following Tseng Kuo-fan.] [Tseng's\narmy, too, might be described as a \"national\" army, because Tseng was\nnot fighting for the interests of the Manchus.] [Thus the peasants, all\nanti-Manchu, could choose between two sides, between the T'ai P'ing and\nTseng Kuo-fan.] [Although Tseng represented the gentry and was thus\nagainst the simple common people, peasants fought in masses on his side,\nfor he paid better, and especially more regularly.] [Tseng, being a good\nstrategist, won successes and gained adherents.] [Thus by 1856 the T'ai\nP'ing were pressed back on Nanking and some of the towns round it; in\n1864 Nanking was captured.] [While in the central provinces the T'ai P'ing rebellion was raging,\nChina was suffering grave setbacks owing to the Lorcha War of 1856; and\nthere were also great and serious risings in other parts of the country.] [In 1855 the Yellow River had changed its course, entering the sea once\nmore at Tientsin, to the great loss of the regions of Honan and Anhui.] [In these two central provinces the peasant rising of the so-called \"Nien\nFei\" had begun, but it only became formidable after 1855, owing to the\nincreasing misery of the peasants.] [This purely peasant revolt was not\nsuppressed by the Manchu government until 1868, after many collisions.] [Then, however, there began the so-called \"Mohammedan risings\".] [Here\nthere are, in all, five movements to distinguish: (1) the Mohammedan\nrising in Kansu (1864-5); (2) the Salar movement in Shensi; (3) the\nMohammedan revolt in Yuennan (1855-1873); (4) the rising in Kansu (1895);\n(5) the rebellion of Yakub Beg in Turkestan (from 1866 onward).] [While we are fairly well informed about the other popular risings of\nthis period, the Mohammedan revolts have not yet been well studied.] [We\nknow from unofficial accounts that these risings were suppressed with\ngreat brutality.] [To this day there are many Mohammedans in, for\ninstance, Yuennan, but the revolt there is said to have cost a million\nlives.] [The figures all rest on very rough estimates: in Kansu the\npopulation is said to have fallen from fifteen millions to one million;\nthe Turkestan revolt is said to have cost ten million lives.] [There are\nno reliable statistics; but it is understandable that at that time the\npopulation of China must have fallen considerably, especially if we bear\nin mind the equally ferocious suppression of the risings of the T'ai\nP'ing and the Nien Fei within China, and smaller risings of which we\nhave made no mention.] [The Mohammedan risings were not elements of a general Mohammedan revolt,\nbut separate events only incidentally connected with each other.] [The\nrisings had different causes.] [An important factor was the general\ndistress in China.] [This was partly due to the fact that the officials\nwere exploiting the peasant population more ruthlessly than ever.] [In\naddition to this, owing to the national feeling which had been aroused\nin so unfortunate a way, the Chinese felt a revulsion against\nnon-Chinese, such as the Salars, who were of Turkish race.] [Here there\nwere always possibilities of friction, which might have been removed\nwith a little consideration but which swelled to importance through the\ntactless behaviour of Chinese officials.] [Finally there came divisions\namong the Mohammedans of China which led to fighting between themselves.] [All these risings were marked by two characteristics.] [They had no\ngeneral political aim such as the founding of a great and universal\nIslamic state.] [Separate states were founded, but they were too small to\nendure; they would have needed the protection of great states.] [But they\nwere not moved by any pan-Islamic idea.] [Secondly, they all took place on\nChinese soil, and all the Mohammedans involved, except in the rising of\nthe Salars, were Chinese.] [These Chinese who became Mohammedans are\ncalled Dungans.] [The Dungans are, of course, no longer pure Chinese,\nbecause Chinese who have gone over to Islam readily form mixed\nmarriages with Islamic non-Chinese, that is to say with Turks and\nMongols.] [The revolt, however, of Yakub Beg in Turkestan had a quite different\ncharacter.] [Yakub Beg (his Chinese name was An Chi-yeh) had risen to the\nChinese governorship when he made himself ruler of Kashgar.] [In 1866 he\nbegan to try to make himself independent of Chinese control.] [He\nconquered Ili, and then in a rapid campaign made himself master of all\nTurkestan.] [His state had a much better prospect of endurance than the other\nMohammedan states.] [He had full control of it from 1874.] [Turkestan was\nconnected with China only by the few routes that led between the desert\nand the Tibetan mountains.] [The state was supported against China by\nRussia, which was continually pressing eastward, and in the south by\nGreat Britain, which was pressing towards Tibet.] [Farther west was the\ngreat Ottoman empire; the attempt to gain direct contact with it was not\nhopeless in itself, and this was recognized at Istanbul.] [Missions went\nto and fro, and Turkish officers came to Yakub Beg and organized his\narmy; Yakub Beg recognized the Turkish sultan as Khalif.] [He also\nconcluded treaties with Russia and Great Britain.] [But in spite of all\nthis he was unable to maintain his hold of Turkestan.] [In 1877 the famous\nChinese general Tso Tsung-t'ang (1812-1885), who had fought against the\nT'ai P'ing and also against the Mohammedans in Kansu, marched into\nTurkestan and ended Yakub Beg's rule.] [Yakub was defeated, however, not so much by Chinese superiority as by a\ncombination of circumstances.] [In order to build up his kingdom he was\ncompelled to impose heavy taxation, and this made him unpopular with his\nown followers: they had to pay taxes under the Chinese, but the Chinese\ncollection had been much less rigorous than that of Yakub Beg.] [It was\ntechnically impossible for the Ottoman empire to give him any aid, even\nhad its internal situation permitted it.] [Britain and Russia would\nprobably have been glad to see a weakening of the Chinese hold over\nTurkestan, but they did not want a strong new state there, once they had\nfound that neither of them could control the country while it was in\nYakub Beg's hands.] [In 1881 Russia occupied the Ili region, Yakub's first\nconquest.] [In the end the two great powers considered it better for\nTurkestan to return officially into the hands of the weakened China,\nhoping that in practice they would be able to bring Turkestan more and\nmore under their control.] [Consequently, when in 1880, three years after\nthe removal of Yakub Beg, China sent a mission to Russia with the\nrequest for the return of the Ili region to her, Russia gave way, and\nthe Treaty of Ili was concluded, ending for the time the Russian\npenetration of Turkestan.] [In 1882 the Manchu government raised\nTurkestan to a \"new frontier\" (Sinkiang) with a special administration.] [This process of colonial penetration of Turkestan continued.] [Until the\nend of the first world war there was no fundamental change in the\nsituation in the country, owing to the rivalry between Great Britain and\nRussia.] [But after 1920 a period began in which Turkestan became almost\nindependent, under a number of rulers of parts of the country.] [Then,\nfrom 1928 onward, a more and more thorough penetration by Russia began,\nso that by 1940 Turkestan could almost be called a Soviet Republic.] [The\nsecond world war diverted Russian attention to the West, and at the same\ntime compelled the Chinese to retreat into the interior from the\nJapanese, so that by 1943 the country was more firmly held by the\nChinese government than it had been for seventy years.] [After the\ncreation of the People's Democracy mass immigration into Sinkiang began,\nin connection with the development of oil fields and of many new\nindustries in the border area between Sinkiang and China proper.] [Roads\nand air communications opened Sinkiang.] [Yet, the differences between\nimmigrant Chinese and local, Muslim Turks, continue to play a role.] [9 _Collision with Japan; further Capitulations_\n\nThe reign of Wen Tsung (reign name Hsien-feng 1851-1861) was marked\nthroughout by the T'ai P'ing and other rebellions and by wars with the\nEuropeans, and that of Mu Tsung (reign name T'ung-chih: 1862-1874) by\nthe great Mohammedan disturbances.] [There began also a conflict with\nJapan which lasted until 1945.] [Mu Tsung came to the throne as a child of\nfive, and never played a part of his own.] [It had been the general rule\nfor princes to serve as regents for minors on the imperial throne, but\nthis time the princes concerned won such notoriety through their\nintrigues that the Peking court circles decided to entrust the regency\nto two concubines of the late emperor.] [One of these, called Tz[)u] Hsi\n(born 1835), of the Manchu tribe of the Yehe-Nara, quickly gained the\nupper hand.] [The empress Tz[)u] Hsi was one of the strongest\npersonalities of the later nineteenth century who played an active part\nin Chinese political life.] [She played a more active part than any\nemperor had played for many decades.] [Meanwhile great changes had taken place in Japan.] [The restoration of the\nMeiji had ended the age of feudalism, at least on the surface.] [Japan\nrapidly became Westernized, and at the same time entered on an\nimperialist policy.] [Her aims from 1868 onward were clear, and remained\nunaltered until the end of the second World War: she was to be\nsurrounded by a wide girdle of territories under Japanese domination, in\norder to prevent the approach of any enemy to the Japanese homeland.] [This girdle was divided into several zones--(1) the inner zone with the\nKurile Islands, Sakhalin, Korea, the Ryukyu archipelago, and Formosa;\n(2) the outer zone with the Marianne, Philippine, and Caroline Islands,\neastern China, Manchuria, and eastern Siberia; (3) the third zone, not\nclearly defined, including especially the Netherlands Indies,\nIndo-China, and the whole of China, a zone of undefined extent.] [The\noutward form of this subjugated region was to be that of the Greater\nJapanese Empire, described as the Imperium of the Yellow Race (the main\nideas were contained in the Tanaka Memorandum 1927 and in the Tada\nInterview of 1936).] [Round Japan, moreover, a girdle was to be created of\nproducers of raw materials and purchasers of manufactures, to provide\nJapanese industry with a market.] [Japan had sent a delegation of amity to\nChina as early as 1869, and a first Sino-Japanese treaty was signed in\n1871; from then on, Japan began to carry out her imperialistic plans.] [In\n1874 she attacked the Ryukyu islands and Formosa on the pretext that\nsome Japanese had been murdered there.] [Under the treaty of 1874 Japan\nwithdrew once more, only demanding a substantial indemnity; but in 1876,\nin violation of the treaty and without a declaration of war, she annexed\nthe Ryukyu Islands.] [In 1876 began the Japanese penetration into Korea;\nby 1885 she had reached the stage of a declaration that Korea was a\njoint sphere of interest of China and Japan; until then China's\nprotectorate over Korea had been unchallenged.] [At the same time (1876)\nGreat Britain had secured further Capitulations in the Chefoo\nConvention; in 1862 France had acquired Cochin China, in 1864 Cambodia,\nin 1874 Tongking, and in 1883 Annam.] [This led in 1884 to war between\nFrance and China, in which the French did not by any means gain an\nindubitable victory; but the Treaty of Tientsin left them with their\nacquisitions.] [Meanwhile, at the beginning of 1875, the young Chinese emperor died of\nsmallpox, without issue.] [Under the influence of the two empresses, who\nstill remained regents, a cousin of the dead emperor, the three-year-old\nprince Tsai T'ien was chosen as emperor Te Tsung (reign name Kuang-hsue:\n1875-1909).] [He came of age in 1889 and took over the government of the\ncountry.] [The empress Tz[)u] Hsi retired, but did not really relinquish\nthe reins.] [In 1894 the Sino-Japanese War broke out over Korea, as an outcome of the\nundefined position that had existed since 1885 owing to the\nimperialistic policy of the Japanese.] [China had created a North China\nsquadron, but this was all that can be regarded as Chinese preparation\nfor the long-expected war.] [The Governor General of Chihli (now\nHopei--the province in which Peking is situated), Li Hung-chang, was a\ngeneral who had done good service, but he lost the war, and at\nShimonoseki (1895) he had to sign a treaty on very harsh terms, in which\nChina relinquished her protectorate over Korea and lost Formosa.] [The\nintervention of France, Germany, and Russia compelled Japan to content\nherself with these acquisitions, abandoning her demand for South\nManchuria.] [10 _Russia in Manchuria_\n\nAfter the Crimean War, Russia had turned her attention once more to the\nEast.] [There had been hostilities with China over eastern Siberia, which\nwere brought to an end in 1858 by the Treaty of Aigun, under which China\nceded certain territories in northern Manchuria.] [This made possible the\nfounding of Vladivostok in 1860.] [Russia received Sakhalin from Japan in\n1875 in exchange for the Kurile Islands.] [She received from China the\nimportant Port Arthur as a leased territory, and then tried to secure\nthe whole of South Manchuria.] [This brought Japan's policy of expansion\ninto conflict with Russia's plans in the Far East.] [Russia wanted\nManchuria in order to be able to pursue a policy in the Pacific; but\nJapan herself planned to march into Manchuria from Korea, of which she\nalready had possession.] [This imperialist rivalry made war inevitable:\nRussia lost the war; under the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905 Russia gave\nJapan the main railway through Manchuria, with adjoining territory.] [Thus\nManchuria became Japan's sphere of influence and was lost to the Manchus\nwithout their being consulted in any way.] [The Japanese penetration of\nManchuria then proceeded stage by stage, not without occasional\nsetbacks, until she had occupied the whole of Manchuria from 1932 to\n1945.] [After the end of the second world war, Manchuria was returned to\nChina, with certain reservations in favour of the Soviet Union, which\nwere later revoked.] [11 _Reform and reaction: the Boxer Rising_\n\nChina had lost the war with Japan because she was entirely without\nmodern armament.] [While Japan went to work at once with all her energy to\nemulate Western industrialization, the ruling class in China had shown a\nmarked repugnance to any modernization; and the centre of this\nconservatism was the dowager empress Tz[)u] Hsi.] [She was a woman of\nstrong personality, but too uneducated--in the modern sense--to be able\nto realize that modernization was an absolute necessity for China if it\nwas to remain an independent state.] [The empress failed to realize that\nthe Europeans were fundamentally different from the neighbouring tribes\nor the pirates of the past; she had not the capacity to acquire a\ngeneral grasp of the realities of world politics.] [She felt instinctively\nthat Europeanization would wreck the foundations of the power of the\nManchus and the gentry, and would bring another class, the middle class\nand the merchants, into power.] [There were reasonable men, however, who had seen the necessity of\nreform--especially Li Hung-chang, who has already been mentioned.] [In\n1896 he went on a mission to Moscow, and then toured Europe.] [The\nreformers were, however, divided into two groups.] [One group advocated\nthe acquisition of a certain amount of technical knowledge from abroad\nand its introduction by slow reforms, without altering the social\nstructure of the state or the composition of the government.] [The others\nheld that the state needed fundamental changes, and that superficial\nloans from Europe were not enough.] [The failure in the war with Japan\nmade the general desire for reform more and more insistent not only in\nthe country but in Peking.] [Until now Japan had been despised as a\nbarbarian state; now Japan had won!] [The Europeans had been despised; now\nthey were all cutting bits out of China for themselves, extracting from\nthe government one privilege after another, and quite openly dividing\nChina into \"spheres of interest\", obviously as the prelude to annexation\nof the whole country.] [In Europe at that time the question was being discussed over and over\nagain, why Japan had so quickly succeeded in making herself a modern\npower, and why China was not succeeding in doing so; the Japanese were\npraised for their capacity and the Chinese blamed for their lassitude.] [Both in Europe and in Chinese circles it was overlooked that there were\nfundamental differences in the social structures of the two countries.] [The basis of the modern capitalist states of the West is the middle\nclass.] [Japan had for centuries had a middle class (the merchants) that\nhad entered into a symbiosis with the feudal lords.] [For the middle class\nthe transition to modern capitalism, and for the feudal lords the way to\nWestern imperialism, was easy.] [In China there was only a weak middle\nclass, vegetating under the dominance of the gentry; the middle class\nhad still to gain the strength to liberate itself before it could become\nthe support for a capitalistic state.] [And the gentry were still strong\nenough to maintain their dominance and so to prevent a radical\nreconstruction; all they would agree to were a few reforms from which\nthey might hope to secure an increase of power for their own ends.] [In 1895 and in 1698 a scholar, K'ang Yo-wei, who was admitted into the\npresence of the emperor, submitted to him memoranda in which he called\nfor radical reform.] [K'ang was a scholar who belonged to the empiricist\nschool of philosophy of the early Manchu period, the so-called Han\nschool.] [He was a man of strong and persuasive personality, and had such\nan influence on the emperor that in 1898 the emperor issued several\nedicts ordering the fundamental reorganization of education, law, trade,\ncommunications, and the army.] [These laws were not at all bad in\nthemselves; they would have paved the way for a liberalization of\nChinese society.] [But they aroused the utmost hatred in the conservative\ngentry and also in the moderate reformers among the gentry.] [K'ang Yo-wei\nand his followers, to whom a number of well-known modern scholars\nbelonged, had strong support in South China.] [We have already mentioned\nthat owing to the increased penetration of European goods and ideas,\nSouth China had become more progressive than the north; this had added\nto the tension already existing for other reasons between north and\nsouth.] [In foreign policy the north was more favourable to Russia and\nradically opposed to Japan and Great Britain; the south was in favour of\nco-operation with Britain and Japan, in order to learn from those two\nstates how reform could be carried through.] [In the north the men of the\nsouth were suspected of being anti-Manchu and revolutionary in feeling.] [This was to some extent true, though K'ang Yo-wei and his friends were\nas yet largely unconscious of it.] [When the empress Tz[)u] Hsi saw that the emperor was actually thinking\nabout reforms, she went to work with lightning speed.] [Very soon the\nreformers had to flee; those who failed to make good their escape were\narrested and executed.] [The emperor was made a prisoner in a palace near\nPeking, and remained a captive until his death; the empress resumed her\nregency on his behalf.] [The period of reforms lasted only for a few\nmonths of 1898.] [A leading part in the extermination of the reformers was\nplayed by troops from Kansu under the command of a Mohammedan, Tung\nFu-hsiang.] [General Yuean Shih-k'ai, who was then stationed at Tientsin in\ncommand of 7,000 troops with modern equipment, the only ones in China,\ncould have removed the empress and protected the reformers; but he was\nalready pursuing a personal policy, and thought it safer to give the\nreformers no help.] [There now began, from 1898, a thoroughly reactionary rule of the dowager\nempress.] [But China's general situation permitted no breathing-space.] [In\n1900 came the so-called Boxer Rising, a new popular movement against the\ngentry and the Manchus similar to the many that had preceded it.] [The\nPeking government succeeded, however, in negotiations that brought the\nmovement into the service of the government and directed it against the\nforeigners.] [This removed the danger to the government and at the same\ntime helped it against the hated foreigners.] [But incidents resulted\nwhich the Peking government had not anticipated.] [An international army\nwas sent to China, and marched from Tientsin against Peking, to liberate\nthe besieged European legations and to punish the government.] [The\nEuropeans captured Peking (1900); the dowager empress and her prisoner,\nthe emperor, had to flee; some of the palaces were looted.] [The peace\ntreaty that followed exacted further concessions from China to the\nEuropeans and enormous war indemnities, the payment of which continued\ninto the 1940's, though most of the states placed the money at China's\ndisposal for educational purposes.] [When in 1902 the dowager empress\nreturned to Peking and put the emperor back into his palace-prison, she\nwas forced by what had happened to realize that at all events a certain\nmeasure of reform was necessary.] [The reforms, however, which she\ndecreed, mainly in 1904, were very modest and were never fully carried\nout.] [They were only intended to make an impression on the outer world\nand to appease the continually growing body of supporters of the reform\nparty, especially numerous in South China.] [The south remained,\nnevertheless, a focus of hostility to the Manchus.] [After his failure in\n1898, K'ang Yo-wei went to Europe, and no longer played any important\npolitical part.] [His place was soon taken by a young Chinese physician\nwho had been living abroad, Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), who turned the\nreform party into a middle-class revolutionary party.] [12 _End of the dynasty_\n\nMeanwhile the dowager empress held her own.] [General Yuean Shih-k'ai, who\nhad played so dubious a part in 1898, was not impeccably loyal to her,\nand remained unreliable.] [He was beyond challenge the strongest man in\nthe country, for he possessed the only modern army; but he was still\nbiding his time.] [In 1908 the dowager empress fell ill; she was seventy-four years old.] [When she felt that her end was near, she seems to have had the captive\nemperor Te Tsung assassinated (at 5 p.m. on November 14th); she herself\ndied next day (November 15th, 2 p.m.): she was evidently determined that\nthis man, whom she had ill-treated and oppressed all his life, should\nnot regain independence.] [As Te Tsung had no children, she nominated on\nthe day of her death the two-year-old prince P'u Yi as emperor (reign\nname Hsuean-t'ung, 1909-1911).] [The fact that another child was to reign and a new regency to act for\nhim, together with all the failures in home and foreign policy, brought\nfurther strength to the revolutionary party.] [The government believed\nthat it could only maintain itself if it allowed Yuean Shih-k'ai, the\ncommander of the modern troops, to come to power.] [The chief regent,\nhowever, worked against Yuean Shih-k'ai and dismissed him at the\nbeginning of 1909; Yuean's supporters remained at their posts.] [Yuean\nhimself now entered into relations with the revolutionaries, whose\ncentre was Canton, and whose undisputed leader was now Sun Yat-sen.] [At\nthis time Sun and his supporters had already made attempts at\nrevolution, but without success, as his following was as yet too small.] [It consisted mainly of young intellectuals who had been educated in\nEurope and America; the great mass of the Chinese people remained\nunconvinced: the common people could not understand the new ideals, and\nthe middle class did not entirely trust the young intellectuals.] [The state of China in 1911 was as lamentable as could be: the European\nstates, Russia, America, and Japan regarded China as a field for their\nown plans, and in their calculations paid scarcely any attention to the\nChinese government.] [Foreign capital was penetrating everywhere in the\nform of loans or railway and other enterprises.] [If it had not been for\nthe mutual rivalries of the powers, China would long ago have been\nannexed by one of them.] [The government needed a great deal of money for\nthe payment of the war indemnities, and for carrying out the few reforms\nat last decided on.] [In order to get money from the provinces, it had to\npermit the viceroys even more freedom than they already possessed.] [The\nresult was a spectacle altogether resembling that of the end of the\nT'ang dynasty, about A.D. 900: the various governors were trying to make\nthemselves independent.] [In addition to this there was the revolutionary\nmovement in the south.] [The government made some concession to the progressives, by providing\nthe first beginnings of parliamentary rule.] [In 1910 a national assembly\nwas convoked.] [It had a Lower House with representatives of the provinces\n(provincial diets were also set up), and an Upper House, in which sat\nrepresentatives of the imperial house, the nobility, the gentry, and\nalso the protectorates.] [The members of the Upper House were all\nnominated by the regent.] [It very soon proved that the members of the\nLower House, mainly representatives of the provincial gentry, had a much\nmore practical outlook than the routineers of Peking.] [Thus the Lower\nHouse grew in importance, a fact which, of course, brought grist to the\nmills of the revolutionary movement.] [In 1910 the first risings directed actually against the regency took\nplace, in the province of Hunan.] [In 1911 the \"railway disturbances\"\nbroke out in western China as a reply of the railway shareholders in the\nprovince of Szechwan to the government decree of nationalization of all\nthe railways.] [The modernist students, most of whom were sons of\nmerchants who owned railway shares, supported the movement, and the\ngovernment was unable to control them.] [At the same time a great\nanti-Manchu revolution began in Wuch'ang, one of the