Part 134

The earlier Han Dynasty B. C. 206-A. D. 25; the late Han A. D. 25-220; the Wei 220-280; the western Tsin 265-317; the eastern Tsin 317-420; the Sung 420-479; the Ts'e 479-502; the Leang 502-557; the Ch'in 557-589. Simultaneously with these— the northern Wei A. D. 386-534; the western Wei 535-557; the eastern Wei 534-550; the northern Ts'e 550-577; the northern Chow 557-589. The Suy 589-618; the T'ang 618-907; the later Leang 907-923; the later T'ang 923-936; the later Tsin 936-947; the later Han 947-951; the later Chow 951-960, the Sung 960-1127; the southern Sung 1127-1280; the Yuen 1280-1368; the Ming 1368-1614; the Ts'ing 1644. Simultaneously with some of these— the Leaou 907-1125; the western Leaou 1125-1168; the Kin 1115-1280.

_R. K. Douglas, China, chapter 1._

ALSO IN _D.C. Boulger, History of China, volumes 1-2._

CHINA: The Religions of the People. Confucianism. Taouism. Buddhism.

"The Chinese describe themselves as possessing three religions, or more accurately, three sects, namely Joo keaou, the sect of Scholars; Fuh keaou, the sect of Buddha; and Taou keaou, the sect of Taou. Both as regards age and origin, the sect of Scholars, or, as it is generally called, Confucianism, represents pre-eminently the religion of China. It has its root in the worship of Shang-te, a deity which is associated with the earliest traditions of the Chinese race. Hwang-te (2697 B. C.) erected a temple to his honour, and succeeding emperors worshipped before his shrine. … During the troublous times which followed after the reign of the few first sovereigns of the Chow Dynasty, the belief in a personal deity grew indistinct and dim, until, when Confucius [born B. C. 551] began his career, there appeared nothing strange in his atheistic doctrines. He never in any way denied the existence of Shang-te, but he ignored him. His concern was with man as a member of society, and the object of his teaching was to lead him into those paths of rectitude which might best contribute to his own happiness, and to the well-being of that community of which he formed part. Man, he held, was born good, and was endowed with qualities which, when cultivated and improved by watchfulness and self-restraint, might enable him to acquire godlike wisdom and to become 'the equal of Heaven.' He divided mankind into four classes, viz., those who are born with the possession of knowledge; those who learn, and so readily get possession of knowledge; those who are dull and stupid, and yet succeed in learning; and, lastly, those who are dull and stupid, and yet do not learn. To all these, except those of the last class, the path to the climax reached by the 'Sage' is open. Man has only to watch, listen to, understand, and obey the moral sense implanted in him by Heaven, and the highest perfection is within his reach. … In this system there is no place for a personal God. The impersonal Heaven, according to Confucius, implants a pure nature in every being at his birth, but, having done this, there is no further supernatural interference with the thoughts and deeds of men. It is in the power of each one to perfect his nature, and there is no divine influence to restrain those who take the downward course. Man has his destiny in his own hands, to make or to mar. Neither had Confucius any inducement to offer to encourage men in the practice of virtue, except virtue's self. He was a matter-of-fact, unimaginative man, who was quite content to occupy himself with the study of his fellow-men, and was disinclined to grope into the future or to peer upwards. No wonder that his system, as he enunciated it, proved a failure. Eagerly he sought in the execution of his official duties to effect the regeneration of the empire, but beyond the circle of his personal disciples he found few followers, and as soon as princes and statesmen had satisfied their curiosity about him they turned their backs on his precepts and would [have] none of his reproofs. Succeeding ages, recognising the loftiness of his aims, eliminated all that was impracticable and unreal in his system, and held fast to that part of it that was true and good. They were