Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1the dynasties of Kau and Han, and possibly some also when they were recovered under the latter. 4. It remains for us to consider the case of the Tribute The Tribute Of Yii, the first, as the books are now arranged, of Yi. of those of Hsia, but belonging, as has been already said, to the period of Y4o, or at least to the period when Y4o and Shun were together on the throne. It thus appears out of its chronological order, and must share in the general uncertainty which attaches to the documents of the first two parts of our classic. Yao, in what year of his reign we are not told, appears suddenly startled by the ravages of a terrible inundation. The waters were overtopping the hills, and threatening the heavens in their surging fury. The people everywhere were groaning and murmuring Was there a capable man to whom he could assign the correction of the calamity? All the nobles recommend one Khw4n, to whom Y4o, against his own better judgment, delegates the difficult task, on which Khwan labours without success for nine years. His son Yii then entered on the work. From beyond the western bounds of the present China proper he is represented as tracking the great rivers, here burning the woods, hewing the rocks, and cutting through the mountains that obstructed their progress, and there deepening their channels until their waters flow peacefully into the eastern sea. He forms lakes, and raises mighty embankments, till at length ‘the grounds along the rivers were everywhere made habitable; the hills cleared of their superfluous wood ; and access to the capital was secured for all within the four seas. A great order was effected in the six magazines (of material wealth); the different parts of the country were subjected to an exact comparison, so that contribution of revenue could be carefully adjusted according to their resources. The fields were all classified according to the three characters of the soil, and the revenues of the Middle Kingdom were established.’ Of the devotion with which Yii pursued his work, he says himself in the Yi and Ki:—I mounted my four conveyances,’— carriages on the land, boats on the water, sledges in icy places, and INTRODUCTION. 17
217 shoes with spikes in them in ascending the hills,—‘ and all along the hills hewed down the woods, at the same time, along with Yi, showing the people how to get flesh to eat, —that is, by capturing fish and birds and beasts. ‘I opened passages for the streams throughout the nine provinces, and conducted them to the sea. I deepened the channels and canals, and conducted them to the streams, at the same time, along with Ki, sowing grain, and showing the people how to procure the food of toil.in addition to flesh meat. I urged them to exchange what they had for what they had not, and to dispose of their accumulated stores. In this way all the people got grain to eat, and the myriad regions began to come under good rule.’ And again :—‘ When I married in Td-shan, I remained with my wife only four days.’ Mencius says that while engaged on his task, he thrice passed the door of his house; but did not enter it. His own words are:—‘ When K4Ai (my son) was wailing and weeping, I did not regard him, but kept planning with all my might my labour on the land.’ Along with his operations to assuage the wide-spread inundation, Yii thus carried on other most important labours proper to an incipient civilization. We gather from the Sha that it did not take him many years to accomplish his mighty undertaking. It was successfully finished before the death of Yao. All this is incredible. The younger Biot, in an article on the Tribute of Yii, published in the Journal Asiatique, in 1842, says: —‘If we are to believe the commentators, Yii will become a supernatural being, who could lead the immense rivers of China as if he had been engaged in regulating the course of feeble streamlets.’ There is no occasion to say, ‘If we are to believe the commentators ;'—if we are to believe the Sha, this is the judgment that we must form about Yii. The general conclusion to which Biot came about the document under our notice was that we are to find in it only the progress of a great colony. Yii was the first explorer of the Chinese world. He established posts of colonists or planters in different parts of the territory. He caused the wood around those posts to be cut down, Ct] c 18 THE sHOd KING.
3Yii was the first explorer of the Chinese world. He established posts of colonists or planters in different parts of the territory. He caused the wood around those posts to be cut down, Ct] c 18 THE sHOd KING. and commenced the cultivation of the soil. After Yii, the labours of draining the country and clearing the forests continued during some ages, and the result of all was attributed by Chinese tradition to the first chief. I have no doubt there is an inkling of the truth in this view of the French sinologue, but the idea of Yii’s being the leader of a Chinese colony had better be abandoned. We recognise the primitive seat of the Chinese people, in the southern parts of the present Shan-hsi, with the Ho on the west and south of it. His son fought a battle with the Chief of Hf at a place in the present department of Hsi-an, in Shen-hsi, across the Ho, and his grandson was kept a sort of prisoner at large in the present province of Ho-nan, south of the river. The people or tribe extended itself westward, eastward, and southward, and still later northward, as it increased in numbers, and was able to subdue the earth. The flood of Y4o was probably an inundation of the Ho, similar to many in subsequent times which have procured for that river the name of ‘China’s Sorrow,’ and Yii distinguished himself in the assuaging of it, and the regulation of its course to the sea. The extent of the country came to be ascertained under the dynasties of Hsia and Shang, and its different parts were gradually occupied by the increasing numbers of the people, and contributed their various proportions of revenue to the central government. There were memorials of the toils which Yii had undergone, and of allotments of territory which he had made to the most distinguished among his followers. It occurred to some historiographer to form a theory as to the way in which the whole country might have been brought to order by the founder of the Hsia dynasty, and he proceeded to glorify Yi by ascribing so grand an achievement to him. About the same time, probably, the popular stories of Yii’s self-denial had found their expression in the Yi and Xi, prompting at once the conception of the Tribute of Yii, and obtaining for it a favourable reception. Yii entered well into association with Y4o and Shun, and formed a triad with them INTRODUCTION, 19 at the beginning of the Chinese monarchy. Their wisdom and benevolence appeared in him, combined with a practical devotion to the duties of his position, in which all sovereigns would have a model, to win them from indolence and self-indulgence, and stimulate them to a painstaking discharge of their responsibilities.