cities of which\nWuhan, on the Yangtze, now consists.] [The revolution was the result of\ngovernment action against a group of terrorists.] [Its leader was an\nofficer named Li Yuean-hung.] [The Manchus soon had some success in this\nquarter, but the other provincial governors now rose in rapid\nsuccession, repudiated the Manchus, and declared themselves independent.] [Most of the Manchu garrisons in the provinces were murdered.] [The\ngovernors remained at the head of their troops in their provinces, and\nfor the moment made common cause with the revolutionaries, from whom\nthey meant to break free at the first opportunity.] [The Manchus\nthemselves failed at first to realize the gravity of the revolutionary\nmovement; they then fell into panic-stricken desperation.] [As a last\nresource, Yuean Shih-k'ai was recalled (November 10th, 1911) and made\nprime minister.] [Yuean's excellent troops were loyal to his person, and he could have made\nuse of them in fighting on behalf of the dynasty.] [But a victory would\nhave brought no personal gain to him; for his personal plans he\nconsidered that the anti-Manchu side provided the springboard he needed.] [The revolutionaries, for their part, had no choice but to win over Yuean\nShih-k'ai for the sake of his troops, since they were not themselves\nstrong enough to get rid of the Manchus, or even to wrest concessions\nfrom them, so long as the Manchus were defended by Yuean's army.] [Thus\nYuean and the revolutionaries were forced into each other's arms.] [He then\nbegan negotiations with them, explaining to the imperial house that the\ndynasty could only be saved by concessions.] [The revolutionaries--apart\nfrom their desire to neutralize the prime minister and general, if not\nto bring him over to their side--were also readier than ever to\nnegotiate, because they were short of money and unable to obtain loans\nfrom abroad, and because they could not themselves gain control of the\nindividual governors.] [The negotiations, which had been carried on at\nShanghai, were broken off on December 18th, 1911, because the\nrevolutionaries demanded a republic, but the imperial house was only\nready to grant a constitutional monarchy.] [Meanwhile the revolutionaries set up a provisional government at\nNanking (December 29th, 1911), with Sun Yat-sen as president and Li\nYuean-hung as vice-president.] [Yuean Shih-k'ai now declared to the imperial\nhouse that the monarchy could no longer be defended, as his troops were\ntoo unreliable, and he induced the Manchu government to issue an edict\non February 12th, 1912, in which they renounced the throne of China and\ndeclared the Republic to be the constitutional form of state.] [The young\nemperor of the Hsuean-t'ung period, after the Japanese conquest of\nManchuria in 1931, was installed there.] [He was, however, entirely\nwithout power during the melancholy years of his nominal rule, which\nlasted until 1945.] [In 1912 the Manchu dynasty came in reality to its end.] [On the news of\nthe abdication of the imperial house, Sun Yat-sen resigned in Nanking,\nand recommended Yuean Shih-k'ai as president.] [Chapter Eleven\n\n\nTHE REPUBLIC (1912-1948)\n\n1 _Social and intellectual position_\n\nIn order to understand the period that now followed, let us first\nconsider the social and intellectual position in China in the period\nbetween 1911 and 1927.] [The Manchu dynasty was no longer there, nor were\nthere any remaining real supporters of the old dynasty.] [The gentry,\nhowever, still existed.] [Alongside it was a still numerically small\nmiddle class, with little political education or enlightenment.] [The political interests of these two groups were obviously in conflict.] [But after 1912 there had been big changes.] [The gentry were largely in a\nprocess of decomposition.] [They still possessed the basis of their\nexistence, their land, but the land was falling in value, as there were\nnow other opportunities of capital investment, such as export-import,\nshareholding in foreign enterprises, or industrial undertakings.] [It is\nimportant to note, however, that there was not much fluid capital at\ntheir disposal.] [In addition to this, cheaper rice and other foodstuffs\nwere streaming from abroad into China, bringing the prices for Chinese\nfoodstuffs down to the world market prices, another painful business\nblow to the gentry.] [Silk had to meet the competition of Japanese silk\nand especially of rayon; the Chinese silk was of very unequal quality\nand sold with difficulty.] [On the other hand, through the influence of\nthe Western capitalistic system, which was penetrating more and more\ninto China, land itself became \"capital\", an object of speculation for\npeople with capital; its value no longer depended entirely on the rents\nit could yield but, under certain circumstances, on quite other\nthings--the construction of railways or public buildings, and so on.] [These changes impoverished and demoralized the gentry, who in the course\nof the past century had grown fewer in number.] [The gentry were not in a\nposition to take part fully in the capitalist manipulations, because\nthey had never possessed much capital; their wealth had lain entirely\nin their land, and the income from their rents was consumed quite\nunproductively in luxurious living.] [Moreover, the class solidarity of the gentry was dissolving.] [In the\npast, politics had been carried on by cliques of gentry families, with\nthe emperor at their head as an unchangeable institution.] [This edifice\nhad now lost its summit; the struggles between cliques still went on,\nbut entirely without the control which the emperor's power had after all\nexercised, as a sort of regulative element in the play of forces among\nthe gentry.] [The arena for this competition had been the court.] [After the\ndestruction of the arena, the field of play lost its boundaries: the\nstruggles between cliques no longer had a definite objective; the only\nobjective left was the maintenance or securing of any and every hold on\npower.] [Under the new conditions cliques or individuals among the gentry\ncould only ally themselves with the possessors of military power, the\ngenerals or governors.] [In this last stage the struggle between rival\ngroups turned into a rivalry between individuals.] [Family ties began to\nweaken and other ties, such as between school mates, or origin from the\nsame village or town, became more important than they had been before.] [For the securing of the aim in view any means were considered\njustifiable.] [Never was there such bribery and corruption among the\nofficials as in the years after 1912.] [This period, until 1927, may\ntherefore be described as a period of dissolution and destruction of the\nsocial system of the gentry.] [Over against this dying class of the gentry stood, broadly speaking, a\ntripartite opposition.] [To begin with, there was the new middle class,\ndivided and without clear political ideas; anti-dynastic of course, but\nundecided especially as to the attitude it should adopt towards the\npeasants who, to this day, form over 80 per cent of the Chinese\npopulation.] [The middle class consisted mainly of traders and bankers,\nwhose aim was the introduction of Western capitalism in association with\nforeign powers.] [There were also young students who were often the sons\nof old gentry families and had been sent abroad for study with grants\ngiven them by their friends and relatives in the government; or sons of\nbusinessmen sent away by their fathers.] [These students not always\naccepted the ideas of their fathers; they were influenced by the\nideologies of the West, Marxist or non-Marxist, and often created clubs\nor groups in the University cities of Europe or the United States.] [Such\ngroups of people who had studied together or passed the exams together,\nhad already begun to play a role in politics in the nineteenth century.] [Now, the influence of such organizations of usually informal character\nincreased.] [Against the returned students who often had difficulties in\nadjustment, stood the students at Chinese Universities, especially the\nNational University in Peking (Peita).] [They represented people of the\nsame origin, but of the lower strata of the gentry or of business; they\nwere more nationalistic and politically active and often less influenced\nby Western ideologies.] [In the second place, there was a relatively very small genuine\nproletariat, the product of the first activities of big capitalists in\nChina, found mainly in Shanghai.] [Thirdly and finally, there was a\ngigantic peasantry, uninterested in politics and uneducated, but ready\nto give unthinking allegiance to anyone who promised to make an end of\nthe intolerable conditions in the matter of rents and taxes, conditions\nthat were growing steadily worse with the decay of the gentry.] [These\npeasants were thinking of popular risings on the pattern of all the\nrisings in the history of China--attacks on the towns and the killing of\nthe hated landowners, officials, and moneylenders, that is to say of the\ngentry.] [Such was the picture of the middle class and those who were ready to\nsupport it, a group with widely divergent interests, held together only\nby its opposition to the gentry system and the monarchy.] [It could not\nbut be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve political\nsuccess with such a group.] [Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), the \"Father of the\nRepublic\", accordingly laid down three stages of progress in his many\nworks, of which the best-known are _San-min chu-i_, (\"The Three\nPrinciples of the People\"), and _Chien-kuo fang-lueeh_ (\"Plans for the\nBuilding up of the Realm\").] [The three phases of development through\nwhich republican China was to pass were: the phase of struggle against\nthe old system, the phase of educative rule, and the phase of truly\ndemocratic government.] [The phase of educative rule was to be a sort of\nauthoritarian system with a democratic content, under which the people\nshould be familiarized with democracy and enabled to grow politically\nripe for true democracy.] [Difficult as was the internal situation from the social point of view,\nit was no less difficult in economic respects.] [China had recognized that\nshe must at least adopt Western technical and industrial progress in\norder to continue to exist as an independent state.] [But the building up\nof industry demanded large sums of money.] [The existing Chinese banks\nwere quite incapable of providing the capital needed; but the acceptance\nof capital from abroad led at once, every time, to further political\ncapitulations.] [The gentry, who had no cash worth mention, were violently\nopposed to the capitalization of their properties, and were in favour of\ncontinuing as far as possible to work the soil in the old style.] [Quite\napart from all this, all over the country there were generals who had\ncome from the ranks of the gentry, and who collected the whole of the\nfinancial resources of their region for the support of their private\narmies.] [Investors had little confidence in the republican government so\nlong as they could not tell whether the government would decide in\nfavour of its right or of its left wing.] [No less complicated was the intellectual situation at this time.] [Confucianism, and the whole of the old culture and morality bound up\nwith it, was unacceptable to the middle-class element.] [In the first\nplace, Confucianism rejected the principle, required at least in theory\nby the middle class, of the equality of all people; secondly, the\nConfucian great-family system was irreconcilable with middle-class\nindividualism, quite apart from the fact that the Confucian form of\nstate could only be a monarchy.] [Every attempt to bolster up Confucianism\nin practice or theory was bound to fail and did fail.] [Even the gentry\ncould scarcely offer any real defence of the Confucian system any\nlonger.] [With Confucianism went the moral standards especially of the\nupper classes of society.] [Taoism was out of the question as a\nsubstitute, because of its anarchistic and egocentric character.] [Consequently, in these years, part of the gentry turned to Buddhism and\npart to Christianity.] [Some of the middle class who had come under\nEuropean influence also turned to Christianity, regarding it as a part\nof the European civilization they had to adopt.] [Others adhered to modern\nphilosophic systems such as pragmatism and positivism.] [Marxist doctrines\nspread rapidly.] [Education was secularized.] [Great efforts were made to develop modern\nschools, though the work of development was continually hindered by the\nincessant political unrest.] [Only at the universities, which became foci\nof republican and progressive opinion, was any positive achievement\npossible.] [Many students and professors were active in politics,\norganizing demonstrations and strikes.] [They pursued a strong national\npolicy, often also socialistic.] [At the same time real scientific work\nwas done; many young scholars of outstanding ability were trained at the\nChinese universities, often better than the students who went abroad.] [There is a permanent disagreement between these two groups of young men\nwith a modern education: the students who return from abroad claim to be\nbetter educated, but in reality they often have only a very superficial\nknowledge of things modern and none at all of China, her history, and\nher special circumstances.] [The students of the Chinese universities have\nbeen much better instructed in all the things that concern China, and\nmost of them are in no way behind the returned students in the modern\nsciences.] [They are therefore a much more serviceable element.] [The intellectual modernization of China goes under the name of the\n\"Movement of May Fourth\", because on May 4th, 1919, students of the\nNational University in Peking demonstrated against the government and\ntheir pro-Japanese adherents.] [When the police attacked the students and\njailed some, more demonstrations and student strikes and finally a\ngeneral boycott of Japanese imports were the consequence.] [In these\nprotest actions, professors such as Ts'ai Yuean-p'ei, later president of\nthe Academia Sinica (died 1940), took an active part.] [The forces which\nhad now been mobilized, rallied around the journal \"New Youth\" (_Hsin\nCh'ing-nien_), created in 1915 by Ch'en Tu-hsiu.] [The journal was\nprogressive, against the monarchy, Confucius, and the old traditions.] [Ch'en Tu-hsiu who put himself strongly behind the students, was more\nradical than other contributors but at first favoured Western democracy\nand Western science; he was influenced mainly by John Dewey who was\nguest professor in Peking in 1919-20.] [Similarly tending towards\nliberalism in politics and Dewey's ideas in the field of philosophy were\nothers, mainly Hu Shih.] [Finally, some reformers criticized\nconservatism purely on the basis of Chinese thought.] [Hu Shih (born\n1892) gained greatest acclaim by his proposal for a \"literary\nrevolution\", published in the \"New Youth\" in 1917.] [This revolution was\nthe logically necessary application of the political revolution to the\nfield of education.] [The new \"vernacular\" took place of the old\n\"classical\" literary language.] [The language of the classical works is so\nremote from the language of daily life that no uneducated person can\nunderstand it.] [A command of it requires a full knowledge of all the\nancient literature, entailing decades of study.] [The gentry had\nelaborated this style of speech for themselves and their dependants; it\nwas their monopoly; nobody who did not belong to the gentry and had not\nattended its schools could take part in literary or in administrative\nlife.] [The literary revolution introduced the language of daily life, the\nlanguage of the people, into literature: newspapers, novels, scientific\ntreatises, translations, appeared in the vernacular, and could thus be\nunderstood by anyone who could read and write, even if he had no\nConfucianist education.] [It may be said that the literary revolution has achieved its main\nobjects.] [As a consequence of it, a great quantity of new literature has\nbeen published.] [Not only is every important new book that appears in the\nWest published in translation within a few months, but modern novels and\nshort stories and poems have been written, some of them of high literary\nvalue.] [At the same time as this revolution there took place another fundamental\nchange in the language.] [It was necessary to take over a vast number of\nnew scientific and technical terms.] [As Chinese, owing to the character\nof its script, is unable to write foreign words accurately and can do no\nmore than provide a rather rough paraphrase, the practice was started of\nexpressing new ideas by newly formed native words.] [Thus modern Chinese\nhas very few foreign words, and yet it has all the new ideas.] [For\nexample, a telegram is a \"lightning-letter\"; a wireless telegram is a\n\"not-have-wire-lightning-communication\"; a fountain-pen is a\n\"self-flow-ink-water-brush\"; a typewriter is a \"strike-letter-machine\".] [Most of these neologisms are similar in the modern languages of China\nand Japan.] [There had been several proposals in recent decades to do away with the\nChinese characters and to introduce an alphabet in their place.] [They\nhave all proved to be unsatisfactory so far, because the character of\nthe Chinese language, as it is at this moment, is unsuited to an\nalphabetical script.] [They would also destroy China's cultural unity:\nthere are many dialects in China that differ so greatly from each other\nthat, for instance, a man from Canton cannot understand a man from\nShanghai.] [If Chinese were written with letters, the result would be a\nCanton literature and another literature confined to Shanghai, and China\nwould break up into a number of areas with different languages.] [The old\nChinese writing is independent of pronunciation.] [A Cantonese and a\nPekinger can read each other's newspapers without difficulty.] [They\npronounce the words quite differently, but the meaning is unaltered.] [Even a Japanese can understand a Chinese newspaper without special study\nof Chinese, and a Chinese with a little preparation can read a Japanese\nnewspaper without understanding a single word of Japanese.] [The aim of modern education in China is to work towards the\nestablishment of \"High Chinese\", the former official (Mandarin)\nlanguage, throughout the country, and to set limits to the use of the\nvarious dialects.] [Once this has been done, it will be possible to\nproceed to a radical reform of the script without running the risk of\npolitical separatist movements, which are always liable to spring up,\nand also without leading, through the adoption of various dialects as\nthe basis of separate literatures, to the break-up of China's cultural\nunity.] [In the last years, the unification of the spoken language has\nmade great progress.] [Yet, alphabetic script is used only in cases in\nwhich illiterate adults have to be enabled in a short time to read very\nsimple informations.] [More attention is given to a simplification of the\nscript as it is; Japanese had started this some forty years earlier.] [Unfortunately, the new Chinese abbreviated forms of characters are not\nalways identical with long-established Japanese forms, and are not\ndeveloped in such a systematic form as would make learning of Chinese\ncharacters easier.] [2 _First period of the Republic: The warlords_\n\nThe situation of the Republic after its foundation was far from hopeful.] [Republican feeling existed only among the very small groups of students\nwho had modern education, and a few traders, in other words, among the\n\"middle class\".] [And even in the revolutionary party to which these\ngroups belonged there were the most various conceptions of the form of\nrepublican state to be aimed at.] [The left wing of the party, mainly\nintellectuals and manual workers, had in view more or less vague\nsocialistic institutions; the liberals, for instance the traders,\nthought of a liberal democracy, more or less on the American pattern;\nand the nationalists merely wanted the removal of the alien Manchu rule.] [The three groups had come together for the practical reason that only so\ncould they get rid of the dynasty.] [They gave unreserved allegiance to\nSun Yat-sen as their leader.] [He succeeded in mobilizing the enthusiasm\nof continually widening circles for action, not only by the integrity of\nhis aims but also because he was able to present the new socialistic\nideology in an alluring form.] [The anti-republican gentry, however, whose\npower was not yet entirely broken, took a stand against the party.] [The\ngenerals who had gone over to the republicans had not the slightest\nintention of founding a republic, but only wanted to get rid of the rule\nof the Manchus and to step into their place.] [This was true also of Yuean\nShih-k'ai, who in his heart was entirely on the side of the gentry,\nalthough the European press especially had always energetically defended\nhim.] [In character and capacity he stood far above the other generals,\nbut he was no republican.] [Thus the first period of the Republic, until 1927, was marked by\nincessant attempts by individual generals to make themselves\nindependent.] [The Government could not depend on its soldiers, and so was\nimpotent.] [The first risings of military units began at the outset of\n1912.] [The governors and generals who wanted to make themselves\nindependent sabotaged every decree of the central government; especially\nthey sent it no money from the provinces and also refused to give their\nassent to foreign loans.] [The province of Canton, the actual birthplace\nof the republican movement and the focus of radicalism, declared itself\nin 1912 an independent republic.] [Within the Peking government matters soon came to a climax.] [Yuean\nShih-k'ai and his supporters represented the conservative view, with the\nunexpressed but obvious aim of setting up a new imperial house and\ncontinuing the old gentry system.] [Most of the members of the parliament\ncame, however, from the middle class and were opposed to any reaction of\nthis sort.] [One of their leaders was murdered, and the blame was thrown\nupon Yuean Shih-k'ai; there then came, in the middle of 1912, a new\nrevolution, in which the radicals made themselves independent and tried\nto gain control of South China.] [But Yuean Shih-k'ai commanded better\ntroops and won the day.] [At the end of October 1912 he was elected,\nagainst the opposition, as president of China, and the new state was\nrecognized by foreign countries.] [China's internal difficulties reacted on the border states, in which the\nEuropean powers were keenly interested.] [The powers considered that the\ntime had come to begin the definitive partition of China.] [Thus there\nwere long negotiations and also hostilities between China and Tibet,\nwhich was supported by Great Britain.] [The British demanded the complete\nseparation of Tibet from China, but the Chinese rejected this (1912);\nthe rejection was supported by a boycott of British goods.] [In the end\nthe Tibet question was left undecided.] [Tibet remained until recent years\na Chinese dependency with a good deal of internal freedom.] [The Second\nWorld War and the Chinese retreat into the interior brought many Chinese\nsettlers into Eastern Tibet which was then separated from Tibet proper\nand made a Chinese province (Hsi-k'ang) in which the native Khamba will\nsoon be a minority.] [The communist regime soon after its establishment\nconquered Tibet (1950) and has tried to change the character of its\nsociety and its system of government which lead to the unsuccessful\nattempt of the Tibetans to throw off Chinese rule (1959) and the flight\nof the Dalai Lama to India.] [The construction of highways, air and\nmissile bases and military occupation have thus tied Tibet closer to\nChina than ever since early Manchu times.] [In Outer Mongolia Russian interests predominated.] [In 1911 there were\ndiplomatic incidents in connection with the Mongolian question.] [At the\nend of 1911 the Hutuktu of Urga declared himself independent, and the\nChinese were expelled from the country.] [A secret treaty was concluded in\n1912 with Russia, under which Russia recognized the independence of\nOuter Mongolia, but was accorded an important part as adviser and helper\nin the development of the country.] [In 1913 a Russo-Chinese treaty was\nconcluded, under which the autonomy of Outer Mongolia was recognized,\nbut Mongolia became a part of the Chinese realm.] [After the Russian\nrevolution had begun, revolution was carried also into Mongolia.] [The\ncountry suffered all the horrors of the struggles between White Russians\n(General Ungern-Sternberg) and the Reds; there were also Chinese\nattempts at intervention, though without success, until in the end\nMongolia became a Soviet Republic.] [As such she is closely associated\nwith Soviet Russia.] [China, however, did not quickly recognize Mongolia's\nindependence, and in his work _China's Destiny_ (1944) Chiang Kai-shek\ninsisted that China's aim remained the recovery of the frontiers of\n1840, which means among other things the recovery of Outer Mongolia.] [In\nspite of this, after the Second World War Chiang Kai-shek had to\nrenounce _de jure_ all rights in Outer Mongolia.] [Inner Mongolia was\nalways united to China much more closely; only for a time during the war\nwith Japan did the Japanese maintain there a puppet government.] [The\ndisappearance of this government went almost unnoticed.] [At the time when Russian penetration into Mongolia began, Japan had\nentered upon a similar course in Manchuria, which she regarded as her\n\"sphere of influence\".] [On the outbreak of the first world war Japan\noccupied the former German-leased territory of Tsingtao, at the\nextremity of the province of Shantung, and from that point she occupied\nthe railways of the province.] [Her plan was to make the whole province a\nprotectorate; Shantung is rich in coal and especially in metals.] [Japan's\nplans were revealed in the notorious \"Twenty-one Demands\" (1915).] [Against the furious opposition especially of the students