Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The other passage is the last chapter of the works of Mencius, where that philosopher says that ‘from Yao and Shun to Thang ’—a period including all the dynasty of Hsia — 22 THE SHO KING. ‘there were 500 years and more; from Thang to king Wan ’—the period of the Shang dynasty—‘ 500 years and more ; and from king Wan to Confucius, 500 years and more. We know that Confucius was born in B.C. 551. Adding 551 to the 1500 years ‘and more,’ given by Mencius, we have the era of Y4o and Shun at 2100 years ‘and more’ before our Christian era. And the received chronology places Yii’s accession to the throne, as the successor of Shun, in B.C. 2205. Vague as the language of Mencius is, I do not think that with the most painstaking research, apart from conclusions based on astronomical considera tions, we can determine anything more precise and definite concerning the length of Chinese history than it conveys. 3. The Charge to the Marquis Wan, which now forms ‘The period the 28th Book of the 5th Part of the Sha, ofthe Kau is understood to have been delivered by dynasty. king Phing, the thirteenth of his line. His place in historical time is well ascertained. Confucius’ chronicle of the Spring and Autumn commences in B.C. 722. The first of the thirty-six solar eclipses mentioned in it took place three years after, on the 14th February (N.S.) 719, and it is recorded that in the month after king Phing died. Here therefore is a point of time about which there can be no dispute. An earlier date in the K4u dynasty is known with the same certainty. The Book of Poetry mentions an eclipse of the sun which took place on the 29th August, B.C. 776, in the sixth year of king YQ, who preceded Phing. Yd reigned eleven years, and his predecessor, Hsiian, forty-six, whose reign consequently commenced B.C. 827. Up to this date Chinese chronologers agree. To the ten reigns before king Hsiian, the received chronology assigns 295 years, making the dynasty begin in B,C, 1122, which cannot be far from the truth. 4. In the period of the Shang dynasty we cannot fix a The period single reign by means of astronomical facts. ofthe Shang The received chronology assigns to it twentydynasty. eight reigns, extending over 644 years, so that its commencement was in B.C. 1766, The scheme. INTRODUCTION. 23
24. In the period of the Shang dynasty we cannot fix a The period single reign by means of astronomical facts. ofthe Shang The received chronology assigns to it twentydynasty. eight reigns, extending over 644 years, so that its commencement was in B.C. 1766, The scheme. INTRODUCTION. 23 derived from the bamboo books makes the sovereigns to be thirty, but the aggregate of their reigns is only 508. Mencius says that between Thang, the founder of the dynasty, and Wad-ting, the twentieth sovereign (in the common scheme), ‘there had been six or seven worthy and sage rulers!,’—leading to the conclusion that the number of twenty-eight sovereigns in all is not beyond the truth, In the fifteenth of the Books of K4u the names of three of the Shang rulers are given, and the duration of their reigns,—to show how Heaven is likely to crown a good king with length of sway. They are Thai Mau, who reigned seventy-five years; W4-ting, who reigned fifty-nine; and 30-4i4, who reigned thirty-three. The two schemes agree in the length of those reigns and of five others. From the statement in the 30-4wan, to which I have referred above, that the Shang dynasty possessed the throne for 600 years, and Mencius’ language that it lasted ‘for 500 years and more,’ we may believe that the 644 years of the common scheme are more likely to be correct than the 508 of the shorter. 5. The dynasty of Hsia lasted, according to the received chronology, 439 years, and according to the bamboo books, The period 431; So that the difference here between the of Hsia. two schemes is small. The former estimate carries us up to B.C. 2205, as the first year of Yii’s reign. I referred on page 13 to an eclipse of the sun, mentioned in the fourth of the Books of Hsi4, as having occurred in the reign of Kung Khang, a grandson of Yii, and stated that P. Gaubil had found by calculation that on the day and month stated in the document, and in the quarter of the heavens given, an eclipse did occur in the fifth year of Kung Khang, that is, in B.C. 2156, and was visible at his capital at 6" 49’, A.M. In 1840, J. B. Biot submitted a copy of Gaubil’s calculations to the younger Largeteau, a member, like himself, of the Institute of France, who went over them with the lunar tables of Damoiseau and the solar tables of Delambre, and brought out the result that 1 Mencius, II, i, ch. 1. 24 THE SHO KING.