content to accept the logic of events, and to throw overboard the ideal 'sage,' and to ignore the supposed potency of his influence; but they clung to the doctrines of filial piety, brotherly love, and virtuous living. It was admiration for the emphasis which he laid on these and other virtues which has drawn so many millions of men unto him; which has made his tomb at Keo-foo heen to be the Mecca of Confucianism, and has adorned every city of the empire with temples built in his honour. … Concurrently with the lapse of pure Confucianism, and the adoption of those principles which find their earliest expression in the pre-Confucian classics of China, there is observable a return to the worship of Shang-te. The most magnificent temple in the empire is the Temple of Heaven at Peking, where the highest object of Chinese worship is adored with the purest rites. … What is popularly known in Europe as Confucianism is, therefore, Confucianism with the distinctive opinions of Confucius omitted. … But this worship of Shang-te is confined only to the emperor. The people have no lot or heritage in the sacred acts of worship at the Altar of Heaven. … Side by side with the revival of the Joo keaou, under the influence of Confucius, grew up a system of a totally different nature, and which, when divested of its esoteric doctrines, and reduced by the practically-minded Chinamen to a code of morals, was destined in future ages to become affiliated with the teachings of the Sage. {419} This was Taouism, which was founded by Laou-tsze, who was a contemporary of Confucius. An air of mystery hangs over the history of Laou-tsze. Of his parentage we know nothing, and the historians, in their anxiety to conceal their ignorance of his earlier years, shelter themselves behind the legend that he was born an old man. … The primary meaning of Taou is 'The way,' 'The path,' but in Laou-tsze's philosophy it was more than the way, it was the way-goer as well. It was an eternal road; along it all beings and things walked; it was everything and nothing, and the cause and effect of all. All things originated from Taou, conformed to Taou, and to Taou at last returned. … 'If, then, we had to express the meaning of Taou, we should describe it as the Absolute; the totality of Being and Things; the phenomenal world and its order; and the ethical nature of the good man, 'and the principle of his action.' It was absorption into this 'Mother of all things' that Laou-tsze aimed at. And this end was to be attained to by self-emptiness, and by giving free scope to the uncontaminated nature which, like Confucius, he taught was given by Heaven to all men. … But these subtleties, like the more abstruse speculations of Confucius, were suited only to the taste of the schools. To the common people they were foolishness, and, before long, the philosophical doctrine of Laou-tsze of the identity of existence and non-existence, assumed in their eyes a warrant for the old Epicurean motto, 'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' The pleasures of sense were substituted for the delights of virtue, and the next step was to desire prolongation of the time when those pleasures could be enjoyed. Legend said that Laou-tsze had secured to himself immunity from death by drinking the elixir of immortality, and to enjoy the same 'privilege became the all-absorbing object of his followers. The demand for elixirs and charms produced a supply, and Taouism quickly degenerated into a system of magic. … The teachings of Laou-tsze having familiarised the Chinese mind with philosophical doctrines, which, whatever were their direct source, bore a marked resemblance to the musings of Indian sages, served to prepare the way for the introduction of Buddhism. The exact date at which the Chinese first became acquainted with the doctrines of Buddha was, according to an author quoted in K'ang-he's Imperial Encyclopædia, the thirtieth year of the reign of She Hwang-te, i. e., B. C. 216. The story this writer tells of the difficulties which the first missionaries encountered is curious, and singularly suggestive of the narrative of St. Peter's imprisonment."