of Peking,\nYuean Shih-k'ai's government accepted the greater part of these demands.] [In negotiations with Great Britain, in which Japan took advantage of the\nBritish commitments in Europe, Japan had to be conceded the predominant\nposition in the Far East.] [Meanwhile Yuean Shih-k'ai had made all preparations for turning the\nRepublic once more into an empire, in which he would be emperor; the\nempire was to be based once more on the gentry group.] [In 1914 he secured\nan amendment of the Constitution under which the governing power was to\nbe entirely in the hands of the president; at the end of 1914 he secured\nhis appointment as president for life, and at the end of 1915 he induced\nthe parliament to resolve that he should become emperor.] [This naturally aroused the resentment of the republicans, but it also\nannoyed the generals belonging to the gentry, who had the same ambition.] [Thus there were disturbances, especially in the south, where Sun Yat-sen\nwith his followers agitated for a democratic republic.] [The foreign\npowers recognized that a divided China would be much easier to penetrate\nand annex than a united China, and accordingly opposed Yuean Shih-k'ai.] [Before he could ascend the throne, he died suddenly--and this\nterminated the first attempt to re-establish monarchy.] [Yuean was succeeded as president by Li Yuean-hung.] [Meanwhile five\nprovinces had declared themselves independent.] [Foreign pressure on China\nsteadily grew.] [She was forced to declare war on Germany, and though this\nmade no practical difference to the war, it enabled the European powers\nto penetrate further into China.] [Difficulties grew to such an extent in\n1917 that a dictatorship was set up and soon after came an interlude,\nthe recall of the Manchus and the reinstatement of the deposed emperor\n(July 1st-8th, 1917).] [This led to various risings of generals, each aiming simply at the\nsatisfaction of his thirst for personal power.] [Ultimately the victorious\ngroup of generals, headed by Tuan Ch'i-jui, secured the election of Feng\nKuo-chang in place of the retiring president.] [Feng was succeeded at the\nend of 1918 by Hsue Shih-ch'ang, who held office until 1922.] [Hsue, as a\nformer ward of the emperor, was a typical representative of the gentry,\nand was opposed to all republican reforms.] [The south held aloof from these northern governments.] [In Canton an\nopposition government was set up, formed mainly of followers of Sun\nYat-sen; the Peking government was unable to remove the Canton\ngovernment.] [But the Peking government and its president scarcely counted\nany longer even in the north.] [All that counted were the generals, the\nmost prominent of whom were: (1) Chang Tso-lin, who had control of\nManchuria and had made certain terms with Japan, but who was ultimately\nmurdered by the Japanese (1928); (2) Wu P'ei-fu, who held North China;\n(3) the so-called \"Christian general\", Feng Yue-hsiang, and (4) Ts'ao\nK'un, who became president in 1923.] [At the end of the first world war Japan had a hold over China amounting\nalmost to military control of the country.] [China did not sign the Treaty\nof Versailles, because she considered that she had been duped by Japan,\nsince Japan had driven the Germans out of China but had not returned the\nliberated territory to the Chinese.] [In 1921 peace was concluded with\nGermany, the German privileges being abolished.] [The same applied to\nAustria.] [Russia, immediately after the setting up of the Soviet\ngovernment, had renounced all her rights under the Capitulations.] [This\nwas the first step in the gradual rescinding of the Capitulations; the\nlast of them went only in 1943, as a consequence of the difficult\nsituation of the Europeans and Americans in the Pacific produced by the\nSecond World War.] [At the end of the first world war the foreign powers revised their\nattitude towards China.] [The idea of territorial partitioning of the\ncountry was replaced by an attempt at financial exploitation; military\nfriction between the Western powers and Japan was in this way to be\nminimized.] [Financial control was to be exercised by an international\nbanking consortium (1920).] [It was necessary for political reasons that\nthis committee should be joined by Japan.] [After her Twenty-one Demands,\nhowever, Japan was hated throughout China.] [During the world war she had\ngiven loans to the various governments and rebels, and in this way had\nsecured one privilege after another.] [Consequently China declined the\nbanking consortium.] [She tried to secure capital from her own resources;\nbut in the existing political situation and the acute economic\ndepression internal loans had no success.] [In an agreement between the United States and Japan in 1917, the United\nStates, in consequence of the war, had to give their assent to special\nrights for Japan in China.] [After the war the international conference at\nWashington (November 1921-February 1922) tried to set narrower limits to\nJapan's influence over China, and also to re-determine the relative\nstrength in the Pacific of the four great powers (America, Britain,\nFrance, Japan).] [After the failure of the banking plan this was the last\nmeans of preventing military conflicts between the powers in the Far\nEast.] [This brought some relief to China, as Japan had to yield for the\ntime to the pressure of the western powers.] [The years that followed until 1927 were those of the complete collapse\nof the political power of the Peking government--years of entire\ndissolution.] [In the south Sun Yat-sen had been elected generalissimo in\n1921.] [In 1924 he was re-elected with a mandate for a campaign against\nthe north.] [In 1924 there also met in Canton the first general congress\nof the Kuomintang (\"People's Party\").] [The Kuomintang (in 1929 it had\n653,000 members, or roughly 0.15 per cent of the population) is the\ncontinuation of the Komingtang (\"Revolutionary Party\") founded by Sun\nYat-sen, which as a middle-class party had worked for the removal of the\ndynasty.] [The new Kuomintang was more socialistic, as is shown by its\nadmission of Communists and the stress laid upon land reform.] [At the end of 1924 Sun Yat-sen with some of his followers went to\nPeking, to discuss the possibility of a reunion between north and south\non the basis of the program of the People's Party.] [There, however, he\ndied at the beginning of 1925, before any definite results had been\nattained; there was no prospect of achieving anything by the\nnegotiations, and the south broke them off.] [But the death of Sun Yat-sen\nhad been followed after a time by tension within the party between its\nright and left wings.] [The southern government had invited a number of\nRussian advisers in 1923 to assist in building up the administration,\ncivil and military, and on their advice the system of government had\nbeen reorganized on lines similar to those of the soviet and commissar\nsystem.] [This change had been advocated by an old friend of Sun Yat-sen,\nChiang Kai-shek, who later married Sun's sister-in-law.] [Chiang Kai-shek,\nwho was born in 1886, was the head of the military academy at Whampoa,\nnear Canton, where Russian instructors were at work.] [The new system was\napproved by Sun Yat-sen's successor, Hu Han-min (who died in 1936), in\nhis capacity of party leader.] [It was opposed by the elements of the\nright, who at first had little influence.] [Chiang Kai-shek soon became\none of the principal leaders of the south, as he had command of the\nefficient troops of Canton, who had been organized by the Russians.] [The People's Party of the south and its governments, at that time fairly\nradical in politics, were disliked by the foreign powers; only Japan\nsupported them for a time, owing to the anti-British feeling of the\nSouth Chinese and in order to further her purpose of maintaining\ndisunion in China.] [The first serious collision with the outer world came\non May 30th, 1925, when British soldiers shot at a crowd demonstrating\nin Shanghai.] [This produced a widespread boycott of British goods in\nCanton and in British Hong Kong, inflicting a great loss on British\ntrade with China and bringing considerable advantages in consequence to\nJapanese trade and shipping: from the time of this boycott began the\nJapanese grip on Chinese coastwise shipping.] [The second party congress was held in Canton in 1926.] [Chiang Kai-shek\nalready played a prominent part.] [The People's Party, under Chiang\nKai-shek and with the support of the communists, began the great\ncampaign against the north.] [At first it had good success: the various\nprovincial governors and generals and the Peking government were played\noff against each other, and in a short time one leader after another was\ndefeated.] [The Yangtze was reached, and in 1926 the southern government\nmoved to Hankow.] [All over the southern provinces there now came a\ngenuine rising of the masses of the people, mainly the result of\ncommunist propaganda and of the government's promise to give land to the\npeasants, to set limits to the big estates, and to bring order into the\ntaxation.] [In spite of its communist element, at the beginning of 1927\nthe southern government was essentially one of the middle class and the\npeasantry, with a socialistic tendency.] [3 _Second period of the Republic: Nationalist China_\n\nWith the continued success of the northern campaign, and with Chiang\nKai-shek's southern army at the gates of Shanghai (March 21st, 1927), a\ndecision had to be taken.] [Should the left wing be allowed to gain the\nupper hand, and the great capitalists of Shanghai be expropriated as it\nwas proposed to expropriate the gentry?] [Or should the right wing\nprevail, an alliance be concluded with the capitalists, and limits be\nset to the expropriation of landed estates?] [Chiang Kai-shek, through his\nmarriage with Sun Yat-sen's wife's sister, had become allied with one of\nthe greatest banking families.] [In the days of the siege of Shanghai\nChiang, together with his closest colleagues (with the exception of Hu\nHan-min and Wang Chying-wei, a leader who will be mentioned later),\ndecided on the second alternative.] [Shanghai came into his hands without\na struggle, and the capital of the Shanghai financiers, and soon foreign\ncapital as well, was placed at his disposal, so that he was able to pay\nhis troops and finance his administration.] [At the same time the Russian\nadvisers were dismissed or executed.] [The decision arrived at by Chiang Kai-shek and his friends did not\nremain unopposed, and he parted from the \"left group\" (1927) which\nformed a rival government in Hankow, while Chiang Kai-shek made Nanking\nthe seat of his government (April 1927).] [In that year Chiang not only\nconcluded peace with the financiers and industrialists, but also a sort\nof \"armistice\" with the landowning gentry.] [\"Land reform\" still stood on\nthe party program, but nothing was done, and in this way the confidence\nand co-operation of large sections of the gentry was secured.] [The choice\nof Nanking as the new capital pleased both the industrialists and the\nagrarians: the great bulk of China's young industries lay in the Yangtze\nregion, and that region was still the principal one for agricultural\nproduce; the landowners of the region were also in a better position\nwith the great market of the capital in their neighbourhood.] [Meanwhile the Nanking government had succeeded in carrying its dealings\nwith the northern generals to a point at which they were largely\nout-manoeuvred and became ready for some sort of collaboration (1928).] [There were now four supreme commanders--Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yue-hsiang\n(the \"Christian general\"), Yen Hsi-shan, the governor of Shansi, and the\nMuslim Li Chung-yen.] [Naturally this was not a permanent solution; not\nonly did Chiang Kai-shek's three rivals try to free themselves from his\never-growing influence and to gain full power themselves, but various\ngroups under military leadership rose again and again, even in the home\nof the Republic, Canton itself.] [These struggles, which were carried on\nmore by means of diplomacy and bribery than at arms, lasted until 1936.] [Chiang Kai-shek, as by far the most skilful player in this game, and at\nthe same time the man who had the support of the foreign governments\nand of the financiers of Shanghai, gained the victory.] [China became\nunified under his dictatorship.] [As early as 1928, when there seemed a possibility of uniting China, with\nthe exception of Manchuria, which was dominated by Japan, and when the\nEuropean powers began more and more to support Chiang Kai-shek, Japan\nfelt that her interests in North China were threatened, and landed\ntroops in Shantung.] [There was hard fighting on May 3rd, 1928.] [General\nChang Tso-lin, in Manchuria, who was allied to Japan, endeavoured to\nsecure a cessation of hostilities, but he fell victim to a Japanese\nassassin; his place was taken by his son, Chang Hsueeh-liang, who pursued\nan anti-Japanese policy.] [The Japanese recognized, however, that in view\nof the international situation the time had not yet come for\nintervention in North China.] [In 1929 they withdrew their troops and\nconcentrated instead on their plans for Manchuria.] [Until the time of the \"Manchurian incident\" (1931), the Nanking\ngovernment steadily grew in strength.] [It gained the confidence of the\nwestern powers, who proposed to make use of it in opposition to Japan's\npolicy of expansion in the Pacific sphere.] [On the strength of this\nfavourable situation in its foreign relations, the Nanking government\nsucceeded in getting rid of one after another of the Capitulations.] [Above all, the administration of the \"Maritime Customs\", that is to say\nof the collection of duties on imports and exports, was brought under\nthe control of the Chinese government: until then it had been under\nforeign control.] [Now that China could act with more freedom in the\nmatter of tariffs, the government had greater financial resources, and\nthrough this and other measures it became financially more independent\nof the provinces.] [It succeeded in building up a small but modern army,\nloyal to the government and superior to the still existing provincial\narmies.] [This army gained its military experience in skirmishes with the\nCommunists and the remaining generals.] [It is true that when in 1931 the Japanese occupied Manchuria, Nanking\nwas helpless, since Manchuria was only loosely associated with Nanking,\nand its governor, Chang Hsueeh-liang, had tried to remain independent of\nit.] [Thus Manchuria was lost almost without a blow.] [On the other hand,\nthe fighting with Japan that broke out soon afterwards in Shanghai\nbrought credit to the young Nanking army, though owing to its numerical\ninferiority it was unsuccessful.] [China protested to the League of\nNations against its loss of Manchuria.] [The League sent a commission (the\nLytton Commission), which condemned Japan's action, but nothing further\nhappened, and China indignantly broke away from her association with the\nWestern powers (1932-1933).] [In view of the tense European situation\n(the beginning of the Hitler era in Germany, and the Italian plans of\nexpansion), the Western powers did not want to fight Japan on China's\nbehalf, and without that nothing more could be done.] [They pursued,\nindeed, a policy of playing off Japan against China, in order to keep\nthose two powers occupied with each other, and so to divert Japan from\nIndo-China and the Pacific.] [China had thus to be prepared for being involved one day in a great war\nwith Japan.] [Chiang Kai-shek wanted to postpone war as long as possible.] [He wanted time to establish his power more thoroughly within the\ncountry, and to strengthen his army.] [In regard to external relations,\nthe great powers would have to decide their attitude sooner or later.] [America could not be expected to take up a clear attitude: she was for\npeace and commerce, and she made greater profits out of her relations\nwith Japan than with China; she sent supplies to both (until 1941).] [On\nthe other hand, Britain and France were more and more turning away from\nJapan, and Russo-Japanese relations were at all times tense.] [Japan tried\nto emerge from her isolation by joining the \"axis powers\", Germany and\nItaly (1936); but it was still doubtful whether the Western powers would\nproceed with Russia, and therefore against Japan, or with the Axis, and\ntherefore in alliance with Japan.] [Japan for her part considered that if she was to raise the standard of\nliving of her large population and to remain a world power, she must\nbring into being her \"Greater East Asia\", so as to have the needed raw\nmaterial sources and export markets in the event of a collision with the\nWestern powers; in addition to this, she needed a security girdle as\nextensive as possible in case of a conflict with Russia.] [In any case,\n\"Greater East Asia\" must be secured before the European conflict should\nbreak out.] [4 _The Sino-Japanese war_ (1937-1945)\n\nAccordingly, from 1933 onward Japan followed up her conquest of\nManchuria by bringing her influence to bear in Inner Mongolia and in\nNorth China.] [She succeeded first, by means of an immense system of\nsmuggling, currency manipulation, and propaganda, in bringing a number\nof Mongol princes over to her side, and then (at the end of 1935) in\nestablishing a semi-dependent government in North China.] [Chiang Kai-shek\ntook no action.] [The signal for the outbreak of war was an \"incident\" by the Marco Polo\nBridge, south of Peking (July 7th, 1937).] [The Japanese government\nprofited by a quite unimportant incident, undoubtedly provoked by the\nJapanese, in order to extend its dominion a little further.] [China still\nhesitated; there were negotiations.] [Japan brought up reinforcements and\nput forward demands which China could not be expected to be ready to\nfulfil.] [Japan then occupied Peking and Tientsin and wide regions between\nthem and south of them.] [The Chinese soldiers stationed there withdrew\nalmost without striking a blow, but formed up again and began to offer\nresistance.] [In order to facilitate the planned occupation of North\nChina, including the province of Shantung, Japan decided on a\ndiversionary campaign against Shanghai.] [The Nanking government sent its\nbest troops to the new front, and held it for nearly three months\nagainst superior forces; but meanwhile the Japanese steadily advanced in\nNorth China.] [On November 9th Nanking fell into their hands.] [By the\nbeginning of January 1938, the province of Shantung had also been\nconquered.] [Chiang Kai-shek and his government fled to Ch'ung-k'ing (Chungking), the\nmost important commercial and financial centre of the interior after\nHankow, which was soon threatened by the Japanese fleet.] [By means of a\nnumber of landings the Japanese soon conquered the whole coast of China,\nso cutting off all supplies to the country; against hard fighting in\nsome places they pushed inland along the railways and conquered the\nwhole eastern half of China, the richest and most highly developed part\nof the country.] [Chiang Kai-shek had the support only of the\nagriculturally rich province of Szechwan, and of the scarcely developed\nprovinces surrounding it.] [Here there was as yet no industry.] [Everything\nin the way of machinery and supplies that could be transported from the\nhastily dismantled factories was carried westward.] [Students and\nprofessors went west with all the contents of their universities, and\nworked on in small villages under very difficult conditions--one of the\nmost memorable achievements of this war for China.] [But all this was by\nno means enough for waging a defensive war against Japan.] [Even the\nfamous Burma Road could not save China.] [By 1940-1941 Japan had attained her war aim: China was no longer a\ndangerous adversary.] [She was still able to engage in small-scale\nfighting, but could no longer secure any decisive result.] [Puppet\ngovernments were set up in Peking, Canton, and Nanking, and the Japanese\nwaited for these governments gradually to induce supporters of Chiang\nKai-shek to come over to their side.] [Most was expected of Wang\nChing-wei, who headed the new Nanking government.] [He was one of the\noldest followers of Sun Yat-sen, and was regarded as a democrat.] [In\n1925, after Sun Yat-sen's death, he had been for a time the head of the\nNanking government, and for a short time in 1930 he had led a government\nin Peking that was opposed to Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorship.] [Beyond any\nquestion Wang still had many followers, including some in the highest\ncircles at Chungking, men of eastern China who considered that\ncollaboration with Japan, especially in the economic field, offered good\nprospects.] [Japan paid lip service to this policy: there was talk of\nsister peoples, which could help each other and supply each other's\nneeds.] [There was propaganda for a new \"Greater East Asian\" philosophy,\n_Wang-tao_, in accordance with which all the peoples of the East could\nlive together in peace under a thinly disguised dictatorship.] [What\nactually happened was that everywhere Japanese capitalists established\nthemselves in the former Chinese industrial plants, bought up land and\nsecurities, and exploited the country for the conduct of their war.] [After the great initial successes of Hitlerite Germany in 1939-1941,\nJapan became convinced that the time had come for a decisive blow\nagainst the positions of the Western European powers and the United\nStates in the Far East.] [Lightning blows were struck at Hong Kong and\nSingapore, at French Indo-China, and at the Netherlands East Indies.] [The\nAmerican navy seemed to have been eliminated by the attack on Pearl\nHarbour, and one group of islands after another fell into the hands of\nthe Japanese.] [Japan was at the gates of India and Australia.] [Russia was\ncarrying on a desperate defensive struggle against the Axis, and there\nwas no reason to expect any intervention from her in the Far East.] [Greater East Asia seemed assured against every danger.] [The situation of Chiang Kai-shek's Chungking government seemed hopeless.] [Even the Burma Road was cut, and supplies could only be sent by air;\nthere was shortage of everything.] [With immense energy small industries\nwere begun all over western China, often organized as co-operatives;\nroads and railways were built--but with such resources would it ever be\npossible to throw the Japanese into the sea?] [Everything depended on\nholding out until a new page was turned in Europe.] [Infinitely slow\nseemed the progress of the first gleams of hope--the steady front in\nBurma, the reconquest of the first groups of inlands; the first bomb\nattacks on Japan itself.] [Even in May, 1945, with the war ended in\nEurope, there seemed no sign of its ending in the Far East.] [Then came\nthe atom bomb, bringing the collapse of Japan; the Japanese armies\nreceded from China, and suddenly China was free, mistress once more in\nher own country as she had not been for decades.] [Chapter Twelve\n\n\nPRESENT-DAY CHINA\n\n1 _The growth of communism_\n\nIn order to understand today's China, we have to go back in time to\nreport events which were cut short or left out of our earlier discussion\nin order to present them in the context of this chapter.] [Although socialism and communism had been known in China long ago, this\nline of development of Western philosophy had interested Chinese\nintellectuals much less than liberalistic, democratic Western ideas.] [It\nwas widely believed that communism had no real prospects for China, as a\ndictatorship of the proletariat seemed to be relevant only in a highly\nindustrialized and not in an agrarian society.] [Thus, in its beginning\nthe \"Movement of May Fourth\" of 1919 had Western ideological traits but\nwas not communistic.] [This changed with the success of communism in\nRussia and with the theoretical writings of Lenin.] [Here it was shown\nthat communist theories could be applied to a country similar to China\nin its level of development.] [Already from 1919 on, some of the leaders\nof the Movement turned towards communism: the National University of\nPeking became the first centre of this movement, and Ch'en Tu-hsiu, then\ndean of the College of Letters, from 1920 on became one of its leaders.] [Hu Shih did not move to the left with this group; he remained a liberal.] [But another well-known writer, Lu Hsuen (1881-1936), while following Hu\nShih in the \"Literary Revolution,\" identified politically with Ch'en.] [There was still another man, the Director of the University Library, Li\nTa-chao, who turned towards communism.] [With him we find one of his\nemployees in the Library, Mao Tse-tung.] [In fact, the nucleus of the\nCommunist Party, which was officially created as late as 1921, was a\nstudent organization including some professors in Peking.] [On the other\nhand, a student group in Paris had also learned about communism and had\norganized; the leaders of this group were Chou En-lai and Li Li-san.] [A\nlittle later, a third group organized in Germany; Chu Te belonged to\nthis group.] [The leadership of Communist China since 1949 has been in the\nhands of men of these three former student groups.] [After 1920, Sun Yat-sen, too, became interested in the developments in\nSoviet Russia.] [Yet, he never actually became a communist; his belief\nthat the soil should belong to the tiller cannot really be combined with\ncommunism, which advocates the abolition of individual land-holdings.] [Yet, Soviet Russia found it useful to help Sun Yat-sen and advised the\nChinese Communist Party to collaborate with the KMT (Kuomintang).] [This\ncollaboration, not always easy, continued until the fall of Shanghai in\n1927.] [In the meantime, Mao Tse-tung had given up his studies in Peking and had\nreturned to his home in Hunan.] [Here, he organized his countrymen, the\nfarmers of Hunan.] [It is said that at the verge of the northern\nexpedition of Chiang Kai-shek, Mao's adherents in Hunan already numbered\nin the millions; this made the quick and smooth advance of the\ncommunist-advised armies of Chiang Kai-shek possible.] [Mao developed