partial and incomplete to such an extent as to be absolutely false. Most conditions in life have a sunny as well as a shady side; I have endeavored to bring to view both, and to present the condition and character of the Chinese as it is, confident that no harm can result, either to religion or science, from the statement of facts. The inhabitants of Rome and of Athens at the beginning of the Christian era were very intelligent and respectable people, and their condition, as regards this life, was not such as to excite commiseration; but these facts do not seem to have dampened the missionary zeal of St. Paul, or caused him to relax in his efforts to preach to them the Gospel of Christ. It is but a weak, sickly, and imperfectly enlightened Christianity, which can only be roused to activity by tales of physical distress, while it is insensible to the spiritual condition of vast multitudes who are without a knowledge of God and of a way of salvation; treats with comparative indifference the solemn command of Jesus to evangelize the nations, and finds no powerful motive to exertion in the work of extending the spiritual triumphs of the Redeemer, and contributing to the establishment on earth of His universal kingdom and glory.

ISOLATION OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE.

293

CHAPTER XX.

INTERCOURSE OF WESTERN NATIONS WITH CHINA. Isolation. - Antiquity and Chronology. - Early Reference to China in Greek and Roman History.-A Jewish Colony in Kai-fung-foo.-The Nestorians and their Labors.-Marco Polo.-Early Romish Missions.First War with England, and the Opening of the Five Treaty Ports in 1842.-Events which led to the last War with England and France, and to the Treaties which are now in Force.-Our present Relations.

ONE of the most remarkable facts in connection with China is its comparative isolation for thirty centuries from other nations of the globe-an isolation which at times has been so complete that the "Middle Kingdom" has been almost as unknown to the rest of the world as if it belonged to a different planet. Between Western nations and the nations of Central Asia, many evident connections may be traced in their histories, languages, traditions, and religions, but not so with China. It seems to have been a world by itself, uninfluenced by the ideas, and undisturbed by the convulsions of other countries, having a form of civilization and government peculiarly her own, and resembling other races only in this, that its people are possessed of the same common nature.

The isolation of the Chinese Empire has been due to its position in the extreme limits of Eastern Asia, and the great difficulties which for ages prevented reaching it by sea, and which still render it impracticable to reach it by an overland route across the Himalaya Mountains.

I do not propose to enter upon the vexed and difficult question of the antiquity of China, or to endeavor to fix the boundary between its mythological period and its authentic history, much less to note the long succession of its dynasties and the events connected with them. But as the subject of its an

tiquity is one of much interest, I will simply give the opinion and conclusions relating to it of some of our most trustworthy modern writers.

Among those who place the period of reliable Chinese records nearest to our time is Sir John Davis, whose views are expressed as follows: "The period of authentic history may be considered as dating from the race of Chow, in whose time Confucius himself lived; for although it might be going too far to condemn all that precedes that period as absolutely fabulous, it is still so mixed up with fable as hardly to deserve the name of history." The reign of the race of Chow begins about one thousand years before the Christian era. The principal evidence referred to by this writer to cast discredit upon antecedent records is found in the assertions that "Yu is described as nine cubits in height; and it is stated that the skies rained gold for three days." In answer to this objection, Williams justly remarks: "This height is but little more than that of Og of Bashan; and if Kin, here called gold, be translated metal (which it can just as well be), it may be a notice of a meteoric shower of extraordinary duration."

The following is Williams's opinion: "Chinese mythological history ends with the appearance of Fuh-hi, and their chronology should not be charged with the long period antecedent varying from forty-five to five hundred thousand years, for the people themselves do not believe this duration. These periods, however, are a mere twinkling, compared with the Kulpas of the Hindoos, whose highest era, called the "Unspeakably Inexpressible," requires 4,456,448, ciphers following a unit to represent it.

"The accession of Fuh-hi is placed in the Chinese annals B.C. 2852." This would be five hundred and eight years before the Deluge, according to the chronology of Usher; and three hundred and three years after, if we follow that of Hales.

In endeavoring to discover points of contact of the history of China with that of other countries, an attempt has been made to identify the Noachic Deluge with a notable flood re

EARLY HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO CHINA. 295

corded in the Chinese annals in connection with the Emperor Yu, which, if we credit Chinese history, took place B.C. 2293. This flood, according to Usher, synchronizes with the Deluge of Scripture, with the variation of only fifty-five years. It is the general opinion, however, that the Chinese record refers to an unusual inundation of the Yellow River, and that this supposed single coincidence between the sacred Scriptures and the early history of China is not established by sufficient evidence.

Thomas Taylor Meadows, in his work "The Chinese and their Rebellion," gives the following statement: "Authentic, though not full records, embodying ethical and political doctrines, extend back to B.C. 2357, or to about eighteen hundred years before Confucius, while the Chinese philosophy originated with Fuh-hi, who lived, according to the tradition, some twenty-three generations before the exact chronological era, which latter took place B.C. 2637, with the institution of the national cycle of sixty years. Allowing thirty years to one generation, this would place Fuh-hi about B.C. 3327."

It will be seen that, while writers who have investigated this subject, differ widely in their conclusions, none of them fix the period of the authentic history of China less distant from our time than about three thousand years.

References of a vague and uncircumstantial character to a country now generally believed to be China are found in the works of Greek and Roman historians, principally in the writings of Ptolemy and Arian, who lived in the second century. Ptolemy states that he derived his information from the agents of Macedonian traders. These agents, who probably belonged to some of the Tartar tribes of Central Asia, gave him an account of a journey of seven months from the principal city of Eastern Turkistan in a direction east, inclining a little south. They represented the most eastern nation of Asia under the name of Serica, and stated that on the borders of this kingdom they met, and traded with its inhabitants, the Seres.

Herodotus speaks of the Isadores, as a people in the extreme north-east of Asia. Ptolemy also mentions these tribes as a part of Serica, and under its sway.

Ammianus Marcellinus, a Roman historian of the fourth century, speaks of the land of the Seres as surrounded by a high and continuous wall. This was about six hundred years after the great wall of Northern China was built.

Virgil, Pliny, Tacitus, and Juvenal refer to the Seres in connection with the Seric garments, which seem to have been made of fine silk or gauze. This article of dress was much sought after in Rome by the wealthy and luxurious, and as late as the second century is said to have been worth its weight in gold.

Now, from the length and direction of the route of the traders just referred to, the description of the mountains and rivers which they passed, the character of the people with whom they traded, and the articles of traffic, the evidence seems almost conclusive that the nation which the Greeks and Romans designated by the name Serica is that now known to us as China.

The particular countries visited by the caravans which brought the silk to Europe were probably the dependencies or territories of China on the west, or possibly cities within the extreme north-west limits of China proper. The information conveyed by these traders, who were probably ignorant of the Chinese language, was necessarily imperfect and limited, and the communication carried on through them had little or no effect either on China or the West. Little was known of the Seres, except that such a people existed, and that one of their productions, silk fabrics, excelled in richness and beauty any article of dress in the known world. These fabrics were spoken of by the Romans as a product of barbarian luxury; and the traders from Macedonia and Rome were no doubt spoken of in China as barbarians from the West, who had been attracted to the "Central Flowery Land " by the benign influences of its superior civilization, and a desire to car