_R. K. Douglas, China, chapter 17._

ALSO IN: _R. K. Douglas, Confucianism and Taouism._

"Buddhism … penetrated to China along the fixed route from India to that country, round the north-west corner of the Himalayas and across Eastern Turkestan. Already in the 2nd year B. C., an embassy, perhaps sent by Huvishka [who reigned in Kabul and Kashmere] took Buddhist books to the then Emperor of China, A-ili; and the Emperor Ming-ti, 62 A. D., guided by a dream, is said to have sent to Tartary and Central India and brought Buddhist books to China. From this time Buddhism rapidly spread there. … In the fourth century Buddhism became the state religion."

_T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism, chapter 9._

ALSO IN _J. Legge, The Religions of China._

_J. Edkins, Religion in China._

_J. Edkins, Chinese Buddhism._

_S. Beals, Buddhism in China._

_S. Johnson, Oriental Religions: China._

CHINA: A. D. 1205-1234. Conquest by Jingis Khan and his son.

"The conquest of China was commenced by Chinghiz [or Jingis Khan], although it was not completed for several generations. Already in 1205 he had invaded Tangut, a kingdom occupying the extreme northwest of China, and extending beyond Chinese limits in the same direction, held by a dynasty of Tibetan race, which was or had been a vassal to the Kin. This invasion was repeated in succeeding years; and in 1211 his attacks extended to the Empire of the Kin itself. In 1214 he ravaged their provinces to the Yellow River, and in the following year took Chungtu or Peking. In 1219 he turned his arms against Western Asia; … but a lieutenant whom he had left behind him in the East continued to prosecute the subjection of Northern China. Chinghiz himself on his return from his western conquests renewed his attack on Tangut, and died on that enterprise, 18th August. Okkodai, the son and successor of Chinghiz, followed up the subjugation of China, extinguished the Kin finally in 1234 and consolidated with his Empire all the provinces north of the Great Kiang. The Southern provinces remained for the present subject to the Chinese dynasty of the Sung, reigning now at Kingssé or Hangcheu. This kingdom was known to the Tartars as Nangkiass, and also by the quasi-Chinese title of Mangi or Manzi, made so famous by Marco Polo and the travellers of the following age."

_H. Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither. Preliminary Essay, sections 91-92._

See, also, MONGOLS: A. D. 1153-1227.

CHINA: A. D. 1259-1294. The Empire of Kublai Khan.

Kublai, or Khubilai Khan, one of the grandsons of Jingis Khan, who reigned as the Great Khan or Supreme lord of the Mongols from 1259 until 1294, "was the sovereign of the largest empire that was ever controlled by one man. China, Corea, Thibet, Tung-King, Cochin China, a great portion of India beyond the Ganges, the Turkish and Siberian realms from the Eastern Sea to the Dnieper, obeyed his commands; and although the chief of the Hordes of Jagatai and Ogatai refused to acknowledge him, the Ilkhans of Persia … were his feudatories. … The Supreme Khan had immediate authority only in Mongolia and China. … The capital of the Khakan, after the accession of Khubilai, was a new city he built close to the ancient metropolis of the Liao and Kin dynasties."

_H. H. Howorth, History of the Mongols, volume 1, pages 216-283._

"Khan-Bálig (Mong., 'The Khan's city'), the Cambalu of Marco, Peking … was captured by Chinghiz in 1215, and in 1264 Kublai made it his chief residence. In 1267 he built a new city, three 'li' to the north-east of the old one, to which was given the name of Ta-tu or 'Great Court,' called by the Mongols Daïdu, the Taydo of Odoric and Taidu of Polo, who gives a description of its dimensions, the number of its gates, etc., similar to that in the text. The Chinese accounts give only eleven gates. This city was abandoned as a royal residence on the expulsion of the Mongol dynasty in 1368, but re-occupied in 1421 by the third Ming Emperor, who built the walls as they now exist, reducing their extent and the number of the gates to nine. This is what is commonly called the 'Tartar city' of the present day (called also by the Chinese Lau-Chhing or 'Old Town'), which therefore represents the Taydo of Odoric."

_H. Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, volume 1, page 127, footnote._

ALSO IN _Marco Polo, Travels, with Notes by Sir H. Yule, book 2._

See, also, MONGOLS: A. D. 1229-1294, and POLO, MARCO.

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CHINA: A. D. 1294-1882. Dissolution of the Empire of Kublai Khan. The Ming dynasty and its fall. The enthronement of the present Manchu Tartar Dynasty, of the Tsings or Ch'ings. The appearance of the Portuguese and the Jesuit Missionaries.

"The immediate successors of Kublai, brought up in the luxuries of the imperial palace, the most gorgeous at that time in the world, relied upon the prestige with which the glory of the late emperor invested them, and never dreamed that change could touch a dominion so vast and so solid. Some devoted themselves to elegant literature and the improvement of the people; later princes to the mysteries of Buddhism, which became, in some degree, the state religion; and as the cycle went round, the dregs of the dynasty abandoned themselves, as usual, to priests, women, and eunuchs. … The distant provinces threw off their subjection; robbers ravaged the land, and pirates the sea; a minority and a famine came at the same moment; and in less than ninety years after its commencement, the fall of the dynasty was only illumined by some few flashes of dying heroism, and every armed Tartar, who could obtain a horse to aid his flight, spurred back to his native deserts. Some of them, of the royal race, turning to the west, took refuge with the Manchows, and in process of time, marrying with the families of the chiefs, intermingled the blood of the two great tribes. The proximate cause of this catastrophe was a Chinese of low birth, who, in the midst of the troubles of the time, found means to raise himself by his genius from a servile station to the leadership of a body of the malcontents, and thence to step into the imperial throne. The new dynasty [the Ming] began their reign with great brilliance. The emperor carried the Tartar war into their own country, and at home made unrelenting war upon the abuses of his palace. He committed the mistake, however, of granting separate principalities to the members of his house, which in the next reign caused a civil war, and the usurpation of the throne by an uncle of the then emperor. The usurper found it necessary to transfer the capital to Peking, as a post of defence against the eastern Tartars, who now made their appearance again on this eventful stage. He was successful, however, in his wars in the desert, and he added Tonquin and Cochin China to the Chinese dominions. After him the fortunes of the dynasty began to wane. The government became weaker, the Tartars stronger, some princes attached themselves to literature, some to Buddhism or Taoism: Cochin China revolted, and was lost to the empire, Japan ravaged the coasts with her privateers; famine came to add to the horrors of misrule."