his\nideas in written form in 1927; he showed that communism in China could\nbe successful only if it was based upon farmers.] [Because of this\nunorthodox attitude, he was for years severely attacked as a\ndeviationist.] [When Chiang Kai-shek separated from the KMT in 1927, the main body of\nthe KMT remained in Hankow as the legal government.] [But now, while\nChiang Kai-shek executed all leftists, union leaders, and communists who\nfell into his hands, tensions in Hankow increased between the Chinese\nCommunist Party and the rest of the KMT.] [Finally, the KMT turned against\nthe communists and reunited with Chiang Kai-shek.] [The remaining\ncommunists retreated to the Hunan-Kiangsi border area, the centre of\nMao's activities; even the orthodox communist wing, which had condemned\nMao, now had to come to him for protection from the KMT.] [A small\ncommunist state began to develop in Kiangsi, in spite of pressure and,\nlater, attacks of the KMT against them.] [By 1934, this pressure became so\nstrong that Kiangsi had to be abandoned, and in the epic \"Long March\"\nthe rest of the communists and their army fought their way through all\nof western and north-western China into the sparsely inhabited,\nunderdeveloped northern part of Shensi, where a new socialistic state\nwas created with Yen-an as its capital.] [After the fall of the communist enclave in Kiangsi, the prospects for\nthe Nationalist regime were bright; indeed, the unification of China was\nalmost achieved.] [At this moment a new Japanese invasion threatened and\ndemanded the full attention of the regime.] [Thus, in spite of talk about\nland reform and other reforms which might have led to a liberalization\nof the government, no attention was given to internal and social\nproblems except to the suppression of communist thought.] [Although all\nleftist publications were prohibited, most historians and sociologists\nsucceeded in writing Marxist books without using Marxist terminology, so\nthat they escaped Chiang's censors.] [These publications contributed\ngreatly to preparing China's intellectuals and youth for communism.] [When the Japanese War began, the communists in Yen-an and the\nNationalists under Chiang Kai-shek agreed to co-operate against the\ninvaders.] [Yet, each side remembered its experiences in 1927 and\ndistrusted the other.] [Chiang's resistance against the invaders became\nless effective after the Japanese occupied all of China's ports;\nsupplies could reach China only in small quantities by airlift or via\nthe Burma Road.] [There was also the belief that Japan could be defeated\nonly by an attack on Japan itself and that this would have to be\nundertaken by the Western powers, not by China.] [The communists, on their\nside, set up a guerrilla organization behind the Japanese lines, so\nthat, although the Japanese controlled the cities and the lines of\ncommunication, they had little control over the countryside.] [The\ncommunists also attempted to infiltrate the area held by the\nNationalists, who in turn were interested in preventing the communists\nfrom becoming too strong; so, Nationalist troops guarded also the\nborders of communist territory.] [American politicians and military advisers were divided in their\nopinions.] [Although they recognized the internal weakness of the\nNationalist government, the fighting between cliques within the\ngovernment, and the ever-increasing corruption, some advocated more help\nto the Nationalists and a firm attitude against the communists.] [Others,\ninfluenced by impressions gained during visits to Yen-an, and believing\nin the possibility of honest co-operation between a communist regime and\nany other, as Roosevelt did, attempted to effect a coalition of the\nNationalists with the communists.] [At the end of the war, when the Nationalist government took over the\nadministration, it lacked popular support in the areas liberated from\nthe Japanese.] [Farmers who had been given land by the communists, or who\nhad been promised it, were afraid that their former landlords, whether\nthey had remained to collaborate with the Japanese or had fled to West\nChina, would regain control of the land.] [Workers hoped for new social\nlegislation and rights.] [Businessmen and industrialists were faced with\ndestroyed factories, worn-out or antiquated equipment, and an unchecked\ninflation which induced them to shift their accounts into foreign banks\nor to favour short-term gains rather than long-term investments.] [As in\nall countries which have suffered from a long war and an occupation,\nthe youth believed that the old regime had been to blame, and saw\npromise and hope on the political left.] [And, finally, the Nationalist\nsoldiers, most of whom had been separated for years from their homes and\nfamilies, were not willing to fight other Chinese in the civil war now\nwell under way; they wanted to go home and start a new life.] [The\ncommunists, however, were now well organized militarily and well\nequipped with arms surrendered by the Japanese to the Soviet armies as\nwell as with arms and ammunition sold to them by KMT soldiers; moreover,\nthey were constantly strengthened by deserters from the KMT.] [The civil\nwar witnessed a steady retreat by the KMT armies, which resisted only\nsporadically.] [By the end of 1948, most of mainland China was in the\nhands of the communists, who established their new capital in Peking.] [2 _Nationalist China in Taiwan_\n\nThe Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan with those soldiers who\nremained loyal.] [This island was returned to China after the defeat of\nJapan, though final disposition of its status had not yet been\ndetermined.] [Taiwan's original population had been made up of more than a dozen\ntribes who are probably distant relatives of tribes in the Philippines.] [These are Taiwan's \"aborigines,\" altogether about 200,000 people in\n1948.] [At about the time of the Sung dynasty, Chinese began to establish\noutposts on the island; these developed into regular agricultural\nsettlements toward the end of the Ming dynasty.] [Immigration increased in\nthe eighteenth and especially the nineteenth centuries.] [These Chinese\nimmigrants and their descendants are the \"Taiwanese,\" Taiwan's main\npopulation of about eight million people as of 1948.] [Taiwan was at first a part of the province of Fukien, whence most of its\nChinese settlers came; there was also a minority of Hakka, Chinese from\nKuangtung province.] [When Taiwan was ceded to Japan, it was still a\ncolonial area with much lawlessness and disorder, but with a number of\nflourishing towns and a growing population.] [The Japanese, who sent\nadministrators but no settlers, established law and order, protected the\naborigines from land-hungry Chinese settlers, and attempted to abolish\nheadhunting by the aborigines and to raise the cultural level in\ngeneral.] [They built a road and railway system and strongly stressed the\nproduction of sugar cane and rice.] [During the Second World War, the\nisland suffered from air attacks and from the inability of the Japanese\nto protect its industries.] [After Chiang Kai-shek and the remainder of his army and of his\ngovernment officials arrived in Taiwan, they were followed by others\nfleeing from the communist regime, mainly from Chekiang, Kiangsu, and\nthe northern provinces of the mainland.] [Eventually, there were on Taiwan\nabout two million of these \"mainlanders,\" as they have sometimes been\ncalled.] [When the Chinese Nationalists took over from the Japanese, they assumed\nall the leading positions in the government.] [The Taiwanese nationals who\nhad opposed the Japanese were disappointed; for their part, the\nNationalists felt threatened because of their minority position.] [The\nnext years, especially up to 1952, were characterized by terror and\nbloodshed.] [Tensions persisted for many years, but have lessened since\nabout 1960.] [The new government of Taiwan resembled China's pre-war government under\nChiang Kai-shek.] [First, to maintain his claim to the legitimate rule of\nall of China, Chiang retained--and controlled through his party, the\nKMT--his former government organization, complete with cabinet\nministers, administrators, and elected parliament, under the name\n\"Central Government of China.] [\" Secondly, the actual government of\nTaiwan, which he considered one of China's provinces, was organized as\nthe \"Provincial Government of Taiwan,\" whose leading positions were at\nfirst in the hands of KMT mainlanders.] [There have since been elections\nfor the provincial assembly, for local government councils and boards,\nand for various provincial and local positions.] [Thirdly, the military\nforces were organized under the leadership and command of mainlanders.] [And finally, the education system was set up in accordance with former\nmainland practices by mainland specialists.] [However, evolutionary\nchanges soon occurred.] [The government's aim was to make Mandarin Chinese the language of all\nChinese in Taiwan, as it had been in mainland China long before the War,\nand to weaken the Taiwanese dialects.] [Soon almost every child had a\nminimum of six years of education (increased in 1968 to nine years),\nwith Mandarin Chinese as the medium of instruction.] [In the beginning few\nTaiwanese qualified as teachers because, under Japanese rule, Japanese\nhad been the medium of instruction.] [As the children of Taiwanese and\nmainland families went to school together, the Taiwanese children\nquickly learned Mandarin, while most mainland children became familiar\nwith the Taiwan dialect.] [For the generation in school today, the\ndifference between mainlander and Taiwanese has lost its importance.] [At\nthe same time, more teachers of Taiwanese origin, but with modern\ntraining, have begun to fill first the ranks of elementary, later of\nhigh-school, and now even of university instructors, so that the end of\nmainland predominance in the educational system is foreseeable.] [The country is still ruled by the KMT, but although at first hardly any\nTaiwanese belonged to the Party, many of the elective jobs and almost\nall positions in the provincial government are at present (1969) in the\nhands of Taiwanese independents, or KMT members, more of whom are\nentering the central government as well.] [Because military service is\ncompulsory, the majority of common soldiers are Taiwanese: as career\nofficers grow older and their sons show little interest in an army\ncareer, more Taiwan-Chinese are occupying higher army positions.] [Foreign\npolicy and major political decisions still lie in the hands of mainland\nChinese, but economic power, once monopolized by them, is now held by\nTaiwan-Chinese.] [This shift gained impetus with the end of American economic aid, which\nhad tied local businessmen to American industry and thus worked to the\nadvantage of mainland Chinese, for these had contacts in the United\nStates, whereas the Taiwan-Chinese had contacts only in Japan.] [After the\ntermination of American economic aid, Taiwanese trade with Japan, the\nPhilippines, and Korea grew in importance and with it the economic\nstrength of Taiwan-Chinese businessmen.] [After 1964, Taiwan became a\nstrong competitor of Hong Kong and Japan in some export industries, such\nas electronics and textiles.] [We can regard Taiwan from 1964 on as\noccupying the \"takeoff\" stage, to use Rostow's terminology--a stage of\nrapid development of new, principally light and consumer, industries.] [There has been a rapid rise of industrial towns around the major cities,\nand there are already many factories in the countryside, even in some\nvillages.] [Electrification is essentially completed, and heavy\nindustries, such as fertilizer and assembly plants and oil refineries,\nnow exist.] [This rapid industrialization was accompanied by an unusually fast\ndevelopment of agriculture.] [A land-reform program limited land\nownership, reduced rents, and redistributed formerly Japanese-owned\nland.] [This was the program that the Nationalist government had attempted\nunsuccessfully to enforce in liberated China after the Pacific War.] [It\nis well known that the abolition of landlordism and the distribution of\nland to small farmers do not in themselves improve or enlarge\nproduction.] [The Joint Council on Rural Reconstruction, on which American\nadvisers worked with Chinese specialists to devise a system comparable\nto American agricultural extension services but possessing added\nelements of community development, introduced better seeds, more and\nbetter fertilizers, and numerous other innovations which the farmers\nquickly adopted, with the result that the island became\nself-supporting, in spite of a steadily growing population (thirteen\nmillion in 1968).] [At the same time, the government succeeded in stabilizing the currency\nand in eliminating corruption, thus re-establishing public confidence\nand security.] [Good incomes from farming as well as from industries were\ninvested on the island instead of flowing into foreign banks.] [In\naddition, the population had enough surplus money to buy the products of\nthe new domestic industries as these appeared.] [Thus, the\nindustrialization of Taiwan may be called \"industrialization without\ntears,\" without the suffering, that is, of proletarian masses who\nproduce objects which they cannot afford for themselves.] [Today, even\nlower middle-class families have television consoles which cost the\nequivalent of US $200; they own electric fans and radios; they are\nbuying Taiwan-produced refrigerators and air conditioners; and more and\nmore think of buying Taiwan-assembled cars.] [They encourage their\nchildren to finish high school and to attend college if at all possible;\ncompetition for admission is very strong in spite of the continuous\nbuilding of new schools and universities.] [Education to the level of the\nB.A. is of good quality, but for most graduate study students are still\nsent abroad.] [Taiwan complains about the \"brain drain,\" as about 93 per\ncent of its students who go overseas do not return, but in many fields\nit has sufficient trained manpower to continue its development, and in\nany case there would not be enough jobs available if all the students\nreturned.] [Most of these expatriates would be available to develop\nmainland China, if conditions there were to change in a way that would\nmake them compatible with the values with which these expatriates grew\nup on Taiwan, or with the Western democratic values which they absorbed\nabroad.] [Chiang Kai-shek's government still hopes that one day its people will\nreturn to the mainland.] [This hope has changed from hope of victory in a\ncivil war to hope of revolutionary developments within Communist China\nwhich might lead to the creation of a more liberal government in which\nmen with KMT loyalties could find a place.] [Because they are Chinese, the\npresent government and, it is believed, the majority of the people,\nconsider themselves a part of China from which they are temporarily\nseparated.] [Therefore they reject the idea, proposed by some American\npoliticians, that Taiwan should become an independent state.] [There are,\nmainly in the United States and Japan, groups of Taiwan-Chinese who\nfavour an independent Taiwan, which naturally would be close to Japan\npolitically and economically.] [One may agree with their belief that\nTaiwan, now larger than many European countries, could exist and\nflourish as an independent country; yet few Chinese will wish to divorce\nthemselves from the world's largest society.] [3 _Communist China_\n\nBoth Taiwan and mainland China have developed extremely quickly.] [The\nreasons do not seem to lie solely in the form of government, for the\npre-conditions for a \"takeoff\" existed in China as early as the 1920's,\nif not earlier.] [That is, the quick development of China could have\nstarted forty years ago but was prevented, primarily for political\nreasons.] [One of the main pre-conditions for quick development is that a\nlarge part of the population is inured to hard and repetitive work.] [The\nChinese farmer was accustomed to such work; he put more time and energy\ninto his land than any other farmer.] [He and his fellows were the\nindustrial workers of the future: reliable, hard-working, tractable,\nintelligent.] [To train them was easy, and absenteeism was never a serious\nproblem, as it is in other developing nations.] [Another pre-condition is\nthe existence of sufficient trained people to manage industry.] [Forty\nyears ago China had enough such men to start modernization; foreign\nassistance would have been necessary in some fields, but only briefly.] [Another requirement (at least in the period before radio and television)\nis general literacy.] [Meaningful statistical data on literacy in China\nbefore 1937 are lacking.] [Some authors remark that before 1800 probably\nall upper-class sons and most daughters were educated, and that men in\nthe middle and even in the lower classes often had some degree of\nliteracy.] [In this context \"educated\" means that these persons could read\nclassical poetry and essays written in literary Chinese, which was not\nthe language of daily conversation.] [\"Literacy,\" however, might mean only\nthat a person could read and write some 600 characters, enough to\nconduct a business and to read simple stories.] [Although newspapers today\nhave a stock of about 6,000 characters, only some 600 characters are\ncommonly used, and a farmer or worker can manage well with a knowledge\nof about 100 characters.] [Statements to the effect that in 1935 some 70\nper cent of all men and 95 per cent of all women were illiterate must\ninclude the last category in these figures.] [In any case, the literacy\nprogram of the Nationalist government had penetrated the countryside and\nhad reached even outlying villages before the Pacific War.] [The transportation system in China before the war was not highly\ndeveloped, but numerous railroads connecting the main industrial centers\ndid exist, and bus and truck services connected small towns with the\nlarger centers.] [What were missing in the pre-war years were laws to\nprotect the investor, efficient credit facilities, an insurance system\nsupported by law, and a modern tax structure.] [In addition, the monetary\nsystem was inflation-prone.] [Although sufficient capital probably could\nhave been mobilized within the country, the available resources either\nwent into foreign banks or were invested in enterprises providing a\nquick return.] [The failure to capitalize on existing means of development before the\nWar resulted from the chronic unrest caused by warlordism,\nrevolutionaries and foreign invaders, which occupied the energies of the\nNationalist government from its establishment to its fall.] [Once a stable\ngovernment free from internal troubles arose, national development,\nwhether private or socialist, could proceed at a rapid pace.] [Thus, the development of Communist China is not a miracle, possible only\nbecause of its form of government.] [What is unusual about Communist China\nis the fact that it is the only nation possessing a highly developed\nculture of its own to have jettisoned it in favour of a foreign one.] [What\nmissionaries had dreamed of for centuries and knew they would never\naccomplish, Mao Tse-tung achieved; he imposed an ideology created by\nEuropeans and understandable only in the context of Central Europe in\nthe nineteenth century.] [How long his success will last is uncertain.] [One\nschool of analysts believes that the friction between Soviet Russia and\nCommunist China indicates that China's communism has become Chinese.] [These men point out that Communist Chinese practices are often direct\ncontinuations of earlier Chinese practices, customs, and attitudes.] [And\nthey predict that this trend will continue, resulting in a form of\nsocialism or communism distinctly different from that found in any other\ncountry.] [Another school, however, believes that communism precedes\n\"Sinism,\" and that the regime will slowly eliminate traits which once\nwere typical of China and replace them with institutions developed out\nof Marxist thinking.] [In any case, for the present, although the\nCommunist government's aim is to impose communist thought and\ninstitutions in the country, typically Chinese traits are still\nomnipresent.] [Soon after the establishment of the Peking regime, a pact of friendship\nand alliance with the Soviet Union was concluded (February 1950), and\nSoviet specialists and civil and military products poured into China to\nspeed its development.] [China had to pay for this assistance as well as\nfor the loans it received from Russia, but the application of Russian\nexperience, often involving the duplication of whole factories, was\nsuccessful.] [In a few years, China developed its heavy industry, just as\nRussia had done.] [It should not be forgotten that Manchuria, as well as\nother parts of China, had modern heavy industries long before 1949.] [The\nManchurian factories ceased production because, when the Russians\ninvaded Manchuria at the end of the war, they removed the machinery to\nRussia.] [Russian aid to Communist China continued to 1960.] [Its termination slowed\ndevelopment briefly but was not disastrous.] [Russian assistance was a\n\"shot in the arm,\" as stimulating and about as lasting as American aid\nto Taiwan or to European countries.] [The stress laid upon heavy industry,\nin imitation of Russia, increased China's military strength quickly, but\nthe consumer had to wait for goods which would make his life more\nenjoyable.] [One cause of friction in China today concerns the relative\ndesirability of heavy industry versus consumer industry, a problem which\narose in Russia after the death of Stalin.] [China's military strength was first demonstrated in the Korean War when\nChinese armies entered Korea (October 1950).] [Their successes contributed\nto the prestige of the Peking regime at home and abroad, but they also\nforeshadowed a conflict with Soviet Russia, which regarded North Korea\nas lying within its own sphere of influence.] [In the same year, China invaded and conquered Tibet.] [Tibet, under Manchu\nrule until 1911, had achieved a certain degree of independence\nthereafter: no republican Chinese regime ever ruled Lhasa.] [The military\nconquest of Tibet is regarded by many as an act of Chinese imperialism,\nor colonialism, as the Tibetans certainly did not want to belong to\nChina or be forced to change their traditional form of government.] [Having regarded themselves as subjects of the Manchu but not of the\nChinese, they rose against the communist rulers in March 1959, but\nwithout success.] [Chinese control of Tibet, involving the construction of numerous roads,\nairstrips, and military installations, as well as differences concerning\nthe international border, led in 1959 to conflicts with India, a country\nwhich had previously sided with the new China in international affairs.] [Indeed, the borders were uncertain and looked different depending on\nwhether one used Manchu or Indian maps.] [China's other border problem was\nwith Burma.] [Early in 1960 the two countries concluded a border agreement\nwhich ended disputes dating from British colonial times.] [Very early in its existence Communist China assumed control of Sinkiang,\nChinese Central Asia, a large area originally inhabited by Turkish and\nMongolian tribes and states, later conquered by the Manchu, and then\nintegrated into China in the early nineteenth century.] [The communist\naction was to be expected, although after the Revolution of 1911 Chinese\nrule over this area had been spotty, and during the Pacific War some\nSoviet-inspired hope had existed that Sinkiang might gain independence,\nfollowing the example of Outer Mongolia, another country which had been\nattached to the Manchu until 1911 and which, with Russian assistance,\nhad gained its independence from China.] [Sinkiang is of great importance\nto Communist China as the site of large sources of oil and of atomic\nindustries and testing grounds.] [The government has stimulated and often\nforced Chinese immigration into Sinkiang, so that the erstwhile Turkish\nand Mongolian majorities have become minorities, envious of their ethnic\nbrothers in Soviet Central Asia who enjoy a much higher standard of\nliving and more freedom.] [Inner Mongolia had a brief dream of independence under Japanese\nprotection during the war.] [But the majority of the population were\nChinese, and already before the Pacific War, the country had been\ndivided into three Chinese provinces, of which the Chinese Communists\ngained control without delay.] [In general, when the Chinese Communists discuss territorial claims, they\nappear to seek the restoration of borders that China claimed in the\neighteenth century.] [Thus, they make occasional remarks about the Hi area\nand parts of Eastern Siberia, which the Manchu either lost to the\nRussians or claimed as their territory.] [North Vietnam is probably aware\nthat Imperial China exercised political rights over Tongking and Annam\n(the present-day North and part of South Vietnam).] [And, treaty or no,\nthe Sino-Burmese question may be reopened one day, for Burma was\nsemi-dependent on China under the Manchu.] [The build-up of heavy industry enabled China to conduct an aggressive\npolicy towards the countries surrounding her, but industrialization had\nto be paid for, and, as in other countries, it was basically agriculture\nthat had to create the necessary capital.] [Therefore, in June 1950 a\nland-reform law was promulgated.] [By October 1952 it had been implemented\nat an estimated cost of two million human lives: the landlords.] [The next\nstep, socialization of the land, began in 1953.] [The co-operative farms were supposed to achieve higher production than\nsmall individual farms.] [It may be that any farmer, but particularly the\nChinese, is emotionally involved in his crop, in contrast to the\nindustrial worker, who often is alienated from the product he makes.] [Thus the farmer is unwilling to put unlimited energy and time into\nworking on a farm that does not belong to him.] [But it may also be that\nthe application of principles of industrial operation to agriculture\nfails because emergencies often