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1the dynasties of Kau and Han, and possibly some also when they were recovered under the latter. 4. It remains for us to consider the case of the Tribute The Tribute Of Yii, the first, as the books are now arranged, of Yi. of those of Hsia, but belonging, as has been already said, to the period of Y4o, or at least to the period when Y4o and Shun were together on the throne. It thus appears out of its chronological order, and must share in the general uncertainty which attaches to the documents of the first two parts of our classic. Yao, in what year of his reign we are not told, appears suddenly startled by the ravages of a terrible inundation. The waters were overtopping the hills, and threatening the heavens in their surging fury. The people everywhere were groaning and murmuring Was there a capable man to whom he could assign the correction of the calamity? All the nobles recommend one Khw4n, to whom Y4o, against his own better judgment, delegates the difficult task, on which Khwan labours without success for nine years. His son Yii then entered on the work. From beyond the western bounds of the present China proper he is represented as tracking the great rivers, here burning the woods, hewing the rocks, and cutting through the mountains that obstructed their progress, and there deepening their channels until their waters flow peacefully into the eastern sea. He forms lakes, and raises mighty embankments, till at length ‘the grounds along the rivers were everywhere made habitable; the hills cleared of their superfluous wood ; and access to the capital was secured for all within the four seas. A great order was effected in the six magazines (of material wealth); the different parts of the country were subjected to an exact comparison, so that contribution of revenue could be carefully adjusted according to their resources. The fields were all classified according to the three characters of the soil, and the revenues of the Middle Kingdom were established.’ Of the devotion with which Yii pursued his work, he says himself in the Yi and Ki:—I mounted my four conveyances,’— carriages on the land, boats on the water, sledges in icy places, and INTRODUCTION. 17
217 shoes with spikes in them in ascending the hills,—‘ and all along the hills hewed down the woods, at the same time, along with Yi, showing the people how to get flesh to eat, —that is, by capturing fish and birds and beasts. ‘I opened passages for the streams throughout the nine provinces, and conducted them to the sea. I deepened the channels and canals, and conducted them to the streams, at the same time, along with Ki, sowing grain, and showing the people how to procure the food of toil.in addition to flesh meat. I urged them to exchange what they had for what they had not, and to dispose of their accumulated stores. In this way all the people got grain to eat, and the myriad regions began to come under good rule.’ And again :—‘ When I married in Td-shan, I remained with my wife only four days.’ Mencius says that while engaged on his task, he thrice passed the door of his house; but did not enter it. His own words are:—‘ When K4Ai (my son) was wailing and weeping, I did not regard him, but kept planning with all my might my labour on the land.’ Along with his operations to assuage the wide-spread inundation, Yii thus carried on other most important labours proper to an incipient civilization. We gather from the Sha that it did not take him many years to accomplish his mighty undertaking. It was successfully finished before the death of Yao. All this is incredible. The younger Biot, in an article on the Tribute of Yii, published in the Journal Asiatique, in 1842, says: —‘If we are to believe the commentators, Yii will become a supernatural being, who could lead the immense rivers of China as if he had been engaged in regulating the course of feeble streamlets.’ There is no occasion to say, ‘If we are to believe the commentators ;'—if we are to believe the Sha, this is the judgment that we must form about Yii. The general conclusion to which Biot came about the document under our notice was that we are to find in it only the progress of a great colony. Yii was the first explorer of the Chinese world. He established posts of colonists or planters in different parts of the territory. He caused the wood around those posts to be cut down, Ct] c 18 THE sHOd KING.
3Yii was the first explorer of the Chinese world. He established posts of colonists or planters in different parts of the territory. He caused the wood around those posts to be cut down, Ct] c 18 THE sHOd KING. and commenced the cultivation of the soil. After Yii, the labours of draining the country and clearing the forests continued during some ages, and the result of all was attributed by Chinese tradition to the first chief. I have no doubt there is an inkling of the truth in this view of the French sinologue, but the idea of Yii’s being the leader of a Chinese colony had better be abandoned. We recognise the primitive seat of the Chinese people, in the southern parts of the present Shan-hsi, with the Ho on the west and south of it. His son fought a battle with the Chief of Hf at a place in the present department of Hsi-an, in Shen-hsi, across the Ho, and his grandson was kept a sort of prisoner at large in the present province of Ho-nan, south of the river. The people or tribe extended itself westward, eastward, and southward, and still later northward, as it increased in numbers, and was able to subdue the earth. The flood of Y4o was probably an inundation of the Ho, similar to many in subsequent times which have procured for that river the name of ‘China’s Sorrow,’ and Yii distinguished himself in the assuaging of it, and the regulation of its course to the sea. The extent of the country came to be ascertained under the dynasties of Hsia and Shang, and its different parts were gradually occupied by the increasing numbers of the people, and contributed their various proportions of revenue to the central government. There were memorials of the toils which Yii had undergone, and of allotments of territory which he had made to the most distinguished among his followers. It occurred to some historiographer to form a theory as to the way in which the whole country might have been brought to order by the founder of the Hsia dynasty, and he proceeded to glorify Yi by ascribing so grand an achievement to him. About the same time, probably, the popular stories of Yii’s self-denial had found their expression in the Yi and Xi, prompting at once the conception of the Tribute of Yii, and obtaining for it a favourable reception. Yii entered well into association with Y4o and Shun, and formed a triad with them INTRODUCTION, 19 at the beginning of the Chinese monarchy. Their wisdom and benevolence appeared in him, combined with a practical devotion to the duties of his position, in which all sovereigns would have a model, to win them from indolence and self-indulgence, and stimulate them to a painstaking discharge of their responsibilities.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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