_Leitch Ritchie, History of the Oriental Nations, book 7, chapter 1 (volume 2)._

"From without, the Mings were constantly harassed by the encroachments of the Tartars; from within, the ceaseless intriguing of the eunuchs (resulting in one case in the temporary deposition of an Emperor) was a fertile cause of trouble. Towards the close of the 16th century the Portuguese appeared upon the scene, and from their 'concession' at Macao, some time the residence of Camoens, opened commercial relations between China and the West. They brought the Chinese, among other things, opium, which had previously been imported overland from India. They possibly taught them how to make gunpowder, to the invention of which the Chinese do not seem, upon striking a balance of evidence, to possess an independent claim. About the same time [1580] Rome contributed the first instalment of those wonderful Jesuit fathers, whose names may truly be said to have filled the empire 'with sounds that echo still,' the memory of their scientific labours and the benefits they thus conferred upon China having long survived the wreck and discredit of the faith to which they devoted their lives. And at this distance of time it does not appear to be a wild statement to assert that had the Jesuits, the Franciscans, and the Dominicans, been able to resist quarrelling among themselves, and had they rather united to persuade Papal infallibility to permit the incorporation of ancestor worship with the rites and ceremonies of the Romish church—China would at this moment be a Catholic country, and Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism would long since have receded into the past. Of all these Jesuit missionaries, the name of Matteo Ricci [who died in 1610] stands by common consent first upon the long list. … The overthrow of the Mings [A. D. 1644], was brought about by a combination of events, of the utmost importance to those who would understand the present position of the Tartars as rulers of China. A sudden rebellion had resulted in the capture of Peking by the insurgents, and in the suicide of the Emperor who was fated to be the last of his line. The Imperial Commander-in-chief, Wu San-kuei, at that time away on the frontiers of Manchuria, engaged in resisting the incursions of the Manchu Tartars, now for a long time in a state of ferment, immediately hurried back to the capital, but was totally defeated by the insurgent leader, and once more made his way, this time as a fugitive and a suppliant, towards the Tartar camp. Here he obtained promises of assistance, chiefly on condition that he would shave his head and grow a tail in accordance with Manchu custom, and again set off with his new auxiliaries towards Peking, being reinforced on the way by a body of Mongol volunteers. As things turned out Wu San-kuei arrived at Peking in advance of these allies, and actually succeeded, with the remnant of his own scattered forces, in routing the troops of the rebel leader before the Tartars and the Mongols came up. He then started in pursuit of the flying foe. Meanwhile the Tartar contingent arrived; and on entering the capital, the young Manchu prince in command was invited by the people of Peking to ascend the vacant throne. So that by the time Wu San-kuei re-appeared he found a new dynasty [the Ch'ing or Tsing dynasty of the present day] already established, and his late Manchu ally at the head of affairs. His first intention had doubtless been to continue the Ming line of Emperors; but he seems to have readily fallen in with the arrangement already made, and to have tendered his formal allegiance on the four following conditions:

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(1.) That no Chinese woman should be taken into the Imperial seraglio.

(2.) That the first place at the great triennial examination for the highest literary degrees should never be given to a Tartar.

(3.) That the people should adopt the national costume of the Tartars in their everyday life; but that they should be allowed to bury their corpses in the dress of the late dynasty.

(4.) That this condition of costume should not apply to the women of China, who were not to be compelled either to wear the hair in a tail before marriage (as the Tartar girls do) or to abandon the custom of compressing' their feet.