occur in farming and are followed by\nperiods of leisure, whereas in industry steady work is possible.] [In any case, in 1956 strains began to appear in China's economy.] [In\nearly 1958 the \"Great Leap Forward\" was promoted in an attempt to speed\nproduction in all sectors.] [Soon after, the first communes were created,\nagainst the advise of Russian specialists.] [The objective of the communes\nseems to have been not only the creation of a new organizational form\nwhich would allow the government to exercise more pressure upon farmers\nto increase production, but also the correlation of labor and other\nneeds of industry with agriculture.] [The communes may have represented an\nattempt to set up an organization which could function independently,\neven in the event of a governmental breakdown in wartime.] [At the same\ntime, the decentralization of industries began and a people's militia\nwas created.] [The \"back-yard furnaces,\" which produced high-cost iron of\nlow quality, seem to have had a similar purpose: to teach citizens how\nto produce iron for armaments in case of war and enemy occupation, when\nonly guerrilla resistance would be possible.] [In the same year,\naggressive actions against offshore, Nationalist-held islands increased.] [China may have believed that war with the United States was imminent.] [Perhaps as a result of Russian talks with China, a detente followed in\n1959, but so too did increased tension between Russia and China, while\nthe results of the Great Leap and its policies proved catastrophic.] [The\nyears 1961-64 provided a needed respite from the failures of the Great\nLeap.] [Farmers regained limited rights to income from private efforts,\nand improved farm techniques such as better seed and the use of\nfertilizer began to produce results.] [China can now feed her population\nin normal years.] [Chinese leaders realize that an improved level of living is difficult to\nattain while the birth rate remains high.] [They have hesitated to adopt a\nfamily-planning policy, which would fly in the face of Marxist doctrine,\nalthough for a short period family planning was openly recommended.] [Their most efficient method of limiting the birth rate has been to\nrecommend postponement of marriage.] [First the limitation of private enterprise and business and then the\nnationalization of all important businesses following the completion of\nland reform deprived many employers as well as small shopkeepers of an\noccupation.] [But the new industries could not absorb all of the labor\nthat suddenly became available.] [When rural youth inundated the cities in\nsearch of employment, the government returned the excess urban\npopulation to die countryside and recruited students and other urban\nyouth to work on farms.] [Reeducation camps in outlying areas also\nprovided cheap farm labor.] [The problem facing China or any nation that modernizes and\nindustrializes in the twentieth century can be simply stated.] [Nineteenth-century industry needed large masses of workers which only\nthe rural areas could supply; and, with the development of farming\nmethods, the countryside could afford to send its youth to the cities.] [Twentieth-century industry, on the other hand, needs technicians and\nhighly qualified personnel, often with college degrees, but few\nunskilled workers.] [China has traditionally employed human labor where\nmachines would have been cheaper and more efficient, simply because\nlabor was available and capital was not.] [But since, with the growth of\nmodern industry and modern farming, the problem will arise again, the\npolicy of employing urban youth on farms is shortsighted.] [The labor force also increased as a result of the \"liberation\" of women,\nin which the marriage law of April 1950 was the first step.] [Nationalist\nChina had earlier created a modern and liberal marriage law; moreover,\nwomen were never the slaves that they have sometimes been painted.] [In\nmany parts of China, long before the Pacific War, women worked in the\nfields with their husbands.] [Elsewhere they worked in secondary\nagricultural industries (weaving, preparation of food conserves, home\nindustries, and even textile factories) and provided supplementary\nincome for their families.] [All that \"liberation\" in 1950 really meant\nwas that women had to work a full day as their husbands did, and had, in\naddition, to do house work and care for their children much as before.] [The new marriage law did, indeed, make both partners equal; it also made\nit easier for men to divorce their wives, political incompatibility\nbecoming a ground for divorce.] [The ideological justification for a new marriage law was the\ndesirability of destroying the traditional Chinese family and its\neconomic basis because a close family, and all the more an extended\nfamily or a clan, could obviously serve as a center of resistance.] [Land\ncollectivization and the nationalization of business destroyed the\neconomic basis of families.] [The \"liberation\" of women brought them out\nof the house and made it possible for the government to exploit\ndissension between husband and wife, thereby increasing its control over\nthe family.] [Finally, the new education system, which indoctrinated all\nchildren from nursery to the end of college, separated children from\nparents, thus undermining parental control and enabling the state to\nintimidate parents by encouraging their children to denounce their\n\"deviations.] [\" Sporadic efforts to dissolve the family completely by\nseparating women from men in communes--recalling an attempt made almost\na century earlier by the T'ai-p'ing--were unsuccessful.] [The best formula for a revolution seems to involve turning youth against\nits elders, rather than turning one class against another.] [Not all\nsocieties have a class system so clear-cut that class antagonism is\neffective.] [On the other hand, Chinese youth, in its opposition to the\n\"establishment,\" to conservatism, to traditional religion, to blind\nemulation of Western customs and institutions, to the traditional family\nstructure and the position of women, had hopes that communism would\neradicate the specific \"evil\" which each individual wanted abolished.] [Mao and his followers had once been such rebellious youths, but by the\n1960's they were mostly old men and a new youth had appeared, a\ngeneration of revolutionaries for whom the \"old regime\" was dim history,\nnot reality.] [In the struggle between Mao and Liu Shao-ch'i, which became\nincreasingly apparent in 1966, Mao tried to retain his power by\nmobilizing young people as \"Red Guards\" and by inciting them to make the\n\"Great Proletarian Revolution.] [\" The motives behind the struggle are\ndiverse.] [It is on the one hand a conflict of persons contending for\npower, but there are also disagreements over theory: for example, should\nChina's present generation toil to make possible a better life only for\nthe next generation, or should it enjoy the fruits of its labor, after\nits many years of suffering?] [Mao opposes such \"weakening\" and favours a\nnew generation willing to endure hardships, as he did in his youth.] [There is also a question whether the Chinese Communist Party under the\nbanner of Maoism should replace the Russian party, establish Mao as the\nfourth founder after Marx, Lenin, and Stalin, and become the leader of\nworld communism, or whether it should collaborate with the Russian\nparty, at least temporarily, and thus ensure China Russian support.] [When, however, Chinese youth was summoned to take up the fight for Mao\nand his group, forces were loosed which could not be controlled.] [Following independent action by youth groups similar in nature to youth\nrevolts in Western countries, the power and prestige of older leaders\nsuffered.] [Even now (1969) it is impossible to re-establish unity and\norder; the Mao and Liu groups still oppose each other, and local\nfactions have arisen.] [Violent confrontations, often resulting in\nhundreds of deaths, occur in many provinces.] [The regime is no longer so\nstrong and unified as it was before 1966, although its end is not in\nsight.] [Quite possibly far-reaching changes may occur in the future.] [Three factors will probably influence the future of China.] [First, the\nemergence of neo-communism, as in Czechoslovakia in 1968, in an attempt\nto soften traditional communist practice.] [Second, the outcome of the war\nin Vietnam.] [Will China be able to continue its eighteenth-century dream\nof direct or indirect domination of South-east Asia?] [Will North Vietnam\ndetach itself from China and attach itself more closely to Russia?] [Will\nRussia and China continue to create separate spheres of influence in\nAsia, Africa, and South America?] [The first factor depends on\ndevelopments inside China, the second on events outside, and at least in\npart on decisions in the United States, Japan, and Europe.] [The third factor has to do with human nature.] [One may justifiably ask\nwhether the change in human personality which Chinese communism has\nattempted to achieve is possible, let alone desirable.] [Studies of\nanimals and of human beings have demonstrated a tendency to identify\nwith a territory, with property, and with kin.] [Can the Chinese eradicate\nthis tendency?] [The Chinese have been family-centered and accustomed to\nsubordinating their individual inclinations to the requirements of\nfamily and neighborhood.] [But beyond these established frameworks they\nhave been individualistic and highly idiosyncratic at all times.] [Under\nthe communist regime, however, the government is omnipresent, and people\nmust toe the official line.] [One senses the tragedy that affects\nwell-known scholars, writers and poets, who must degrade themselves,\ntheir work, their past and their families in order to survive.] [They may\nhope for comprehension of their actions, but nonetheless they must\nsuffer shame.] [Will the present government change the minds of these men\nand eradicate their feelings?] [Communist China has made great progress, no doubt.] [Soon it may equal\nother developed nations.] [But its progress has been achieved at an\nunnecessary cost in human lives and happiness.] [That the regime is no longer so strong and unified as it was before 1966\ndoes not mean that its end is in sight.] [Far-reaching changes may occur\nin the near future.] [Public opinion is impressed with mainland China's\nprogress, as the world usually is with strong nations.] [And public\nopinion is still unimpressed by the achievements of Taiwan and has\nhardly begun to change its attitude toward the government of the\n\"Republic of China.] [\" To the historian and the sociologist, the\nexperience of Taiwan indicates that China, if left alone and freed from\nideological pressures, could industrialize more quickly than any other\npresently underdeveloped nation.] [Taiwan offers a model with which to\ncompare mainland China.] [NOTES AND REFERENCES\n\nThe following notes and references are intended to help the interested\nreader.] [They draw his attention to some more specialized literature in\nEnglish, and occasionally in French and German.] [They also indicate for\nthe more advanced reader the sources for some of the interpretations of\nhistorical events.] [As such sources are most often written in Chinese or\nJapanese and, therefore, inaccessible to most readers, only brief hints\nand not full bibliographical data are given.] [The specialists know the\nnames and can easily find details in the standard bibliographies.] [The\ngeneral reader will profit most from the bibliography on Chinese history\npublished each year in the _Journal of Asian Studies_.] [These Notes do\nnot mention the original Chinese sources which are the factual basis of\nthis book.] [_Chapter One_\n\np. 7: Reference is made here to the _T'ung-chien kang-mu_ and its\ntranslation by de Mailla (1777-85).] [Criticism by O. Franke, Ku\nChieh-kang and his school, also by G. Haloun.] [p. 8: For the chronology, I rely here upon Ijima Tadao and my own\nresearch.] [Excavations at Chou-k'ou-tien still continue and my account\nshould be taken as very preliminary.] [An earlier analysis is given by E.\nvon Eickstedt (_Rassendynamik von Ostasien_, Berlin 1944).] [For the\nfollowing periods, the best general study is still J.G. Andersson,\n_Researches into the Prehistory of the Chinese_, Stockholm 1943.] [A great\nnumber of new findings has been made recently, but no comprehensive\nanalysis in a Western language is available.] [p. 9: Comparison with Ainu has been made by Weidenreich.] [The theory of\ndesiccation of Asia is not the Huntington theory, but I rely here upon\narguments by J.G. Andersson and Sven Hedin.] [p. 10.] [The earlier theories of R. Heine-Geldern have been used here.] [p. 11: This is a summary of my own theories.] [Concerning the Tungus\ntribes, K. Jettmar (_Wiener Beitraege zur Kulturgeschichte_, vol. 9,\n1952, p. 484f and later studies) has proposed a more refined theory;\nother parts of the theory, as far as it is concerned with conditions in\nCentral Asia, have been modified by F. Kussmaul (in: _Tribus_, vol.\n1952-3, pp. 305-60).] [Archaeological data from Central Asia have been\nanalysed again by K. Jettmar (in: _The Museum of Far Eastern\nAntiquities, Bulletin_ No.] [23, 1951).] [The discussion on domestication of\nlarge animals relies on the studies by C.O. Sauer, H. von Wissmann,\nMenghin, Amschler, Flohr and, most recently, F. Han[vc]ar (in:\n_Saeculum_, vol. 10, 1959, pp. 21-37 with further literature), and also\non my own research.] [p. 12: An analysis of the situation in the South according to Western\nand Chinese studies is found in H.J. Wiens, _China's March toward the\nTropics_, Hamden 1954.] [Much further work is now published by Ling\nShun-sheng, Rui Yi-fu and other anthropologists in Taipei.] [The best\nanalysis of denshiring in the Far East is still the book by K.J. Pelzer,\n_Population and Land Utilization_, New York 1941.] [The anthropological\ntheories on this page are my own, influenced by ideas of R.\nHeine-Geldern and Gordon Luce.] [p. 14: Sociological theory, as developed by R. Thurnwald and others, has\nbeen used as a theoretical tool here, together with observations by A.\nCredner and H. Bernatzik.] [Concerning rice in Yang-shao see R.\nHeine-Geldern in _Anthropos_, vol. 27, p. 595.\n\np. 15: Wu Chin-ting defended the local origin of Yang-shao; T.J. Arne,\nJ.G. Andersson and many others suggested Western influences.] [Most\nrecently R. Heine-Geldern elaborated this theory.] [The allusion to\nIndo-Europeans refers to the studies by G. Haloun and others concerning\nthe Ta-Hsia, the later Yueeh-chih, and the Tocharian problem.] [p. 16: R. Heine-Geldern proposed a \"Pontic migration\".] [Yin Huan-chang\ndiscussed most recently Lung-shan culture and the mound-dwellers.] [p. 17: The original _Chu-shu chi-nien_ version of the stories about Yao\nhas been accepted here, together with my own research and the studies by\nB. Karlgren, M. Loehr, G. Haloun, E.H. Minns and others concerning the\norigin and early distribution of bronze and the animal style.] [Smith\nfamilies or tribes are well known from Central Asia, but also from India\nand Africa (see W. Ruben, _Eisenschmiede und Daemonen in Indien_, Leiden\n1939, for general discussion).--For a discussion of the Hsia see E.\nErkes.] [_Chapter Two_\n\np. 19: The discussion in this chapter relies mainly upon the Anyang\nexcavation reports and the studies by Tung Tso-pin and, most strongly,\nCh'en Meng-chia.] [In English, the best work is still H.G. Creel, _The\nBirth of China_, London 1936 and his more specialized _Studies in Early\nChinese Culture_, Baltimore 1937.\n\np. 20: The possibility of a \"megalithic\" culture in the Far East has\noften been discussed, by O. Menghin, R. Heine-Geldern, Cheng Te-k'un,\nLing Shun-sheng and others.] [Megaliths occur mainly in South-East Asia,\nsouthern China, Korea and Japan.--Teng Ch'u-min and others believe that\nsilk existed already in the time of Yang-shao.] [p. 21: Kuo Mo-jo believes, that the Shang already used a real plough\ndrawn by animals.] [The main discussion on ploughs in China is by Hsue\nChung-shu; for general anthropological discussion see E. Werth and H.\nKothe.] [p. 22: For the discussion of the T'ao-t'ieh see the research by B.\nKarlgren and C. Hentze.] [p. 23: I follow here mainly Ch'en Meng-chia, but work by B. Schindler,\nC. Hentze, H. Maspero and also my own research has been considered.] [p. 24: I am accepting here a narrow definition of feudalism (see my\n_Conquerors and Rulers_, Leiden 1952).--The division of armies into\n\"right\" and \"left\" is interesting in the light of the theories\nconcerning the importance of systems of orientation (Fr. Rock and\nothers).] [p. 25: Here, the work by W. Koppers, O. Spengler, F. Han[vc]ar, V.G.\nChilde and many others, concerning the domestication of the horse and\nthe introduction of the war-chariot in general, and work by Shih\nChang-ju, Ch'en Meng-chia, O. Maenchen, Uchida Gimpu and others\nconcerning horses, riding and chariots in China has been used, in\naddition to my own research.] [p. 26: Concerning the wild animals, I have relied upon Ch'en Meng-chia,\nHsue Chung-shu and Tung Tso-pin.--The discussion as to whether there was\na period of \"slave society\" (as postulated by Marxist theory) in China,\nand when it flourished, is still going on under the leadership of Kuo\nMo-jo and his group.] [I prefer to differentiate between slaves and serfs,\nand relied for factual data upon texts from oracle bones, not upon\nhistorical texts.--The problem of Shang chronology is still not solved,\nin spite of extensive work by Liu Ch'ao-yang, Tung Tso-pin and many\nJapanese and Western scholars.] [The old chronology, however, seems to be\nrejected by most scholars now.] [_Chapter Three_\n\np. 29: Discussing the early script and language, I refer to the great\nnumber of unidentified Shang characters and, especially, to the\ncomposite characters which have been mentioned often by C. Hentze in his\nresearch; on the other hand, the original language of the Chou may have\nbeen different from classical Chinese, if we can judge from the form of\nthe names of the earliest Chou ancestors.] [Problems of substrata\nlanguages enter at this stage.] [Our first understanding of Chou language\nand dialects seems to come through the method applied by P. Serruys,\nrather than through the more generally accepted theories and methods of\nB. Karlgren and his school.] [p. 30: I reject here the statement of classical texts that the last\nShang ruler was unworthy, and accept the new interpretation of Ch'en\nMeng-chia which is based upon oracle bone texts,--The most recent\ngeneral study on feudalism, and on feudalism in China, is in R.\nCoulborn, _Feudalism in History_, Princeton 1956.] [Stimulating, but in\nparts antiquated, is M. Granet, _La Feodalite Chinoise_, Oslo 1952.] [I\nrely here on my own research.] [The instalment procedure has been\ndescribed by H. Maspero and Ch'i Sz[)u]-ho.] [p. 31: The interpretation of land-holding and clans follows my own\nresearch which is influenced by Niida Noboru, Kat[=o] Shigeru and other\nJapanese scholars, as well as by G.] [Haloun.--Concerning the origin of\nfamily names see preliminarily Yang Hsi-mei; much further research is\nstill necessary.] [The general development of Chinese names is now studied\nby Wolfgang Bauer.--The spread of cities in this period has been studied\nby Li Chi, _The Formation of the Chinese People_, Cambridge 1928.] [My\ninterpretation relies mainly upon a study of the distribution of\nnon-Chinese tribes and data on early cities coming from excavation\nreports (see my \"Data on the Structure of the Chinese City\" in _Economic\nDevelopment and Cultural Change_, 1956, pp. 253-68, and \"The Formation\nof Chinese Civilization\" in _Sociologus_ 7, 1959, pp. 97-112).] [p. 32: The work on slaves by T. Pippon, E. Erkes, M. Wilbur, Wan\nKuo-ting, Kuo Mo-jo, Niida Noboru, Kao Nien-chih and others has been\nconsulted; the interpretation by E.G. Pulleyblank, however, was not\naccepted.] [p. 33: This interpretation of the \"well-field\" system relies in part\nupon the work done by Hsue Ti-shan, in part upon M. Granet and H.\nMaspero, and attempts to utilize insight from general anthropological\ntheory and field-work mainly in South-East Asia.] [Other interpretations\nhave been proposed by Yang Lien-sheng, Wan Kuo-ting, Ch'i Sz[)u]-ho P.\nDemieville, Hu Shih, Chi Ch'ao-ting, K.A. Wittfogel, and others Some\nauthors, such as Kuo Mo-jo, regard the whole system as an utopia, but\nbelieve in an original \"village community\".--The characterization of the\n_Chou-li_ relies in part upon the work done by Hsue Chung-shu and Ku\nChieh-kang on the titles of nobility, research by Yang K'uan and textual\ncriticism by B. Karlgren, O. Franke, and again Ku Chieh-kang and his\nschool.--The discussion on twin cities is intended to draw attention to\nits West Asian parallels, the \"acropolis\" or \"ark\" city, as well as to\nthe theories on the difference between Western and Asian cities (M.\nWeber) and the specific type of cities in \"dual societies\" (H. Boeke).] [p. 34: This is a modified form of the Hu Shih theory.--The problem of\nnomadic agrarian inter-action and conflict has been studied for a later\nperiod mainly by O. Lattimore.] [Here, general anthropological research as\nwell as my own have been applied.] [p. 36: The supra-stratification theory as developed by R. Thurnwald has\nbeen used as analytic tool here.] [p. 38: For this period, a novel interpretation is presented by R.L.\nWalker, _The Multi-State System of China_, Hamden 1953.] [For the concepts\nof sovereignty, I have used here the _Chou-li_ text and interpretations\nbased upon this text.] [p. 40: For the introduction of iron and the importance of Ch'i, see Chu\nHsi-tsu, Kuo Mo-jo, Yang K'uan, Sekino, Takeshi.--Some scholars (G.\nHaloun) tend to interpret attacks such as the one of 660 B.C. as attacks\nfrom outside the borders of China.] [p. 41: For Confucius see H.G. Creel, _Confucius_, New York 1949.] [I do\nnot, however, follow his interpretation, but rather the ideas of Hu\nShih, O. Franke and others.] [p. 42: For \"chuen-tz[)u]\" and its counterpart \"hsiao-jen\" see D. Bodde\nand Ch'en Meng-chia.] [p 43: I rely strongly here upon O. Franke and Ku Chieh-kang and upon my\nown work on eclipses.] [p. 44: I regard the Confucian traditions concerning the model emperors\nof early time as such a falsification.] [The whole concept of \"abdication\"\nhas been analysed by M. Granet.] [The later ceremony of abdication was\ndeveloped upon the basis of the interpretations of Confucius and has\nbeen studied by Ku Chieh-kang and Miyakawa Hisayuki.] [Already Confucius'\ndisciple Meng Tz[)u], and later Chuang Tz[)u] and Han Fei Tz[)u] were\nagainst this theory.--As a general introduction to the philosophy of\nthis period, Y.L. Feng's _History of Chinese Philosophy_, London 1937\nhas still to be recommended, although further research has made many\nadvances.--My analysis of the role of Confucianism in society is\ninfluenced by theories in the field of Sociology of religion.] [p. 45: The temple in Turkestan was in Khotan and is already mentioned in\nthe _Wei-shu_ chapter 102.] [The analysis of the famous \"Book on the\ntransfiguration of Lao Tz[)u] into a Western Barbarian\" by Wang\nWei-cheng is penetrating and has been used here.] [The evaluation of Lao\nTz[)u] and his pupils as against Confucius by J. Needham, in his\n_Science and Civilization in China_, Cambridge 1954 _et seq_.] [(in volume\n2) is very stimulating, though necessarily limited to some aspects only.] [p. 47: The concept of _wu-wei_ has often been discussed; some, such as\nMasaaki Matsumoto, interpreted the concept purely in social terms as\n\"refusal of actions carrying worldly estimation\".] [p. 49 Further literature concerning alchemy and breathing exercises is\nfound in J. Needham's book.] [_Chapter Four_\n\np. 51: I have used here the general framework of R.L. Walker, but more\nupon Yang K'uan's studies.] [p. 52: The interpretation of the change of myths in this period is based\nin part upon the work done by H. Maspero, G. Haloun, and Ku Chieh-kang.] [The analysis of legends made by B. Karlgren from a philological point of\nview (\"Legends and Cults in Ancient China\", _The Museum of Far Eastern\nAntiquities, Bulletin_ No.] [18, 1946, pp. 199-365) follows another\ndirection.] [p. 53: The discussion on riding involves the theories concerning\nhorse-nomadic tribes and the period of this way of life.] [It also\ninvolves the problem of the invention of stirrup and saddle.] [The saddle\nseems to have been used in China already at the beginning of our period;\nthe stirrup seems to be as late as the fifth century A.D.] [The article by\nA. Kroeber, _The Ancient Oikumene as an Historic Culture Aggregate_,\nHuxley Memorial Lecture for 1945, is very instructive for our problems\nand also for its theoretical approach.--The custom of attracting\nsettlers from other areas in order to have more production as well as\nmore manpower seems to have been known in India at the same time.] [p. 54: The work done by Kat[=o] Shigeru and Niida Noboru on property and\nfamily has been used here.] [For the later period, work done by Makino\nTatsumi has also been incorporated.--Literature on the plough and on\niron for implements has been mentioned above.] [Concerning the fallow\nsystem, I have incorporated the ideas of Kat[=o] Shigeru, [=O]shima\nToshikaza, Hsue Ti-shan and Wan Kuo-ting.] [Hsue Ti-shan believes that a\nkind of 3-field system had developed by this time.] [Traces of such a\nsystem have been observed in modern China (H.D. Scholz).] [For these\nquestions, the translation by N. Lee Swann, _Food and Money in Ancient\nChina_, 1959 is very important.] [p. 55: For all questions of money and credit from this period down to\nmodern times, the best brief introduction is by Lien-sheng Yang, _Money\nand Credit in China_, Cambridge 1952.] [The _Introduction to the Economic\nHistory of China_, London 1954, by E. Stuart Kirby is certainly still\nthe best brief introduction into all problems of Chinese Economic\nhistory and contains a bibliography in Western and Chinese-Japanese\nlanguages.] [Articles by Chinese authors on economic problems have been\ntranslated in E-tu Zen Sun and J. de Francis, _Chinese Social History_,\nWashington 1956.--Data on the size of early cities have been collected\nby T. Sekino and Kat[=o] Shigeru.] [p. 56: T. Sekino studied the forms of cities.] [C. Hentze believes that\nthe city even in the Shang period normally had a square plan.--T.] [Sekino\nhas also made the first research on city coins.] [Such a privilege and\nsuch independence of cities disappear later, but occasionally the\nprivilege of minting was given to persons of high rank.--K.A.] [Wittfogel,\n_Oriental Despotism_, New Haven 1957 regards irrigation as a key\neconomic and social factor and has built up his theory around this\nconcept.] [I do not accept his theory here or later.] [Evidence seems to\npoint towards the importance of transportation systems rather than of\ngovernment-sponsored or operated irrigation systems.--Concerning steel,\nwe follow Yang K'uan; a special study by J. Needham is under\npreparation.] [Centre of steel production at this time was Wan (later\nNanyang in Honan).--For early Chinese law, the study by A.F.P. Hulsewe,\n_Remnants of Han Law_, Leiden 1955 is the best work in English.] [He does\nnot, however, regard Li K'ui as the main creator of Chinese law, though\nKuo Mo-jo and others do.] [It is obvious, however, that Han law was not a\ncreation of the Han Chinese alone and that some type of code must have\nexisted before Han, even if such a code was not written by the man Li\nK'ui.] [A special study on Li was made by O. Franke.] [p. 57: In the description of border conditions, research by O. Lattimore\nhas been taken into consideration.] [p. 59: For Shang Yang and this whole period, the classical work in\nEnglish is still J.J.L. Duyvendak, _The Book of Lord Shang_, London\n1928; the translation by Ma Perleberg of _The Works of Kung-sun\nLung-tzu_, Hongkong 1952 as well as the translation of the _Economic\nDialogues in Ancient China: The Kuan-tzu_, edited by L. Maverick, New\nHaven 1954 have not found general approval, but may serve as\nintroductions to the way philosophers of our period worked.] [Han Fei\nTz[)u]; has been translated by W.K. Liao, _The Complete Works of Han Fei\nTz[)u]_, London 1939 (only part 1).] [p. 60: Needham does not have such a positive attitude towards Tsou Yen,\nand regards Western influences upon Tsou Yen as not too likely.] [The\ndiscussion on pp. 60-1 follows mainly my own researches.] [p. 61: The interpretation of secret societies is influenced by general\nsociological theory and detailed reports on later secret societies.] [S.\nMurayama and most modern Chinese scholars stress almost solely the\nsocial element in the so-called \"peasant rebellions\".] [_Chapter Five_\n\np. 63: The analysis of the emergence of Ch'in bureaucracy has profited\nfrom general sociological theory, especially M. Weber (see the new\nanalysis by R. Bendix, _Max Weber, an Intellectual Portrait_, Garden\nCity 1960, p. 117-157).] [Early administration systems of this type in\nChina have been studied in several articles in the journal _Yue-kung_\n(vol. 6 and 7).] [p. 65: In the discussion of language, I use arguments which have been\nbrought forth by P. Serruys against the previously generally accepted\ntheories of B.] [Karlgren.--For weights and measures I have referred to T.\nSekino, Liu Fu and Wu Ch'eng-lo.] [p. 66: For this period, D. Bodde's _China's First Unifier_, Leiden 1938\nand his _Statesman, Patriot, and General in Ancient China_, New Haven\n1940 remain valuable studies.] [_Chapter Six_\n\np. 71: The basic historical text for this whole period, the _Dynastic\nHistory of the Han Dynasty_, is now in part available in English\ntranslation (H.H. Dubs, _The History of the Former Han Dynasty_,\nBaltimore 1938, 3 volumes).] [p. 72: The description of the gentry is based upon my own research.] [Other scholars define the word \"gentry\", if applied to China,\ndifferently (some of the relevant studies are discussed in my note in\nthe _Bull.] [School of Orient.] [& African Studies_, 1955, p. 373 f.).] [p. 73: The theory of the cycle of mobility has been brought forth by Fr.\nL.K. Hsu and others.] [I have based my criticism upon a forthcoming study\nof _Social Mobility in Traditional Chinese Society_.] [The basic point is\nnot the momentary economic or political power of such a family, but the\nsocial status of the family (_Li-shih yen-chiu_, Peking 1955, No.] [4, p.\n122).] [The social status was, increasingly, defined and fixed by law\n(Ch'ue T'ung-tsu).--The difference in the size of gentry and other\nfamilies has been pointed out by a number of scholars such as Fr. L.K.\nHsu, H.T. Fei, O. Lang.] [My own research seems to indicate that gentry\nfamilies, on the average, married earlier than other families.] [p. 74: The Han system of examinations or rather of selection has been\nstudied by Yang Lien-sheng; and analysis of the social origin of\ncandidates has been made in the _Bull.] [Chinese Studies_, vol. 2, 1941,\nand 3, 1942.--The meaning of the term \"Hundred Families\" has been\ndiscussed by W. Eichhorn, Kuo Mo-jo, Ch'en Meng-chia and especially by\nHsue T'ung-hsin.] [It was later also a fiscal term.] [p. 75: The analysis of Hsiung-nu society is based mainly upon my own\nresearch.] [There is no satisfactory history of these northern federations\navailable in English.] [The compilation of W.M. MacGovern, _The Early\nEmpires of Central Asia_, Chapel Hill 1939, is now quite antiquated.--An\nattempt to construct a model of Central Asian nomadic social structure\nhas been made by E.E. Bacon, _Obok, a Study of Social Structure in\nEurasia_, New York 1958, but the model constructed by B. Vladimirtsov\nand modified by O. Lattimore remains valuable.--For origin and\nearly-development of Hsiung-nu society see O. Maenchen, K. Jettmar, B.\nBernstam, Uchida Gimpu and many others.] [p. 79: Material on the \"classes\" (_sz[)u] min_) will be found in a\nforthcoming book.] [Studies by Ch'ue T'ung-tsu and Tamai Korehiro are\nimportant here.] [An up-to-date history of Chinese education is still a\ndesideratum.] [p. 80: For Tung Chung-shu, I rely mainly upon O.] [Franke.--Some scholars\ndo not accept this \"double standard\", although we have clear texts which\nshow that cases were evaluated on the basis of Confucian texts and not\non the basis of laws.] [In fact, local judges probably only in exceptional\ncases knew the text of the law or had the code.] [They judged on the basis\nof \"customary law\".] [p. 81: Based mainly upon my own research.] [K.A. Wittfogel, _Oriental\nDespotism_, New Haven 1957, has a different interpretation.] [p. 82: Cases in which the Han emperors disregarded the law code were\nstudied by Y.] [Hisamura.--I have used here studies published in the\n_Bull, of Chinese Studies_, vol. 2 and 3 and in _Toyo gakuho_,\nvol. 8 and 9, in addition to my own research.] [p. 85: On local administration see Kat[=o] Shigeru and Yen Keng-wang's\nstudies.] [p. 86: The problem of the Chinese gold, which will be touched upon later\nagain, has gained theoretical interest, because it could be used as a\ntest of M. Lombard's theories concerning the importance of gold in the\nWest (_Annales, Economies, Societes, Civilisations_, vol. 12, Paris\n1957, No.] [1, p. 7-28).] [It was used in China from c.] [600 B.C. on in form\nof coins or bars, but disappeared almost completely from A.D. 200 on,\ni.e. the period of economic decline (see L.S. Yang, Kat[=o]\nShigeru).--The payment to border tribes occurs many times again in\nChinese history down to recent times; it has its parallel in British\npayments to tribes in the North-West Frontier Province in India which\ncontinued even after the Independence.] [p. 88: According to later sources, one third of the tributary gifts was\nused in the Imperial ancestor temples, one third in the Imperial\nmausolea, but one third was used as gifts to guests of the Emperor.--The\ntrade aspect of the tributes was first pointed but by E. Parker, later\nby O. Lattimore, recently by J.K.] [Fairbank.--The importance of Chang\nCh'ien for East-West contacts was systematically studied by B. Laufer;\nhis _Sino-Iranica_, Chicago 1919 is still a classic.] [p. 89: The most important trait which points to foreign trade, is the\noccurrence of glass in Chinese tombs in Indo-China and of glass in China\nproper from the fifth century B.C. on; it is assumed that this glass was\nimported from the Near East, possibly from Egypt (O. Janse, N. Egami,\nSeligman).] [p. 91: Large parts of the \"Discussions\" have been translated by Esson M.\nGale, _Discourses on Salt and Iron_, Leiden 1931; the continuation of\nthis translation is in _Jour.] [Royal As.] [Society, North-China Branch_\n1934.--The history of eunuchs in China remains to be written.] [They were\nknown since at least the seventh century B.C.] [The hypothesis has been\nmade that this custom had its origin in Asia Minor and spread from there\n(R.F. Spencer in _Ciba Symposia_, vol. 8, No.] [7, 1946 with references).] [p. 92: The main source on Wang Mang is translated by C.B. Sargent, _Wang\nMang, a translation_, Shanghai 1950 and H.H. Dubs, _History of the\nFormer Han Dynasty_, vol, 3, Baltimore 1955.\n\np. 93: This evaluation of the \"Old character school\" is not generally\naccepted.] [A quite different view is represented by Tjan Tjoe Som and\nR.P. Kramers and others who regard the differences between the schools\nas of a philological and not a political kind.] [I follow here most\nstrongly the Chinese school as represented by Ku Chieh-kang and his\nfriends, and my own studies.] [p. 93: Falsification of texts refers to changes in the Tso-chuan.] [My\ninterpretation relies again upon Ku Chieh-kang, and Japanese\nastronomical studies (Ijima Tadao), but others, too, admit\nfalsifications (H.H. Dubs); B. Karlgren and others regard the book as in\nits main body genuine.] [The other text mentioned here is the _Chou-li_\nwhich is certainly not written by Wang Mang (_Jung-chai Hsue-pi_ 16), but\nheavily mis-used by him (in general see S. Uno).] [p. 94: I am influenced here by some of H.H. Dubs's studies.] [For this and\nthe following period, the work by H. Bielenstein, _The Restoration of\nthe Han Dynasty_, Stockholm 1953 and 1959 is the best monograph.--The\n\"equalization offices\" and their influence upon modern United States has\nbeen studied by B. Bodde in the _Far Eastern Quarterly_, vol. 5, 1946.\n\np. 95: H. Bielenstein regards a great flood as one of the main reasons\nfor the breakdown of Wang Mang's rule.] [p. 98: For the understanding of Chinese military colonies in Central\nAsia as well as for the understanding of military organization, civil\nadministration and business, the studies of Lao Kan on texts excavated\nin Central Asia and Kansu are of greatest importance.] [p. 101: Mazdaistic elements in this rebellion have been mentioned mainly\nby H.H. Dubs.] [Zoroastrism (Zoroaster born 569 B.C.) and Mazdaism were\neminently \"political\" religions from their very beginning on.] [Most\nscholars admit the presence of Mazdaism in China only from 519 on\n(Ishida Mikinosuke, O. Franke).] [Dubs's theory can be strengthened by\nastronomical material.--The basic religious text of this group, the\n\"Book of the Great Peace\" has been studied by W. Eichhorn Maspero\nand Ho Ch'ang-ch'uen.] [p. 102: For the \"church\" I rely mainly upon H. Maspero and W. Eichhorn.] [p. 103: I use here concepts developed by Cheng Chen-to and especially by\nJung Chao-tsu.] [p. 104: Wang Ch'ung's importance has recently been mentioned again by J.\nNeedham.] [p. 105: These \"court poets\" have their direct parallel in Western Asia.] [This trend, however, did not become typical in China.--On the general\nhistory of paper read A. Kroeber, _Anthropology_, New York 1948, p.\n490f., and Dard Hunter, _Paper Making_, New York 1947 (2nd ed.).] [_Chapter Seven_\n\np. 109: The main historical sources for this period have been translated\nby Achilles Fang, _The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms_, Cambridge,\nMass.] [1952; the epic which describes this time is C.H. Brewitt-Taylor,\n_San Kuo, or Romance of the Three Kingdoms_, Shanghai 1925.\n\np. 112: For problems of migration and settlement in the South, we relied\nin part upon research by Ch'en Yuean and Wang Yi-t'ung.] [p. 114: For the history of the Hsiung-nu I am relying mainly upon my own\nstudies.] [p. 117: This analysis of tribal structure is based mainly upon my own\nresearch; it differs in detail from the studies by E. Bacon, _Obok, a\nStudy of Social Structure in Eurasia_, New York 1958, B. Vladimirtsov,\nO. Lattimore's _Inner Asian Frontiers of China_, New York 1951 (2nd\nedit.] [) and the studies by L.M.J. Schram, _The Monguors of the\nKansu-Tibetan Frontier_, Philadelphia 1954 and 1957.\n\np. 118: The use of the word \"Huns\" does not imply that we identify the\nearly or the late Hsiung-nu with the European Huns.] [This question is\nstill very much under discussion (O. Maenchen, W. Haussig, W. Henning,\nand others).] [p. 119: For the history of the early Hsien-pi states see the monograph\nby G. Schreiber, \"The History of the Former Yen Dynasty\", in _Monomenta\nSerica_, vol. 14 and 15 (1949-56).] [For all translations from Chinese\nDynastic Histories of the period between 220 and 960 the _Catalogue of\nTranslations from the Chinese Dynastic Histories for the Period\n220-960_, by Hans H. Frankel, Berkeley 1957, is a reliable guide.] [p. 125: For the description of conditions in Turkestan, especially in\nTunhuang, I rely upon my own studies, but studies by A. von Gabein, L.\nLigeti, J.R.] [Ware, O. Franke and Tsukamoto Zenryu have been used, too.] [p. 133: These songs have first been studied by Hu Shih, later by Chinese\nfolklorists.] [p. 134: For problems of Chinese Buddhism see Arthur F. Wright, _Buddhism\nin Chinese History_, Stanford 1959, with further bibliography.] [I have\nused for this and later periods, in addition to my own sociological\nstudies, R. Michihata, J. Gernet, and Tamai Korehiro.--It is interesting\nthat the rise of landowning temples in India occurred at exactly the\nsame time (R.S. Sharma in _Journ.] [Econ.] [and Soc. Hist.] [Orient_, vol. 1,\n1958, p. 316).] [Perhaps even more interesting, but still unstudied, is\nthe existence of Buddhist temples in India which owned land and villages\nwhich were donated by contributions from China.--For the use of foreign\nmonks in Chinese bureaucracies, I have used M. Weber's theory as an\ninterpretative tool.] [p. 135: The important deities of Khotan Buddhism are Vai['s]ramana and\nKubera, (research by P. Demieville, R. Stein and others).--Where, how,\nand why Hinayana and Mahayana developed as separate sects, is not yet\nstudied.] [Also, a sociological analysis of the different Buddhist sects\nin China has not even been attempted yet.] [p. 136: Such public religious disputations were known also in India.] [p. 137: Analysis of the tribal names has been made by L. Bazin.] [pp. 138-9: The personality type which was the ideal of the Toba\ncorresponded closely to the type described by G. Geesemann, _Heroische\nLebensform_, Berlin 1943.\n\np. 142: The Toba occur in contemporary Western sources as Tabar, Tabgac,\nTafkac and similar names.] [The ethnic name also occurs as a title (O.\nPritsak, P. Pelliot, W. Haussig and others).--On the _chuen-t'ien_ system\ncf. the article by Wan Kuo-ting in E-tu Zen Sun, _Chinese Social\nHistory_, Washington 1956, p. 157-184.] [I also used Yoshimi Matsumoto and\nT'ang Ch'ang-ju.--Census fragments from Tunhuang have been published by\nL. Giles, Niida Noboru and other Japanese scholars.] [p. 143: On slaves for the earlier time see M. Wilbur, _Slavery in China\nduring the Former Han Dynasty_, Chicago 1943.] [For our period Wang\nYi-t'ung and especially Niida Noboru and Ch'ue T'ung-tsu.] [I used for this\ndiscussion Niida, Ch'ue and Tamai Korehiro.--For the _pu-ch'ue_ I used in\naddition Yang Chung-i, H. Maspero, E. Balazs, W. Eichhorn.] [Yang's\narticle is translated in E-tu Zen Sun's book, _Chinese Social History_,\npp.] [142-56.--The question of slaves and their importance in Chinese\nsociety has always been given much attention by Chinese Communist\nauthors.] [I believe that a clear distinction between slaves and serfs is\nvery important.] [p. 145: The political use of Buddhism has been asserted for Japan as\nwell as for Korea and Tibet (H. Hoffmann, _Quellen zur Geschichte der\ntibetischen Bon-Religion_, Mainz 1950, p. 220 f.).] [A case could be made\nfor Burma.] [In China, Buddhism was later again used as a tool by rulers\n(see below).] [p. 146: The first text in which such problems of state versus church are\nmentioned is Mou Tz[)u] (P. Pelliot transl.).] [More recently, some of the\nproblems have been studied by R. Michihata and E. Zuercher.] [Michihata\nalso studied the temple slaves.] [Temple families were slightly different.] [They have been studied mainly by R. Michihata, J. Gernet and Wang\nYi-t'ung.] [The information on T'an-yao is mainly in _Wei-shu_ 114\n(transl.] [J.] [Ware).--The best work on Yuen-kang is now Seiichi Mizuno and\nToshio Nagahiro, _Yuen-kang.] [The Buddhist Cave-Temples of the Fifth\nCentury A.D. in North China_, Kyoto 1951-6, thus far 16 volumes.] [For\nChinese Buddhist art, the work by Tokiwa Daijo and Sekino Tadashi,\n_Chinese Buddhist Monuments_, Tokyo 1926-38, 5 volumes, is most\nprofusely illustrated.--As a general reader for the whole of Chinese\nart, Alexander Soper and L. Sickman's _The Art and Architecture of\nChina_, Baltimore 1956 may be consulted.] [p, 147: Zenryu Tsukamoto has analysed one such popular, revolutionary\nBuddhist text from the fifth century A.D. I rely here for the whole\nchapter mainly upon my own research.] [p. 150: On the Ephtalites (or Hephtalites) see R. Ghirshman and\nEnoki.--The carpet ceremony has been studied by P. Boodberg, and in a\ncomparative way by L. Olschki, _The Myth of Felt_, Berkeley 1949.\n\np. 151: For Yang Chien and his time see now A.F. Wright, \"The Formation\nof Sui Ideology\" in John K. Fairbank, _Chinese Thought and\nInstitutions_, Chicago 1957, pp. 71-104.\n\np. 153: The processes described here, have not yet been thoroughly\nanalysed.] [A preliminary review of literature is given by H. Wiens,\n_China's March towards the Tropics_, Hamden 1954.] [I used Ch'en Yuean,\nWang Yi-t'ung and my own research.] [p. 154: It is interesting to compare such hunting parks with the\n\"_paradeisos\"_ (Paradise) of the Near East and with the \"Garden of\nEden\".--Most of the data on gardens and manors have been brought\ntogether and studied by Japanese scholars, especially by Kat[=o]\nShigeru, some also by Ho Tzu-ch'uean.--The disappearance of \"village\ncommons\" in China should be compared with the same process in Europe;\nboth processes, however, developed quite differently.] [The origin of\nmanors and their importance for the social structure of the Far East\n(China as well as Japan) is the subject of many studies in Japan and in\nmodern China.] [This problem is connected with the general problem of\nfeudalism East and West.] [The manor (_chuang_: Japanese _sho_) in later\nperiods has been studied by Y. Sudo.] [H. Maspero also devotes attention\nto this problem.] [Much more research remains to be done.] [p. 158: This popular rebellion by Sun En has been studied by W.\nEichhorn.] [p. 163: On foreign music in China see L.C. Goodrich and Ch'ue T'ung-tsu,\nH.G.] [Farmer, S. Kishibe and others.--Niida Noboru pointed out that\nmusicians belonged to one of the lower social classes, but had special\nprivileges because of their close relations to the rulers.] [p. 164: Meditative or _Ch'an_ (Japanese: _Zen_) Buddhism in this period\nhas been studied by Hu Shih, but further analysis is necessary.--The\nphilosophical trends of this period have been analysed by E.] [Balazs.--Mention should also be made of the aesthetic-philosophical\nconversation which was fashionable in the third century, but in other\nform still occurred in our period, the so-called \"pure talk\"\n(_ch'ing-t'an_) (E. Balazs, H. Wilhelm and others).] [_Chapter Eight_\n\np. 167: For genealogies and rules of giving names, I use my own research\nand the study by W. Bauer.] [p. 168: For Emperor Wen Ti, I rely mainly upon A.F. Wright's\nabove-mentioned article, but also upon O. Franke.] [p. 169: The relevant texts concerning the T'u-chueeh are available in\nFrench (E. Chavannes) and recently also in German translation (Liu\nMau-tsai, _Die chinesischen Nachrichten zur Geschichte der Ost-T[vu]rken_,\nWiesbaden 1958, 2 vol.).--The Toeloes are called T'e-lo in Chinese\nsources; the T'u-yue-hun are called Aza in Central Asian sources (P.\nPelliot, A. Minorsky, F.W. Thomas, L. Hambis, _et al_.).] [The most\nimportant text concerning the T'u-yue-hun had been translated by Th. D.\nCaroll, _Account of the T'u-yue-hun in the History of the Chin Dynasty_,\nBerkeley 1953.\n\np. 171: The transcription of names on this and on the other maps could\nnot be adjusted to the transcription of the text for technical reasons.] [p. 172: It is possible that I have underestimated the role of Li Yuean.] [I\nrelied here mainly upon O. Franke and upon W. Bingham's _The Founding of\nthe T'ang Dynasty_, Baltimore 1941.\n\np. 173: The best comprehensive study of T'ang economy in a Western\nlanguage is still E. Balazs's work.] [I relied, however, strongly upon Wan\nKuo-ting, Yang Chung-i, Kat[=o] Shigeru, J. Gernet, T. Naba, Niida\nNoboru, Yoshimi Matsumoto.] [pp. 173-4: For the description of the administration I used my own\nstudies and the work of R. des Rotours; for the military organization I\nused Kikuchi Hideo.] [A real study of Chinese army organization and\nstrategy does not yet exist.] [The best detailed study, but for the Han\nperiod, is written by H. Maspero.] [p. 174: For the first occurrence of the title _tu-tu_ we used W.\nEichhorn; in the form _tutuq_ the title occurs since 646 in Central Asia\n(J. Hamilton).] [p. 177: The name T'u-fan seems to be a transcription of Tuepoet which,\nin turn, became our Tibet.] [(J.] [Hamilton).--The Uighurs are the Hui-ho or\nHui-hu of Chinese sources.] [p. 179: On relations with Central Asia and the West see Ho Chien-min and\nHsiang Ta, whose classical studies on Ch'ang-an city life have recently\nbeen strongly criticized by Chinese scholars.--Some authors (J.K.\nRideout) point to the growing influence of eunuchs in this period.--The\nsources paint the pictures of the Empress Wu in very dark colours.] [A\nmore detailed study of this period seems to be necessary.] [p. 180: The best study of \"family privileges\" (_yin_) in general is by\nE.A. Kracke, _Civil Service in Early Sung China_, Cambridge, Mass.] [1953.\n\np. 180-1: The economic importance of organized Buddhism has been studied\nby many authors, especially J. Gernet, Yang Lien-sheng, Ch'uean\nHan-sheng, K. Tamai and R. Michihata.] [p. 182: The best comprehensive study on T'ang prose in English is still\nE.D. Edwards, _Chinese Prose Literature of the T'ang Period_, London\n1937-8, 2 vol. On Li T'ai-po and Po Chue-i we have well-written books by\nA. Waley, _The Poetry and Career of Li Po_, London 1951 and _The Life\nand Times of Po Chue-i_, London 1950.--On the \"free poem\" (_tz[)u]_),\nwhich technically is not a free poem, see A. Hoffmann and Hu Shih.] [For\nthe early Chinese theatre, the classical study is still Wang Kuo-wei's\nanalysis, but there is an almost unbelievable number of studies\nconstantly written in China and Japan, especially on the later theatre\nand drama.] [p. 184: Conditions at the court of Hsuean Tsung and the life of Yang\nKui-fei have been studied by Howard Levy and others, An Lu-shan's\nimportance mainly by E.G. Pulleyblank, _The Background of the Rebellion\nof An Lu-shan_, London 1955.\n\np. 187: The tax reform of Yang Yen has been studied by K. Hino; the most\nimportant figures in T'ang economic history are Liu Yen (studied by Chue\nCh'ing-yuean) and Lu Chih (754-805; studied by E. Balazs and others).] [pp. 187-8: The conditions at the time of this persecution are well\ndescribed by E.O. Reischauer, _Ennin's Travels in T'ang China_, New York\n1955, on the basis of his _Ennin's Diary.] [The Record of a Pilgrimage to\nChina_, New York 1955.] [The persecution of Buddhism has been analysed in\nits economic character by Niida Noboru and other Japanese\nscholars.--Metal statues had to be delivered to the Salt and Iron Office\nin order to be converted into cash; iron statues were collected by local\noffices for the production of agricultural implements; figures in gold,\nsilver or other rare materials were to be handed over to the Finance\nOffice.] [Figures made of stone, clay or wood were not affected\n(Michihata).] [p. 189: It seems important to note that popular movements are often not\nled by simple farmers of members of the lower classes.] [There are other\nsalt merchants and persons of similar status known as leaders.] [p. 190: For the Sha-t'o, I am relying upon my own research.] [Tatars are\nthe Ta-tan of the Chinese sources.] [The term is here used in a narrow\nsense.] [_Chapter Nine_\n\np. 195: Many Chinese and Japanese authors have a new period begin with\nthe early (Ch'ien Mu) or the late tenth century (T'ao Hsi-sheng, Li\nChien-nung), while others prefer a cut already in the Middle of the\nT'ang Dynasty (Teng Ch'u-min, Naito Torajiro).] [For many Marxists, the\nperiod which we called \"Modern Times\" is at best a sub-period within a\nlarger period which really started with what we called \"Medieval China\".] [p. 196: For the change in the composition of the gentry, I am using my\nown research.--For clan rules, clan foundations, etc., I used D.C.\nTwitchett, J. Fischer, Hu Hsien-chin, Ch'ue T'ung-tsu, Niida Noboru and\nT. Makino.] [The best analysis of the clan rules is by Wang Hui-chen in\nD.S. Nivison, _Confucianism in Action_, Stanford 1959, p.] [63-96.--I do\nnot regard such marriage systems as \"survivals\" of ancient systems which\nhave been studied by M. Granet and systematically analysed by C.\nLevy-Strauss in his _Les structures elementaires de la parente_, Paris\n1949, pp. 381-443.] [In some cases, the reasons for the establishment of\nsuch rules can still be recognized.--A detailed study of despotism in\nChina still has to be written.] [K.A. Wittfogel's _Oriental Despotism_,\nNew Haven 1957 does not go into the necessary detailed work.] [p. 197: The problem of social mobility is now under study, after\npreliminary research by K.A. Wittfogel, E. Kracke, myself and others.] [E.\nKracke, Ho Ping-ti, R.M. Marsh and I are now working on this topic.--For\nthe craftsmen and artisans, much material has recently been collected by\nChinese scholars.] [I have used mainly Li Chien-nung and articles in\n_Li-shih yen-chiu_ 1955, No.] [3 and in _Mem.] [Inst.] [Orient.] [Cult_.] [1956.--On the origin of guilds see Kat[=o] Shigeru; a general study of\nguilds and their function has not yet been made (preliminary work by P.\nMaybon, H.B. Morse, J. St. Burgess, K.A. Wittfogel and others).] [Comparisons with Near-Eastern guilds on the one hand and with Japanese\nguilds on the other, are quite interesting but parallels should not be\nover-estimated.] [The _tong_ of U.S. Chinatowns (_tang_ in Mandarin) are\nlate and organizations of businessmen only (S. Yokoyama and Laai\nYi-faai).] [They are not the same as the _hui-kuan_.] [p. 198: For the merchants I used Ch'ue T'ung-tsu, Sung Hsi and Wada\nKiyoshi.--For trade, I used extensively Ch'uean Han-sheng and J.] [Kuwabara.--On labour legislation in early modern times I used Ko\nCh'ang-chi and especially Li Chien-nung, also my own studies.--On\nstrikes I used Kat[=o] Shigeru and modern Chinese authors.--The problem\nof \"vagrants\" has been taken up by Li Chien-nung who always refers to\nthe original sources and to modern Chinese research.--The growth of\ncities, perhaps the most striking event in this period, has been studied\nfor the earlier part of our period by Kat[=o] Shigeru.] [Li Chien-nung\nalso deals extensively with investments in industry and agriculture.] [The\nproblem as to whether China would have developed into an industrial\nsociety without outside stimulus is much discussed by Marxist authors in\nChina.] [p. 199: On money policy see Yang Lien-sheng, Kat[=o] Shigeru and others.] [p. 200: The history of one of the Southern Dynasties has been translated\nby Ed. H. Schafer, _The Empire of Min_, Tokyo 1954; Schafer's\nannotations provide much detail for the cultural and economic conditions\nof the coastal area.--For tea and its history, I use my own research;\nfor tea trade a study by K. Kawakami and an article in the _Frontier\nStudies_, vol. 3, 1943.--Salt consumption according to H.T. Fei,\n_Earthbound China, 1945, p_. 163.\n\np. 201: For salt I used largely my own research.] [For porcelain\nproduction Li Chien-nung and other modern articles.--On paper, the\nclassical study is Th. F. Carter, _The Invention of Printing in China_,\nNew York 1925 (a revised edition now published by L.C. Goodrich).] [p. 202: For paper money in the early period, see Yang Lien-sheng, _Money\nand Credit in China_, Cambridge, Mass., 1952.] [Although the origin of\npaper money seems to be well established, it is interesting to note that\nalready in the third century A.D. money made of paper was produced and\nwas burned during funeral ceremonies to serve as financial help for the\ndead.] [This money was, however, in the form of coins.--On iron money see\nYang Lien-sheng; I also used an article in _Tung-fang tsa-chih_, vol.\n35, No.] [10.\n\np. 203: For the Kitan (Chines: Ch'i-tan) and their history see K.A.\nWittfogel and Feng Chia-sheng, _History of Chinese Society.] [Liao_,\nPhiladelphia 1949.\n\np. 204: For these dynasties, I rely upon my own research.--Niida Noboru\nand Kat[=o] Shigeru have studied adoption laws; our specific case has in\naddition been studied by M. Kurihara.] [This system of adoptions is\nnon-Chinese and has its parallels among Turkish tribes (A. Kollantz,\nAbdulkadir Inan, Osman Turan).] [p. 207: For the persecution I used K. Tamai and my own research.] [p. 211: This is based mainly upon my own research.--The remark on tax\nincome is from Ch'uean Han-sheng.] [p. 212: Fan Chung-yen has been studied recently by J. Fischer and D.\nTwitchett, but these notes on price policies are based upon my own\nwork.--I regard the statement, that it was the gentry which prevented\nthe growth of an industrial society--a statement which has often been\nmade before--as preliminary, and believe that further research,\nespecially in the growth of cities and urban institutions may lead to\nquite different explanations.--On estate management I relied on Y.\nSudo's work.] [p. 213: Research on place names such as mentioned here, has not yet been\nsystematically done.--On _i-chuang_ I relied upon the work by T. Makino\nand D.] [Twitchett.--This process of tax-evasion has been used by K.A.\nWittfogel (1938) to construct a theory of a crisis cycle in China.] [I do\nnot think that such far-reaching conclusions are warranted.] [p. 214: This \"law\" was developed on the basis of Chinese materials from\ndifferent periods as well as on materials from other parts of Asia.--In\nthe study of tenancy, cases should be studied in which wealthier farmers\nrent additional land which gets cultivated by farm labourers.] [Such cases\nare well known from recent periods, but have not yet been studied in\nearlier periods.] [At the same time, the problem of farm labourers should\nbe investigated.] [Such people were common in the Sung time.] [Research\nalong these lines could further clarify the importance of the so-called\n\"guest families\" (_k'o-hu_) which were alluded to in these pages.] [They\nconstituted often one third of the total population in the Sung period.] [The problem of migration and mobility might also be clarified by\nstudying the _k'o-hu_.] [p. 215: For Wang An-shih, the most comprehensive work is still H.\nWilliamson's _Wang An-shih_, London 1935, 3 vol., but this work in no\nway exhausts the problems.] [We have so much personal data on Wang that a\npsychological study could be attempted; and we have since Williamson's\ntime much deeper insight into the reforms and theories of Wang.] [I used,\nin addition to Williamson, O. Franke, and my own research.] [p. 216: Based mainly upon Ch'ue T'ung-tsu.--For the social legislation\nsee Hsue I-t'ang; for economic problems I used Ch'uean Han-sheng, Ts'en\nChung-mien and Liu Ming-shu.--Most of these relief measures had their\nprecursors in the T'ang period.] [p. 217: It is interesting to note that later Buddhism gave up its\n\"social gospel\" in China.] [Buddhist circles in Asian countries at the\npresent time attempt to revive this attitude.] [p. 218: For slaughtering I used A. Hulsewe; for greeting R. Michihata;\non law Ch'ue T'ung-tsu; on philosophy I adapted ideas from Chan Wing-sit.] [p. 219: A comprehensive study of Chu Hsi is a great desideratum.] [Thus\nfar, we have in English mainly the essays by Feng Yu-lan (transl.] [and\nannotated by D. Bodde) in the _Harvard Journal of Asiat.] [Stud_., vol. 7,\n1942.] [T. Makino emphasized Chu's influence upon the Far East, J. Needham\nhis interest in science.] [p. 220: For Su Tung-p'o as general introduction see Lin Yutang, _The Gay\nGenius.] [The Life and Times of Su Tung-p'o_, New York 1947.--For\npainting, I am using concepts of A. Soper here.] [p. 222: For this period the standard work is K.A. Wittfogel and Feng\nChia-sheng, _History of Chinese Society, Liao_, Philadelphia\n1949.--Po-hai had been in tributary relations with the dynasties of\nNorth China before its defeat, and resumed these from 932 on; there were\neven relations with one of the South Chinese states; in the same way,\nKao-li continuously played one state against the other (M. Rogers _et\nal_.).] [p. 223: On the Kara-Kitai see Appendix to Wittfogel-Feng.] [p. 228: For the Hakka, I relied mainly upon Lo Hsiang-lin; for Chia\nSsu-tao upon H. Franke.] [p. 229: The Juchen (Jurchen) are also called Nue-chih and Nue-chen, but\nJuchen seems to be correct (_Studia Serica_, vol. 3, No.] [2).] [_Chapter Ten_\n\np. 233: I use here mainly Meng Ssu-liang, but also others, such as Chue\nCh'ing-yuean and Li Chien-nung.--The early political developments are\ndescribed by H.D. Martin, _The Rise of Chingis Khan and his Conquest of\nNorth China_, Baltimore 1950.\n\np. 236: I am alluding here to such Taoist sects as the Cheng-i-chiao\n(Sun K'o-k'uan and especially the study in _Kita Aziya gakuh[=o]_, vol. 2).] [pp. 236-7: For taxation and all other economic questions I have relied\nupon Wan Kuo-ting and especially upon H. Franke.] [The first part of the\nmain economic text is translated and annotated by H.F. Schurmann,\n_Economic Structure of the Yuean Dynasty_, Cambridge, Mass., 1956.\n\np. 237: On migrations see T. Makino and others.--For the system of\ncommunications during the Mongol time and the privileges of merchants, I\nused P. Olbricht.] [p. 238: For the popular rebellions of this time, I used a study in the\n_Bull.] [Acad.] [Sinica_, vol. 10, 1948, but also Meng Ssu-liang and others.] [p. 239: On the White Lotus Society (Pai-lien-hui) see note to previous\npage and an article by Hagiwara Jumpei.] [p. 240: H. Serruys, _The Mongols in China during the Hung-wu Period_,\nBruges 1959, has studied in this book and in an article the fate of\nisolated Mongol groups in China after the breakdown of the dynasty.] [pp. 241-2: The travel report of Ch'ang-ch'un has been translated by A.\nWaley, _The Travels of an Alchemist_, London 1931.\n\np. 242: _Hsi-hsiang-chi_ has been translated by S.I. Hsiung.] [_The\nRomance of the Western Chamber_, London 1935.] [All important analytic\nliterature on drama and theatre is written by Chinese and Japanese\nauthors, especially by Yoshikawa Kojiro.--For Bon and early Lamaism, I\nused H. Hoffmann.] [p. 243: Lamaism in Mongolia disappeared later, however, and was\nreintroduced in the reformed form (Tsong-kha-pa, 1358-1419) in the\nsixteenth century.] [See R.J. Miller, _Monasteries and Culture Change in\nInner Mongolia_, Wiesbaden 1959.\n\np. 245: Much more research is necessary to clarify Japanese-Chinese\nrelations in this period, especially to determine the size of trade.] [Good material is in the article by S. Iwao.] [Important is also S. Sakuma\nand an article in _Li-shih yen-chiu_ 1955, No.] [3.] [For the loss of coins,\nI relied upon D. Brown.] [p. 246: The necessity of transports of grain and salt was one of the\nreasons for the emergence of the Hsin-an and Hui-chou merchants.] [The\nimportance of these developments is only partially known (studies mainly\nby H. Fujii and in _Li-shih-yen-chiu_ 1955, No.] [3).] [Data are also in an\nunpublished thesis by Ch.] [Mac Sherry, _The Impairment of the Ming\nTributary System_, and in an article by Wang Ch'ung-wu.] [p. 247: The tax system of the Ming has been studied among others by\nLiang Fang-chung.] [Yoshiyuki Suto analysed the methods of tax evasion in\nthe periods before the reform.] [For the land grants, I used Wan\nKuo-ting's data.] [p. 248: Based mainly upon my own research.] [On the progress of\nagriculture wrote Li Chien-nung and also Kat[=o] Shigeru and others.] [p. 250: I believe that further research would discover that the\n\"agrarian revolution\" was a key factor in the economic and social\ndevelopment of China.] [It probably led to another change in dietary\nhabits; it certainly led to a greater labour input per person, i.e. a\nhigher number of full working days per year than before.] [It may be--but\nonly further research can try to show this--that the \"agrarian\nrevolution\" turned China away from technology and industry.--On cotton\nand its importance see the studies by M. Amano, and some preliminary\nremarks by P. Pelliot.] [pp. 250-1: Detailed study of Central Chinese urban centres in this time\nis a great desideratum.] [My remarks here have to be taken as very\npreliminary.] [Notice the special character of the industries\nmentioned!--The porcelain centre of Ching-te-chen was inhabited by\nworkers and merchants (70-80 per cent of population); there were more\nthan 200 private kilns.--On indented labour see Li Chien-nung, H. Iwami\nand Y. Yamane.] [p. 253: On _pien-wen_ I used R. Michihata, and for this general\ndiscussion R. Irvin, _The Evolution of a Chinese Novel_, Cambridge,\nMass., 1953, and studies by J. Jaworski and J. Pru[vs]ek.] [Many texts of\n_pien-wen_ and related styles have been found in Tunhuang and have been\nrecently republished by Chinese scholars.] [p. 254: _Shui-hu-chuan_ has been translated by Pearl Buck, _All Men are\nBrothers_.] [Parts of _Hsi-yu-chi_ have been translated by A. Waley,\n_Monkey_, London 1946.] [_San-kuo yen-i_ is translated by C.H.\nBrewitt-Taylor, _San Kuo, or Romance of the Three Kingdoms_, Shanghai\n1925 (a new edition just published).] [A purged translation of\nChin-p'ing-mei is published by Fr. Kuhn _Chin P'ing Mei_, New York 1940.\n\np. 255: Even the \"murder story\" was already known in Ming time.] [An\nexample is R.H. van Gulik, _Dee Gong An.] [Three Murder Cases solved by\nJudge Dee_, Tokyo 1949.\n\np. 256: For a special group of block-prints see R.H. van Gulik, _Erotic\nColour Prints of the Ming Dynasty_, Tokyo 1951.] [This book is also an\nexcellent introduction into Chinese psychology.] [p. 257: Here I use work done by David Chan.] [p. 258: I use here the research of J.J.L. Duyvendak; the reasons for the\nend of such enterprises, as given here, may not exhaust the problem.] [It\nmay not be without relevance that Cheng came from a Muslim family.] [His\nfather was a pilgrim (_Bull.] [Chin.] [Studies_, vol. 3, pp. 131-70).] [Further research is desirable.--Concerning folk-tales, I use my own\nresearch.] [The main Buddhist tales are the _Jataka_ stories.] [They are\nstill used by Burmese Buddhists in the same context.] [p. 260: The Oirat (Uyrat, Ojrot, Oeloet) were a confederation of four\ntribal groups: Khosud, Dzungar, Doerbet and Turgut.] [p. 261: I regard this analysis of Ming political history as\nunsatisfactory, but to my knowledge no large-scale analysis has been\nmade.--For Wang Yang-ming I use mainly my own research.] [p. 262: For the coastal salt-merchants I used Lo Hsiang-lin's work.] [p. 263: On the rifles I used P. Pelliot.] [There is a large literature on\nthe use of explosives and the invention of cannons, especially L.C.\nGoodrich and Feng Chia-sheng in _Isis_, vol. 36, 1946 and 39, 1948; also\nG. Sarton, Li Ch'iao-p'ing, J. Pru[vs]ek, J. Needham, and M. Ishida; a\ncomparative, general study is by K. Huuri, _Studia Orientalia_ vol. 9,\n1941.--For the earliest contacts of Wang with Portuguese, I used Chang\nWei-hua's monograph.--While there is no satisfactory, comprehensive\nstudy in English on Wang, for Lu Hsiang-shan the book by Huang Siu-ch'i,\n_Lu Hsiang-shan, a Twelfth-century Chinese Idealist Philosopher_, New\nHaven 1944, can be used.] [p. 264: For Tao-yen, I used work done by David Chan.--Large parts of the\n_Yung-lo ta-tien_ are now lost (Kuo Po-kung, Yuean T'ung-li studied this\nproblem).] [p. 265: Yen-ta's Mongol name is Altan Qan (died 1582), leader of the\nTuemet.] [He is also responsible for the re-introduction of Lamaism into\nMongolia (1574).--For the border trade I used Hou Jen-chih; for the\nShansi bankers Ch'en Ch'i-t'ien and P. Maybon.] [For the beginnings of the\nManchu see Fr. Michael, _The Origins of Manchu Rule in China_, Baltimore\n1942.\n\np. 266: M. Ricci's diary (Matthew Ricci, _China in the Sixteenth\nCentury_.] [The Journals of M. Ricci, transl.] [by L.J. Gallagher, New York\n1953) gives much insight into the life of Chinese officials in this\nperiod.] [Recently, J. Needham has tried to show that Ricci and his\nfollowers did not bring much which was not already known in China, but\nthat they actually attempted to prevent the Chinese from learning about\nthe Copernican theory.] [p. 267: For Coxinga I used M. Eder's study.--The Szechwan rebellion was\nled by Chang Hsien-chung (1606-1647); I used work done by James B.\nParsons.] [Cheng T'ien-t'ing, Sun Yueh and others have recently published\nthe important documents concerning all late Ming peasant\nrebellions.--For the Tung-lin academy see Ch.] [O. Hucker in J.K.\nFairbank, _Chinese Thought and Institutions_, Chicago 1957.] [A different\ninterpretation is indicated by Shang Yueeh in _Li-shih yen-chiu_ 1955,\nNo.] [3.\n\np. 268: Work on the \"academies\" (shu-yuean) in the earlier time is done\nby Ho Yu-shen.] [pp. 273-4: Based upon my own, as yet unfinished research.] [p. 274: The population of 1953 as given here, includes Chinese outside\nof mainland China.] [The population of mainland China was 582.6 millions.] [If the rate of increase of about 2 per cent per year has remained the\nsame, the population of mainland China in 1960 may be close to 680\nmillion.] [In general see P.T. Ho.] [_Studies on the Population of China,\n1368-1953_, Cambridge, Mass., 1960.\n\np. 276: Based upon my own research.--A different view of the development\nof Chinese industry is found in Norman Jacobs, _Modern Capitalism and\nEastern Asia_, Hong Kong 1958.] [Jacobs attempted a comparison of China\nwith Japan and with Europe.] [Different again is Marion Levy and Shih\nKuo-heng, _The Rise of the Modern Chinese Business Class_, New York\n1949.] [Both books are influenced by the sociological theories of T.\nParsons.] [p. 277: The Dzungars (Dsunghar; Chun-ko-erh) are one of the four Oeloet\n(Oirat) groups.] [I am here using studies by E. Haenisch and W. Fuchs.] [p. 278: Tibetan-Chinese relations have been studied by L. Petech, _China\nand Tibet in the Early 18th Century_, Leiden 1950.] [A collection of data\nis found in M.W. Fisher and L.E.] [Rose, _England, India, Nepal, Tibet,\nChina, 1765-1958_, Berkeley 1959.] [For diplomatic relations and tributary\nsystems of this period, I referred to J.K. Fairbank and Teng Ssu-yue.] [p. 279: For Ku Yen-wu, I used the work by H.] [Wilhelm.--A man who\ndeserves special mention in this period is the scholar Huang Tsung-hsi\n(1610-1695) as the first Chinese who discussed the possibility of a\nnon-monarchic form of government in his treatise of 1662.] [For him see\nLin Mou-sheng, _Men and Ideas_, New York 1942, and especially W.T. de\nBary in J.K. Fairbank, _Chinese Thought and Institutions_, Chicago 1957.] [pp. 280-1: On Liang see now J.R. Levenson, _Liang Ch'i-ch'ao and the Mind\nof Modern China_, London 1959.\n\np. 282: It should also be pointed out that the Yung-cheng emperor was\npersonally more inclined towards Lamaism.--The Kalmuks are largely\nidentical with the above-mentioned Oeloet.] [p. 286: The existence of _hong_ is known since 1686, see P'eng Tse-i and\nWang Chu-an's recent studies.] [For details on foreign trade see H.B.\nMorse, _The Chronicles of the East India Company Trading to China\n1635-1834_, Oxford 1926, 4 vols., and J.K. Fairbank, _Trade and\nDiplomacy on the China Coast.] [The Opening of the Treaty Ports,\n1842-1854_, Cambridge, Mass., 1953, 2 vols.--For Lin I used G.W.\nOverdijkink's study.] [p. 287: On customs read St. F. Wright, _Hart and the Chinese Customs_,\nBelfast 1950.\n\np. 288: For early industry see A. Feuerwerker, _China's Early\nIndustrialization: Sheng Hsuan-huai (1844-1916_), Cambridge, Mass.,\n1958.\n\np. 289: The Chinese source materials for the Mohammedan revolts have\nrecently been published, but an analysis of the importance of the\nrevolts still remains to be done.--On T'ai-p'ing much has been\npublished, especially in the last years in China, so that all documents\nare now available.] [I used among other studies, details brought out by Lo\nHsiang-lin and Jen Yu-wen.] [p. 291: For Tseng Kuo-fan see W.J. Hail, _Tseng Kuo-fan and the\nT'ai-p'ing Rebellion_, New Haven 1927, but new research on him is about\nto be published.--The Nien-fei had some connection with the White Lotus,\nand were known since 1814, see Chiang Siang-tseh, _The Nien Rebellion_,\nSeattle 1954.\n\np. 292: Little is known about Salars, Dungans and Yakub Beg's rebellion,\nmainly because relevant Turkish sources have not yet been studied.] [On\nSalars see L. Schram, _The Monguors of Kansu_, Philadelphia 1954, p. 23\nand P. Pelliot; on Dungans see I. Grebe.] [p. 293: On Tso Tsung-t'ang see G. Ch'en, _Tso Tung T'ang, Pioneer\nPromotor of the Modern Dockyard and Woollen Mill in China_, Peking 1938,\nand _Yenching Journal of Soc. Studies_, vol. I.\n\np. 294: For the T'ung-chih period, see now Mary C. Wright, _The Last\nStand of Chinese Conservativism.] [The T'ung-chih Restoration, 1862-1874_,\nStanford 1957.\n\np. 295: Ryukyu is Chinese: Liu-ch'iu; Okinawa is one of the islands of\nthis group.--Formosa is Chinese: T'ai-wan (Taiwan).] [Korea is Chinese:\nChao-hsien, Japanese: Chosen.] [p. 297: M.C. Wright has shown the advisers around the ruler before the\nEmpress Dowager realized the severity of the situation.--Much research\nis under way to study the beginning of industrialization of Japan, and\nmy opinions have changed greatly, due to the research done by Japanese\nscholars and such Western scholars as H. Rosovsky and Th.] [Smith.] [The\neminent role of the lower aristocracy has been established.] [Similar\nresearch for China has not even seriously started.] [My remarks are\nentirely preliminary.] [p. 298: For K'ang Yo-wei, I use work done by O. Franke and others.] [See\nM.E. Cameron, _The Reform Movement in China, 1898-1921_, Stanford 1921.] [The best bibliography for this period is J.K. Fairbank and Liu\nKwang-ching, _Modern China: A Bibliographical Guide to Chinese Works,\n1898-1937_, Cambridge, Mass., 1950.] [The political history of the time,\nas seen by a Chinese scholar, is found in Li Chien-nung, _The Political\nHistory of China 1840-1928_, Princeton 1956.--For the social history of\nthis period see Chang Chung-li, _The Chinese Gentry_, Seattle 1955.--For\nthe history of Tz[)u] Hsi Bland-Backhouse, _China under the Empress\nDowager_, Peking 1939 (Third ed.) is antiquated, but still used.] [For\nsome of K'ang Yo-wei's ideas, see now K'ang Yo-wei: _Ta T'ung Shu.] [The\nOne World Philosophy of K'ang Yu Wei_, London 1957.] [_Chapter Eleven_\n\np. 305: I rely here partly upon W. Franke's recent studies.] [For Sun\nYat-sen (Sun I-hsien; also called Sun Chung-shan) see P. Linebarger,\n_Sun Yat-sen and the Chinese Republic_, Cambridge, Mass., 1925 and his\nlater _The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen_, Baltimore\n1937.--Independently, Atatuerk in Turkey developed a similar theory of\nthe growth of democracy.] [p. 306: On student activities see Kiang Wen-han, _The Ideological\nBackground of the Chinese Student Movement_, New York 1948.\n\np. 307: On Hu Shih see his own _The Chinese Renaissance_, Chicago 1934\nand J. de Francis, _Nationalism and Language Reform in China_, Princeton\n1950.\n\np. 310: The declaration of Independence of Mongolia had its basis in the\nearly treaty of the Mongols with the Manchus (1636): \"In case the Tai\nCh'ing Dynasty falls, you will exist according to previous basic laws\"\n(R.J. Miller, _Monasteries and Culture Change in Inner Mongolia_,\nWiesbaden 1959, p. 4).] [p. 315: For the military activities see F.F. Liu, _A Military History of\nModern China, 1924-1949_, Princeton 1956.] [A Marxist analysis of the 1927\nevents is Manabendra Nath Roy, _Revolution and Counter-Revolution in\nChina_, Calcutta 1946; the relevant documents are translated in C.\nBrandt, B. Schwartz, J.K. Fairbank, _A Documentary History of Chinese\nCommunism_, Cambridge, Mass., 1952.] [_Chapter Twelve_\n\nFor Mao Tse-tung, see B. Schwartz, _Chinese Communism and the Rise of\nMao_, second ed., Cambridge, Mass., 1958.] [For Mao's early years; see\nJ.E. Rue, _Mao Tse-tung in Opposition_, 1927-1935, Stanford 1966.] [For\nthe civil war, see L.M. Chassin, _The Communist Conquest of China: A\nHistory of the Civil War, 1945-1949_, Cambridge, Mass., 1965.] [For brief\ninformation on communist society, see Franz Schurmann and Orville\nSchell, _The China Reader_, vol. 3, _Communist China_, New York 1967.] [For problems of organization, see Franz Schurmann, _Ideology and\nOrganization in Communist China_, Berkeley 1966.] [For cultural and\npolitical problems, see Ho Ping-ti, _China in Crisis_, vol. 1, _China's\nHeritage and the Communist Political System_, Chicago 1968.] [For a\nsympathetic view of rural life in communist China, see J. Myrdal,\n_Report from a Chinese Village_, New York 1966; for Taiwanese village\nlife, see Bernard Gallin, _Hsin Hsing, Taiwan: A Chinese Village in\nChange_, Berkeley 1966.] [INDEX\n\n Abahai, ruler\n Abdication\n Aborigines\n Absolutism (_see_ Despotism, Dictator, Emperor, Monarchy)\n Academia Sinica\n Academies\n Administration;\n provincial\n (_see_ Army, Feudalism, Bureaucracy)\n Adobe (Mud bricks)\n Adoptions\n Afghanistan\n Africa\n Agriculture;\n development;\n Origin of;\n of Shang;\n shifting (denshiring)\n (_see_ Wheat, Millet, Rice, Plough, Irrigation, Manure, Canals,\n Fallow)\n An Ti, ruler of Han\n Ainu, tribes\n Ala-shan mountain range\n Alchemy (_see_ Elixir)\n Alexander the Great\n America (_see_ United States)\n Amithabha, god\n Amur, river\n An Chi-yeh, rebel\n An Lu-shan, rebel\n Analphabetism\n Anarchists\n Ancestor, cult\n Aniko, sculptor\n Animal style\n Annam (Vietnam)\n Anyang (Yin-ch'ue)\n Arabia;\n Arabs\n Architecture\n Aristocracy (_see_ Nobility, Feudalism)\n Army, cost of;\n organization of;\n size of;\n Tibetan\n (_see_ War, Militia, tu-tu, pu-ch'ue)\n Art, Buddhist (_see_ Animal style, Architecture, Pottery, Painting,\n Sculpture, Wood-cut)\n Arthashastra, book, attributed to Kautilya\n Artisans;\n Organizations of\n (_see_ Guilds, Craftsmen)\n Assimilation (_see_ Colonization)\n Astronomy\n Austroasiatics\n Austronesians\n Avars, tribe (_see_ Juan-juan)\n Axes, prehistoric\n Axis, policy\n\n Babylon\n Baghdad, city\n Balasagun, city\n Ballads\n Banks\n Banner organization\n Barbarians (Foreigners)\n Bastards\n Bath\n Beg, title\n Beggar\n Bengal\n Boat festival\n Bokhara (Bukhara), city\n Bon, religion\n Bondsmen (_see pu-ch'ue_, Serfs, Feudalism)\n Book, printing;\n B burning\n Boettger, inventor\n Boxer rebellion\n Boycott\n Brahmans, Indian caste\n Brain drain\n Bronze (_see_ Metal, Copper)\n Brothel (Tea-house)\n Buddha;\n Buddhism\n (_see_ Ch'an, Vinaya, Sects, Amithabha, Maitreya, Hinayana,\n Mahayana, Monasteries, Church, Pagoda, Monks, Lamaism)\n Budget (_see_ Treasury, Inflation, Deflation)\n Bullfights\n Bureaucracy;\n religious B\n (_see_ Administration; Army)\n Burgher (_liang-min_)\n Burma\n Businessmen (_see_ Merchants, Trade)\n Byzantium\n\n Calcutta, city\n Caliph (Khaliph)\n Cambodia\n Canals;\n Imperial C\n (_see_ Irrigation)\n Cannons\n Canton (Kuang-chou), city\n Capital of Empire (_see_ Ch'ang-an, Sian, Loyang, etc.)\n Capitalism (_see_ Investments, Banks, Money, Economy, etc.)\n Capitulations (privileges of foreign nations)\n Caravans (_see_ Silk road, Trade)\n Carpet\n Castes, (_see_ Brahmans)\n Castiglione, G., painter\n Cattle, breeding\n Cavalry, (_see_ Horse)\n Cave temples (_see_ Lung-men, Yuen-kang, Tunhuang)\n Censorate\n Censorship\n Census (_see_ Population)\n Central Asia (_see_ Turkestan, Sinkiang, Tarim, City States)\n Champa, State\n Ch'an (Zen), meditative Buddhism\n Chan-kuo Period (Contending States)\n Chancellor\n Ch'ang-an, capital of China (_see_ Sian)\n Chang Ch'ien, ambassador\n Chang Chue-chan, teacher\n Chang Hsien-chung, rebel\n Chang Hsueeh-hang, war lord\n Chang Ling, popular leader\n Chang Ti, ruler\n Chang Tsai, philosopher\n Chang Tso-lin, war lord\n Chao, state;\n Earlier Chao;\n Later Chao\n Chao K'uang-yin (T'ai Tsu), ruler\n Chao Meng-fu, painter\n Charters\n Chefoo Convention\n Ch'en, dynasty\n Ch'en Pa-hsien, ruler\n Ch'en Tu-hsiu, intellectual\n Ch'eng Hao, philosopher\n Cheng Ho, navy commander\n Ch'eng I, philosopher\n Cheng-i-chiao, religion\n Ch'eng Ti, ruler of Han;\n ruler of Chin\n Ch'eng Tsu, ruler of Manchu\n Ch'engtu, city\n Ch'i, state;\n short dynasty;\n Northern Ch'i\n Ch'i-fu, clan\n Chi-nan, city\n Ch'i-tan (_see_ Kitan)\n Ch'i Wan-nien, leader\n Chia, clan\n Chia-ch'ing, period\n Chia Ss[)u]-tao, politician\n Ch'iang, tribes, (_see_ Tanguts)\n Chiang Kai-shek, president\n Ch'ien-lung, period\n _ch'ien-min_ (commoners),\n Chin, dynasty, (_see_ Juchen);\n dynasty;\n Eastern Chin dynasty;\n Later Chin dynasty,\n Ch'in, state;\n Ch'in, dynasty;\n Earlier Ch'in dynasty;\n Later Ch'in dynasty;\n Western Ch'in dynasty\n Ch'in K'ui, politician\n Chinese, origin of\n Ching Fang, scholar\n Ching-te (-chen), city\n _ching-t'ien_ system\n Ching Tsung, Manchu ruler\n Ch'iu Ying, painter\n Chou, dynasty;\n short Chou dynasty;\n Later Chou dynasty;\n Northern Chou dynasty\n Chou En-lai, politician\n Chou-k'ou-tien, archaeological site\n Chou-kung (Duke of Chou)\n Chou-li, book\n Chou Tun-i, philosopher\n Christianity (_see_ Nestorians, Jesuits, Missionaries)\n Chronology\n Ch'u, state\n Chu Ch'uean-chung, general and ruler\n Chu Hsi, philosopher\n Chu-ko Liang, general\n Chu Te, general\n Chu Tsai-yue, scholar\n Chu Yuean-chang (T'ai Tsu), ruler\n _chuang_ (_see_ Manors, Estates)\n Chuang Tz[)u], philosopher\n Chuen-ch'en, ruler\n Ch'un-ch'iu, book\n _chuen-t'ien_ system (land equalization system)\n _chuen-tz[)u]_ (gentleman)\n Chung-ch'ang T'ung, philosopher\n Chungking (Ch'ung-ch'ing), city\n Church, Buddhistic\n Taoistic\n (_see_ Chang Ling)\n Cities\n spread and growth of cities\n origin of cities\n twin cities\n (_see_ City states, Ch'ang-an, Sian, Loyang, Hankow, etc.)\n City States (of Central Asia)\n Clans\n Classes, social classes\n (_see_ Castes, _ch'ien-min, liang-min_, Gentry, etc.)\n Climate, changes\n Cliques\n Cloisonne\n Cobalt\n Coins (_see_ Money)\n Colonialism (_see_ Imperialism)\n Colonization (_see_ Migration, Assimilation)\n Colour prints\n Communes\n Communism (_see_ Marxism, Socialism, Soviets)\n Concubines\n Confessions\n Confucian ritual\n Confucianism\n Confucian literature\n false Confucian literature\n Confucians\n (_see_ Neo-Confucianism)\n Conquests (_see_ War, Colonialism)\n Conservatism\n Constitution\n Contending States\n Co-operatives\n Copper (_see_ Bronze, Metal)\n Corruption\n Corvee (forced labour) (_see_ Labour)\n Cotton\n Courtesans (_see_ Brothel)\n Coxinga, rebel\n Craftsmen (_see_ Artisans)\n Credits\n Criminals\n Crop rotation\n\n Dalai Lama, religious ruler of Tibet\n Dance\n Deflation\n Deities (_see_ T'ien, Shang Ti, Maitreya, Amithabha, etc.)\n Delft, city\n Demands, the twenty-one\n Democracy\n Denshiring\n Despotism (_see_ Absolutism)\n Dewey, J., educator\n Dialects (_see_ Language)\n Dialecticians\n Dictators (_see_ Despotism)\n Dictionaries\n Diploma, for monks\n Diplomacy\n Disarmament\n Discriminatory laws (_see_ Double Standard)\n Dog\n Dorgon, prince\n Double standard, legal\n Drama\n Dress, changes\n Dungan, tribes\n Dynastic histories (_see_ History)\n Dzungars, people\n\n Eclipses\n Economy\n Money economy\n Natural economy\n (_see_ Agriculture, Nomadism, Industry, Denshiring, Money, Trade, etc.)\n Education (_see_ Schools, Universities, Academies, Script,\n Examination system, etc.)\n Elements, the five\n Elephants\n Elite (_see_ Intellectuals, Students, Gentry)\n Elixir (_see_ Alchemy)\n Emperor, position of\n Emperor and church\n (_see_ Despotism, King, Absolutism, Monarchy, etc.)\n Empress (_see_ Lue, Wu, Wei, Tz[)u] Hsi)\n Encyclopaedias\n England (_see_ Great Britain)\n Ephtalites, tribe\n Epics\n Equalization Office (_see chuen-t'ien_)\n Erotic literature\n Estates (_chuang_)\n Ethics (_see_ Confucianism)\n Eunuchs\n Europe\n Europeans\n Examination system\n Examinations for Buddhists\n\n Fables\n Factories\n Fallow system\n Falsifications (_see_ Confucianism)\n Family structure\n Family ethics\n Family planning\n Fan Chung-yen, politician\n Fascism\n Federations, tribal\n Felt\n Feng Kuo-chang, politician\n Feng Meng-lung, writer\n Feng Tao, politician\n Feng Yue-hsiang, war lord\n Ferghana, city\n Fertility cults\n differential fertility\n Fertilizer\n Feudalism\n end of feudalism\n late feudalism\n new feudalism\n nomadic feudalism\n (_see_ Serfs, Aristocracy, Fiefs, Bondsmen, etc.)\n Fiefs\n Finances (_see_ Budget, Inflation, Money, Coins)\n Fire-arms (_see_ Rifles, Cannons)\n Fishing\n Folk-tales\n Food habits\n Foreign relations (_see_ Diplomacy, Treaty, Tribute, War)\n Forests\n Formosa (T'aiwan)\n France\n Frontier, concept of\n Frugality\n Fu Chien, ruler\n Fu-lan-chi (Franks)\n Fu-lin, Manchu ruler\n Fu-yue, country\n Fukien, province\n\n Galdan, leader\n Gandhara, country\n Gardens\n Geisha (_see_ Courtesans)\n Genealogy\n Genghiz Khan, ruler\n Gentry (Upper class)\n colonial gentry\n definition of gentry\n gentry state\n southern gentry\n Germany\n Goek Turks\n Governors, role of\n Grain (_see_ Millet, Rice, Wheat)\n Granaries\n Great Britain (_see_ England)\n Great Leap Forward\n Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution\n Great Wall\n Greeks\n Guilds\n\n Hakka, ethnic group\n Hami, city state\n Han, dynasty\n Later Han dynasty\n Han Fei Tz[)u], philosopher\n Han T'o-wei, politician\n Han Yue, philosopher\n Hankow (Han-k'ou), city\n Hangchow (Hang-chou), city\n Heaven (_see_ Shang Ti, T'ien)\n Hermits (_see_ Monks, Sages)\n Hinayana, religion\n Historians\n Histories, dynastic\n falsification of histories\n Historiography\n Hitler, Adolf, dictator\n Hittites, ethnic group\n Ho Ch'eng-t'ien, scholar\n Ho-lien P'o-p'o, ruler\n Ho Ti, Han ruler\n _hong_, association\n Hong Kong, colony\n Hopei, province\n Horse\n horse chariot\n horse riding\n horse trade\n Hospitals\n Hou Ching, ruler\n Houses (_see_ Adobe)\n Hsi-hsia, kingdom\n Hsi-k'ang, Tibet\n Hsia, dynasty\n Hunnic Hsia dynasty\n (_see_ Hsi-hsia)\n Hsia-hou, clan\n Hsia Kui, painter\n Hsiao Tao-ch'eng, general\n Hsiao Wu Ti, Chin ruler\n Hsieh, clan\n Hsieh Hsuean, general\n Hsien-feng, period\n Hsien-pi, tribal federation\n Hsien Ti, Han ruler\n Hsien-yuen, tribes\n Hsin, dynasty\n Hsin-an merchants\n _Hsin Ch'ing-nien_, journal\n Hsiung-nu, tribal federation (_see_ Huns)\n Hsue Shih-ch'ang, president\n Hsuean-te, period\n Hsuean-tsang, Buddhist\n Hsuean Tsung, T'ang ruler\n Manchu ruler\n Hsuean-t'ung, period\n Hsuen Tz[)u], philosopher\n Hu, name of tribes (_see_ Huns)\n Hu Han-min, politician\n Hu Shih, scholar and politician\n Hu Wei-yung, politician\n Huai-nan Tz[)u], philosopher\n Huai, Ti, Chin ruler\n Huan Hsuean, general\n Huan Wen, general\n Huang Ch'ao, leader of rebellion\n Huang Ti, ruler\n Huang Tsung-hsi, philosopher\n Hui-chou merchants\n _hui-kuan_, association\n Hui Ti, Chin ruler\n Manchu ruler\n Hui Tsung, Sung ruler\n Hui Tz[)u], philosopher\n Human sacrifice\n Hung Hsiu-ch'uean, leader of rebellion\n Huns (_see_ Hu, Hsiung-nu)\n Hunting\n Hutuktu, religious ruler\n Hydraulic society\n\n _i-chuang_, clan manors\n Ili, river\n Imperialism (_see_ Colonialism)\n India (_see_ Brahmans, Bengal, Gandhara, Calcutta, Buddhism)\n Indo-China (_see_ Cambodia, Annam, Laos).] [Indo-Europeans, language group (_see_ Yueeh-chih, Tocharians,\n Hittites)\n Indonesia, (_see_ Java)\n Industries\n Industrialization\n Industrial society\n (_see_ Factories)\n Inflation\n Inheritance, laws of\n Intellectuals (_see_ Elite, Students)\n Investments\n Iran (Persia)\n Iron\n Cast iron\n Iron money\n (_see_ Steel)\n Irrigation\n Islam (_see_ Muslims)\n Istanbul (Constantinople)\n Italy\n Japan (_see_ Meiji, Tada, Tanaka)\n Java\n Jedzgerd, ruler,\n Jehol, province,\n Jen Tsung, Manchu ruler\n Jesuits\n Jews\n _Ju_ (scribes)\n Juchen (Chin Dynasty, Jurchen)\n Juan-juan, tribal federation\n Jurchen (_see_ Juchen)\n\n K'ai-feng, city (_see_ Yeh, Pien-liang)\n Kalmuk, Mongol tribes (_see_ Oeloet)\n K'ang-hsi, period\n K'ang Yo-wei, politician and scholar\n Kansu, province (_see_ Tunhuang)\n Kao-ch'ang, city state\n Kao, clan\n Kao-li, state (_see_ Korea)\n Kao Ming, writer\n Kao Tsu, Han ruler\n Kao Tsung, T'ang ruler\n Kao Yang, ruler\n Kapok, textile fibre\n Kara Kitai, tribal federation\n Kashgar, city\n Kazak, tribal federation\n Khalif (_see_ Caliph)\n Khamba, Tibetans\n Khan, Central Asian title\n Khocho, city\n Khotan, city\n King, position of\n first kings\n religious character of kingship\n (_see_ Yao, Shun, Hsia dynasty, Emperor, Wang, Prince)\n Kitan (Ch'i-tan), tribal federation (_see_ Liao dynasty)\n Ko-shu Han, general\n Korea (_see_ Kao-li, Pai-chi, Sin-lo)\n K'ou Ch'ien-chih, Taoist\n Kowloon, city\n Ku Yen-wu, geographer\n Kuan Han-ch'ing, writer\n Kuang-hsue, period\n Kuang-wu Ti, Han ruler\n Kub(i)lai Khan, Mongol ruler\n Kung-sun Lung, philosopher\n K'ung Tz[)u] (Confucius)\n Kuomintang (KMT), party\n Kuo Wei, ruler\n Kuo Tz[)u]-hsing, rebel leader\n Kuo Tz[)u]-i, loyal general\n Kyakhta (Kiachta), city\n\n Labour, forced (_see_ Corvee)\n Labour laws\n Labour shortage\n Lacquer\n Lamaism, religion\n Land ownership (_see_ Property)\n Land reform (_see chuen-t'ien, ching-t'ien_)\n Landlords\n temples as landlords\n Language\n dialects\n Language reform\n Lang Shih-ning, painter\n La Tz[)u], philosopher\n Laos, country\n Law codes (_see_ Li K'ui, Property law, Inheritance, Legalists)\n Leadership\n League of Nations\n Leibniz, philosopher\n Legalists (_fa-chia_)\n Legitimacy of rule (_see_ Abdication)\n Lenin, V.\n Lhasa, city\n Li An-shih, economist\n Li Chung-yen, governor\n Li Hung-chang, politician\n Li K'o-yung, ruler\n Li Kuang-li, general\n Li K'ui, law-maker\n Li Li-san, politician\n Li Lin-fu, politician\n Li Lung-mien, painter\n Li Shih-min (_see_ T'ai Tsung), T'ang ruler\n Li Ss[)u], politician\n Li Ta-chao, librarian\n Li T'ai-po, poet\n Li Tz[)u]-ch'eng, rebel\n Li Yu, writer\n Li Yu-chen, writer\n Li Yuean, ruler\n Li Yuean-hung, politician\n Liang dynasty, Earlier\n Later Liang\n Northern Liang\n Southern Liang\n Western Liang\n Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, journalist\n _liang-min_ (burghers)\n Liao, tribes,\n Liao dynasty (_see_ Kitan)\n Western Liao dynasty\n _Liao-chai chih-i_, short-story collection\n Libraries\n Lin-chin, city\n Lin-ch'uan, city\n Lin Shu, translator\n Lin Tse-hsue, politician\n Literati, (_see_ Scholars, Confucianists)\n Literature (_see pien-wen, pi-chi_, Poetry, Drama, Novels, Epics,\n Theatre, ballads, Folk-tales, Fables, History, Confucians, Writers,\n Scholars, Scribes)\n Literary revolution\n Liu Chi, Han ruler\n Liu Chin-yuean, ruler\n Liu Chin, eunuch\n Liu Hsiu (_see_ Kuang wu Ti), Han ruler\n Liu Lao-chih, general\n _liu-min_ (vagrants)\n Liu Pang (_see_ Liu Chi)\n Liu Pei, general and ruler\n Liu Shao-ch'i, political leader\n Liu Sung, rebel\n Liu Tsung-yuean, writer\n Liu Ts'ung, ruler\n Liu Yao, ruler\n Liu Yue, general\n emperor\n Liu Yuean, sculptor\n emperor\n Lo Kuan-chung, writer\n Loans, to farmers\n foreign\n Loess, soil formation\n Logic\n Long March\n Lorcha War\n Loyang (Lo-yang), capital of China\n Lu, state\n Lue, empress\n Lu Hsiang-shan, philosopher\n Lu Hsuen, writer\n Lue Kuang, ruler\n Lue Pu, general\n Lue Pu-wei, politician\n Lun, prince\n _Lun-heng_, book\n Lung-men, place\n Lung-shan, excavation site\n Lytton Commission\n Ma Yin, ruler\n Ma Yuean, general\n painter\n Machiavellism\n Macao, Portuguese colony\n Mahayana, Buddhist sect\n Maitreya, Buddhist deity (_see_ Messianic movements)\n Malacca, state\n Malaria\n Managers\n Manchu, tribal federation and dynasty\n Manchuria\n Manichaeism, Iranian religion\n Manors (_chuang, see_ Estates)\n Mao Tun, Hsiung-nu ruler\n Mao Tse-tung, party leader\n Marco Polo, businessman\n Market\n Market control\n Marriage systems\n Marxism\n Marxist theory of history\n (_see_ Materialism, Communism, Lenin, Mao Tse-tung)\n Materialism\n Mathematics\n Matrilinear societies\n Mazdaism, Iranian religion\n May Fourth Movement\n Medicine\n Medical doctors\n Meditation (_see_ Ch'an)\n Megalithic culture\n Meiji, Japanese ruler\n Melanesia\n Mencius (Meng Tz[)u]), philosopher\n Merchants\n foreign merchants\n (_see_ Trade, Salt, Caravans, Businessmen)\n Messianic movements\n Metal (_see_ Bronze, Copper, Iron)\n Mi Fei, painter\n Middle Class (_see_ Burgher, Merchant, Craftsmen, Artisans)\n Middle East (_see_ Near East)\n Migrations\n forced migrations\n (_see_ Colonization, Assimilation, Settlement)\n Militarism\n Militia\n Millet\n Mills\n Min, state in Fukien\n Ming dynasty\n Ming Jui, general\n Min Ti, Chin ruler\n Ming Ti, Han ruler\n Wei ruler\n Later T'ang ruler\n Minorate\n Missionaries, Christian (_see_ Jesuits)\n Mo Ti, philosopher\n Modernization\n Mohammedan rebellions (_see_ Muslim)\n Mon-Khmer tribes\n Monarchy (_see_ King, Emperor, Absolutism, Despotism)\n Monasteries, Buddhist\n economic importance\n Money\n Money economy\n Origin of money\n paper money\n (_see_ Coins, Paper, Silver)\n Mongolia\n Mongols, tribes, tribal federation, dynasty (_see_ Yuean dynasty,\n Kalmuk, Tuemet, Oirat, Oeloet, Naiman, Turgut, Timur, Genghiz, Kublai)\n Monks, Buddhist\n Monopolies\n Mound-dwellers\n Mu-jung, tribes\n Mu Ti, East Chin ruler\n Mu Tsung, Manchu ruler\n Mulberries\n Munda tribes\n Music (_see_ Theatre, Dance, Geisha)\n Muslims\n Muslim rebellions\n (_see_ Islam, Mohammedans)\n Mysticism\n\n Naiman, Mongol tribe\n Nan-chao, state\n Nanyang, city\n Nanking (Nan-ching), capital of China\n Nanking regime\n Nationalism (_see_ Kuomintang)\n Nature\n Nature philosophers\n Navy\n Near East (_see_ Arabs, Iran, etc.)\n Neo-Confucianism\n Neolithicum\n Nepal\n Nerchinsk, place\n Nestorian Christianity\n Ni Tsan, painter\n Nien Fei, rebels\n Niu Seng-yu, politician\n Nobility\n Nomadic nobility\n (_see_ Aristocracy)\n Nomadism\n Economy of nomads\n Nomadic society structure\n Novels\n\n Oil\n Oirat, Mongol tribes\n Okinawa (_see_ Ryukyu)\n Oeloet, Mongol tribes\n Opera\n Opium\n Opium War\n Oracle bones\n Ordos, area\n Orenburg, city\n Organizations (_see hui-kuan_ Guilds, _hong_, Secret Societies)\n Orphanages\n Ottoman (Turkish) Empire\n Ou-yang Hsiu, writer\n Outer Mongolia\n\n Pagoda\n Pai-chi (Paikche), state in Korea\n Pai-lien-hui (_see_ White Lotus)\n Painting\n Palaeolithicum\n Pan Ch'ao, general\n _pao-chia_, security system\n Paper\n Paper money\n (_see_ Money)\n Parliament\n Party (_see_ Kuomintang, Communists)\n Pearl Harbour\n Peasant rebellions (_see_ Rebellions)\n Peking, city\n Peking Man\n Pensions\n People's Democracy\n Persecution, religious\n Persia (Iran)\n Persian language\n Peruz, ruler\n Philippines, state\n Philosophy, (_see_ Confucius, Lao Tz[)u], Chuang Tz[)u],\n Huai-nan Tz[)u], Hsuen Tz[)u], Mencius, Hui Tz[)u], Mo Ti,\n Kung-sun Lung, Shang Tz[)u], Han Fei Tz[)u], Tsou Yen, Legalists,\n Chung-ch'ang, T'ung, Yuean Chi, Liu Ling, Chu Hsi, Ch'eng Hao,\n Lu Hsiang-shan, Wang Yang-ming, etc.)\n _pi-chi_, literary form\n _pieh-yeh_ (_see_ Manor)\n Pien-liang, city (_see_ K'ai-feng)\n _pien-wen_, literary form\n Pig\n Pilgrims\n P'ing-ch'eng, city\n Pirates\n Plantation economy\n Plough\n Po Chue-i, poet\n Po-hai, state\n Poetry\n Court Poetry\n Northern Poetry\n Poets (_see_ T'ao Ch'ien, Po Chue-i, Li T'ai-po, Tu Fu, etc.)\n Politicians, migratory\n Pontic migration\n Population changes\n Population decrease\n (_see_ Census, Fertility)\n Porcelain\n Port Arthur, city\n Portsmouth, treaty\n Portuguese (_see_ Fu-lan-chi, Macao)\n Potter\n Pottery\n black pottery\n (_see_ Porcelain)\n Price controls\n Priests (_see_ Shamans, Ju, Monks)\n Primogeniture\n Princes\n Printing (_see_ Colour, Book)\n Privileges of gentry\n Proletariat (_see_ Labour)\n Propaganda\n Property relations (_see_ Laws, Inheritance, Primogeniture)\n Protectorate\n Provinces, administration\n _pu-ch'ue_, bondsmen\n P'u-ku Huai-en, general\n P'u Sung-lin, writer\n P'u Yi, Manchu ruler\n Puppet plays\n\n Railways\n Manchurian Railway\n Rebellions (_see_ Peasants, Secret Societies, Revolutions)\n Red Eyebrows, peasant movement\n Red Guards\n Reforms; Reform of language (_see_ Land reform)\n Regents\n Religion\n popular religion\n (_see_ Bon, Shintoism, Persecution, Sacrifice, Ancestor cult,\n Fertility cults, Deities, Temples, Monasteries, Christianity, Islam,\n Buddhism, Mazdaism, Manichaeism, Messianic religions, Secret\n societies, Soul, Shamanism, State religion)\n Republic\n Revolutions; legitimization of revolution (_see_ Rebellions)\n Ricci, Matteo, missionary\n Rice\n Rifles\n Ritualism\n Roads\n Roman Empire\n Roosevelt, F.D., president\n Russia (_see_ Soviet Republics)\n Ryukyu (Liu-ch'iu), islands\n\n Sacrifices\n Sages\n Sakhalin (Karafuto), island\n Salar, ethnic group\n Salary\n Salt\n Salt merchants\n Salt trade\n Samarkand, city\n _San-min chu-i_, book\n Sang Hung-yang, economist\n Sassanids, Iranian dynasty\n Scholars (_Ju_) (_see_ Literati, Scribes, Intellectuals,\n Confucianists)\n Schools, (_see_ Education)\n Science, (_see_ Mathematics, Astronomy, Nature)\n Scribes\n Script, Chinese\n Sculpture\n Buddhist sculptures\n _se-mu_ (auxiliary troops)\n Seal, imperial\n Secret societies (_see_ Red Eyebrows; Yellow Turbans; White Lotus;\n Boxer; Rebellions)\n Sects\n Buddhist sects\n Seng-ko-lin-ch'in, general\n Serfs (_see_ Slaves, Servants, Bondsmen)\n Servants\n Settlement, of foreigners\n military\n (_see_ Colonization)\n Sha-t'o, tribal federation\n Shadow theatre\n Shahruk, ruler\n Shamans\n Shamanism\n Shan tribes of South East Asia\n _Shan-hai-ching_, book\n Shan-yue, title of nomadic ruler\n Shang dynasty\n Shang Ti, deity\n Shang Tz[)u], philosopher (Shang Yang)\n Shanghai, city\n Shao Yung, philosopher\n Sheep\n Shen Nung, mythical figure\n Shen Tsung, Sung ruler\n Manchu ruler\n Sheng Tsu, Manchu ruler\n _Shih-chi_, book\n Shih Ching-t'ang, ruler\n Shih Ch'ung, writer\n Shih Heng, soldier\n Shih Hu, ruler\n Shih Huang-ti, ruler\n Shih Lo, ruler\n Shih-pi, ruler\n Shih Ss[)u]-ming\n Shih Tsung, Manchu ruler\n Shih-wei, Mongol tribes\n Shintoism, Japanese religion\n Ships (_see_ Navy)\n Short stories\n Shoulder axes\n Shu (Szechwan), area and/or state\n Shu-Han dynasty\n Shun, dynasty\n mythical ruler\n Shun-chih, reign period\n Sian (Hsi-an, Ch'ang-an), city\n Siao Ho (Hsiao Ho), jurist\n Silk\n Silk road\n Silver\n Sin-lo (Hsin-lo, Silla), state of Korea\n Sinanthropos\n Sinkiang (Hsin-Chiang, Turkestan)\n Slash and burn agriculture (denshiring)\n Slaves\n Slave society\n Temple slaves\n Social mobility\n Social structure of tribes\n Socialism (_see_ Marxism, Communism)\n Sogdiana, country in Central Asia\n Soul, concept of soul\n South-East Asia (_see_ Burma, Champa, Cambodia, Annam, Laos,\n Vietnam, Tonking, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Mon-Khmer)\n Soviet Republics (_see_ Russia)\n Speculations, financial\n Ss[)u]-ma, clan\n Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien, historian\n Ss[)u]-ma Kuang, historian\n Ss[)u]-ma Yen, ruler\n Standardization\n States, territorial and national\n State religion\n Statistics (_see_ Population)\n Steel\n Steppe\n Stone age\n Stratification, social (_see_ Classes, Social mobility)\n Strikes\n Students\n Su Chuen, rebel\n Su Tsung, T'ang ruler\n Su Tung-p'o, poet\n _su-wang_ (uncrowned king)\n Sui, dynasty\n Sun Ts'e, ruler\n Sun Yat-sen (Sun I-hsien), revolutionary leader, president\n Sung, dynasty\n Liu-Sung dynasty\n Szechwan (Ss[)u]-ch'uan), province (_see_ Shu)\n\n Ta-tan (Tatars), tribal federation\n Tada, Japanese militarist\n Tai, tribes (_see_ Thailand)\n Tai Chen, philosopher\n Tai Ch'ing dynasty (Manchu)\n T'ai P'ing, state\n T'ai Tsu, Sung ruler\n Manchu ruler\n T'ai Tsung, T'ang ruler (_see_ Li Shih-min)\n Taiwan (T'ai-wan, _see_ Formosa)\n T'an-yao, priest\n Tanaka, Japanese militarist\n T'ang, dynasty\n Later T'ang dynasty\n T'ang Hsien-tsu, writer\n T'ang Yin, painter\n Tanguts, Tibetan tribal federation and/or state (_see_ Ch'iang)\n Tao, philosophical term\n Tao-kuang, reign period\n _Tao-te-ching_, book\n T'ao-t'ieh, mythical emblem\n Tao-yen, monk\n Taoism, religion\n Taoists\n (_see_ Lao Tz[)u], Chuang Tz[)u], Chang Ling, etc.)\n Tarim basin\n Tatars (Ta-tan) Mongolian tribal federation\n Taxation\n Tax collectors\n Tax evasion\n Tax exemptions\n Taxes for monks\n Tax reform\n Te Tsung, Manchu ruler\n Tea\n Tea trade\n Tea house (_see_ Brothel)\n Teachers (_see_ Schools)\n Technology\n Tell, archaeological term\n Temples (_see_ Monasteries)\n Tengri khan, ruler\n Textile industry (_see_ Silk, Cotton)\n Thailand, state (_see_ Tai tribes)\n Theatre (_see_ Shadow, Puppet, Opera)\n Throne, accession to (_see_ Abdication, Legitimacy)\n Ti, Tibetan tribes\n Tibet (_see_ Ch'iang, Ti, T'u-fan, T'u-yue-hun, Lhasa Tanguts)\n T'ien, deity\n Tientsin (T'ien-chin), city\n Timur, ruler\n Tin\n Ting-ling, tribal federation\n T'o-pa (_see_ Toba)\n T'o-t'o, writer\n Toba, Turkish tribal federation\n Tocharians, Central Asian ethnic group\n Tokto (_see_ T'o-t'o)\n Toeloes, Turkish tribal group\n Tombs\n Tonking, state\n Tortoise\n Totalitarianism (_see_ Dictatorship, Fascism, Communism)\n Tou Ku, general\n T'ou-man, ruler\n Towns (_see_ City)\n Trade\n barter trade\n international trade\n (_see_ Merchants, Commerce, Caravans, Silk road)\n Translations\n Transportation (_see_ Roads, Canals, Ships, Post, Caravans, Horses)\n Travels of emperors\n Treasury\n Treaty, international\n Tribal organization (_see_ Banner, Army, Nomads)\n Tribes, disappearance of\n social organization\n military organization\n Tribute (_kung_)\n _tsa-hu_, social class\n Tsai T'ien, prince\n Ts'ai Yuean-p'ei, scholar\n Ts'ao Chih, poet\n Ts'ao Hsueeh-ch'in, writer\n Ts'ao K'un, politician\n Ts'ao P'ei, ruler\n Ts'ao Ts'ao, general\n Tsewang Rabdan, general\n Tseng Kuo-fan, general\n Tso Tsung-t'ang, general\n Tsou Yen, philosopher\n Ts'ui, clan\n T'u-chueeh, Goek Turk tribes (_see_ Turks)\n Tu Fu, poet\n T'u-fan, Tibetan tribal group\n Tu-ku, Turkish tribe\n _T'u-shu chi-ch'eng_, encyclopaedia\n _tu-tu_, title\n T'u-yue-hun, Tibetan tribal federation\n Tuan Ch'i-jui, president\n Tuemet, Mongol tribal group\n Tung Ch'i-ch'ang, painter\n T'ung-chien kang-mu, historical encyclopaedia\n T'ung-chih, reign period\n Tung Chung-shu, thinker\n Tung Fu-hsiang, politician\n Tung-lin academy\n Tungus tribes (_see_ Juchen, Po-hai, Manchu)\n Tunhuang (Tun-huang), city\n Turfan, city state\n Turgut, Mongol tribal federation\n Turkestan (_see_ Central Asia, Tarim, Turfan, Sinkiang, Ferghana,\n Samarkand, Khotcho, Tocharians, Yueeh-chih, Sogdians, etc.)\n Turkey\n Turks (_see_ Goek Turks, T'u-chueeh, Toba, Toeloes, Ting-ling, Uighur,\n Sha-t'o, etc.)\n Tz[)u] Hsi, empress\n\n Uighurs, Turkish federation\n United States (_see_ America)\n Ungern-Sternberg, general\n Urbanization (_see_ City)\n Urga, city\n University\n Usury\n\n Vagrants (_liu-min_)\n Vietnam (_see_ Annam)\n Village\n Village commons\n Vinaya Buddhism\n Voltaire, writer\n\n Walls\n Great Wall\n Wan-li, reign period\n _Wang_ (king)\n Wang An-shih, statesman\n Wang Chen, eunuch\n Wang Ching-wei, collaborator\n Wang Ch'ung, philosopher\n Wang Hsien-chih, peasant leader\n Wang Kung, general\n Wang Mang, ruler\n Wang Shih-chen, writer\n Wang Shih-fu, writer\n Wang Tao-k'un, writer\n Wang Tun, rebel\n Wang Yang-ming, general and philosopher\n War\n size of wars\n War-chariot\n cost of wars\n War lords\n Warrior-nomads\n (_see_ Army, World War, Opium War, Lorcha War, Fire-arms)\n Washington, conference\n Wei, dynasty\n small state\n empress\n Wei Chung-hsien, eunuch\n Wei T'o, ruler in South China\n Welfare state\n Well-field system (_ching-t'ien_),\n Wen Ti, Han ruler\n Wei ruler\n Toba ruler\n Sui ruler\n Wen Tsung, Manchu ruler\n Whampoa, military academy\n Wheat\n White Lotus sect (Pai-lien)\n Wholesalers\n Wine\n Wood-cut (_see_ Colour print)\n Wool (_see_ Felt)\n World Wars\n Women rights\n Writing, invention (_see_ Script)\n Wu, empress\n state\n Wuch'ang, city (_see_ Hankow)\n Wu Ching-tz[)u], writer\n Wu-huan, tribal federation\n Wu P'ei-fu, war lord\n Wu San-kui, general\n Wu Shih-fan, ruler\n Wu-sun, tribal group\n Wu Tai (Five Dynasties period)\n Wu Tao-tz[)u], painter\n Wu (Ti), Han ruler\n Chin ruler\n Liang ruler\n Wu Tsung, Manchu ruler\n Wu Wang, Chou ruler\n _wu-wei_, philosophical term\n\n Yakub beg, ruler\n Yamato, part of Japan\n Yang, clan\n Yang Chien, ruler (_see_ Wen Ti)\n Yang (Kui-fei), concubine\n Yang-shao, archaeological site\n Yang Ti, Sui ruler\n Yao, mythical ruler\n tribes in South China\n Yarkand, city in Turkestan\n Yeh (K'ai-feng), city\n Yeh-ta (_see_ Ephtalites)\n Yehe-Nara, tribe\n Yellow Turbans, secret society\n Yeh-lue Ch'u-ts'ai, politician\n Yen, state\n dynasty\n Earlier Yen dynasty\n Later Yen dynasty\n Western Yen dynasty\n Yen-an, city\n Yen Fu, translator\n Yen Hsi-shan, war lord\n Yen-ta (Altan), ruler\n _Yen-t'ieh-lun_ (Discourses on Salt and Iron), book\n Yin Chung-k'an, general\n Yin-ch'ue, city\n Yin and Yang, philosophical terms\n Ying Tsung, Manchu ruler\n Yo Fei, general\n Yue Liang, general\n Yue-wen, tribal group\n Yuean Chen\n Yuean Chi, philosopher\n Yuean Mei, writer\n Yuean Shao, general\n Yuean Shih-k'ai, general and president\n Yuean Ti, Han ruler\n Chin ruler\n Yueeh, tribal group and area\n Yueeh-chih, Indo-European-speaking ethnic group\n Yuen-kang, caves\n Yuennan (Yuen-nan), province\n Yung-cheng, reign period\n Yung-lo, reign period\n\n Zen Buddhism (_see_ Ch'an)\n Zoroaster, founder of religion\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of China, by Wolfram Eberhard\n\n*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF CHINA 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