3B. Biot submitted a copy of Gaubil’s calculations to the younger Largeteau, a member, like himself, of the Institute of France, who went over them with the lunar tables of Damoiseau and the solar tables of Delambre, and brought out the result that 1 Mencius, II, i, ch. 1. 24 THE SHO KING. there was indeed an eclipse on the day stated, but before the rising of the sun at the then capital of China. My friend, the Rev. Dr. Chalmers of Canton, not knowing anything of the examination made by Largeteau, undertook to verify the eclipse in 1861, and found that while the year, the month, and the day, as given by Gaubil, were correct, the eclipse had taken place during the night, and could not have been seen by the Chinese astronomers. The eclipse mentioned in the document of the Sha cannot therefore be used at present to confirm the received chronology of China ; but I am unwilling to give it up entirely. M. Biot says that, ‘ Notwithstanding the failure of the attempt of Largeteau to verify the eclipse, the hope of yet finding it in some one of the years of the twenty-second century before our era is not entirely lost. We ought to wait till the further perfecting of the lunar tables brings us new lights, by means of which we can form a surer judgment.’ 6. We come to the earliest period of Chinese history of which the ShQ makes more than a cursory mention,—that The period Of Yo and Shun. It says that Shun was of Yao _— thirty years on the throne with Y4o, and that, and Shun. fifty years after, he died and went on high. We learn from it also that it was in the seventieth year of his reign that Y4o sought for another to relieve him of the toils of government. The period covered by the two therefore is 150 years, which both the schemes of chronology accept. Adding two years of mourning between Shun’s death and Yii’s accession to the throne, we have B.C. 2357 as the first year of Y4o. In the Canon of Yao, when that personage is giving directions to his astronomers how to determine the equinoxes and solstices, he tells them that at the vernal equinox they would find the star in Nido, and at the autumnal in Hsii; at the summer solstice, the star in Hwo, and at the winter in M4o. It has always been assumed by Chinese scholars that when Yé4o said, ‘The star of mid-spring is in 1 Etudes sur l'Astronomie Indienne et sur l’Astronomie Chinoise, pp. 376- 382. INTRODUCTION. 25 Nido, he meant the star culminating at dusk at that season, at the point of observation. And so of the other stars and seasons. A Chinese astronomer at the present day would similarly express himself.
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 other passage is the last chapter of the works of Mencius, where that philosopher says that ‘from Yao and Shun to Thang ’—a period including all the dynasty of Hsia — 22 THE SHO KING. ‘there were 500 years and more; from Thang to king Wan ’—the period of the Shang dynasty—‘ 500 years and more ; and from king Wan to Confucius, 500 years and more. We know that Confucius was born in B.C. 551. Adding 551 to the 1500 years ‘and more,’ given by Mencius, we have the era of Y4o and Shun at 2100 years ‘and more’ before our Christian era. And the received chronology places Yii’s accession to the throne, as the successor of Shun, in B.C. 2205. Vague as the language of Mencius is, I do not think that with the most painstaking research, apart from conclusions based on astronomical considera tions, we can determine anything more precise and definite concerning the length of Chinese history than it conveys. 3. The Charge to the Marquis Wan, which now forms ‘The period the 28th Book of the 5th Part of the Sha, ofthe Kau is understood to have been delivered by dynasty. king Phing, the thirteenth of his line. His place in historical time is well ascertained. Confucius’ chronicle of the Spring and Autumn commences in B.C. 722. The first of the thirty-six solar eclipses mentioned in it took place three years after, on the 14th February (N.S.) 719, and it is recorded that in the month after king Phing died. Here therefore is a point of time about which there can be no dispute. An earlier date in the K4u dynasty is known with the same certainty. The Book of Poetry mentions an eclipse of the sun which took place on the 29th August, B.C. 776, in the sixth year of king YQ, who preceded Phing. Yd reigned eleven years, and his predecessor, Hsiian, forty-six, whose reign consequently commenced B.C. 827. Up to this date Chinese chronologers agree. To the ten reigns before king Hsiian, the received chronology assigns 295 years, making the dynasty begin in B,C, 1122, which cannot be far from the truth. 4. In the period of the Shang dynasty we cannot fix a The period single reign by means of astronomical facts. ofthe Shang The received chronology assigns to it twentydynasty. eight reigns, extending over 644 years, so that its commencement was in B.C. 1766, The scheme. INTRODUCTION. 23
24. In the period of the Shang dynasty we cannot fix a The period single reign by means of astronomical facts. ofthe Shang The received chronology assigns to it twentydynasty. eight reigns, extending over 644 years, so that its commencement was in B.C. 1766, The scheme. INTRODUCTION. 23 derived from the bamboo books makes the sovereigns to be thirty, but the aggregate of their reigns is only 508. Mencius says that between Thang, the founder of the dynasty, and Wad-ting, the twentieth sovereign (in the common scheme), ‘there had been six or seven worthy and sage rulers!,’—leading to the conclusion that the number of twenty-eight sovereigns in all is not beyond the truth, In the fifteenth of the Books of K4u the names of three of the Shang rulers are given, and the duration of their reigns,—to show how Heaven is likely to crown a good king with length of sway. They are Thai Mau, who reigned seventy-five years; W4-ting, who reigned fifty-nine; and 30-4i4, who reigned thirty-three. The two schemes agree in the length of those reigns and of five others. From the statement in the 30-4wan, to which I have referred above, that the Shang dynasty possessed the throne for 600 years, and Mencius’ language that it lasted ‘for 500 years and more,’ we may believe that the 644 years of the common scheme are more likely to be correct than the 508 of the shorter. 5. The dynasty of Hsia lasted, according to the received chronology, 439 years, and according to the bamboo books, The period 431; So that the difference here between the of Hsia. two schemes is small. The former estimate carries us up to B.C. 2205, as the first year of Yii’s reign. I referred on page 13 to an eclipse of the sun, mentioned in the fourth of the Books of Hsi4, as having occurred in the reign of Kung Khang, a grandson of Yii, and stated that P. Gaubil had found by calculation that on the day and month stated in the document, and in the quarter of the heavens given, an eclipse did occur in the fifth year of Kung Khang, that is, in B.C. 2156, and was visible at his capital at 6" 49’, A.M. In 1840, J. B. Biot submitted a copy of Gaubil’s calculations to the younger Largeteau, a member, like himself, of the Institute of France, who went over them with the lunar tables of Damoiseau and the solar tables of Delambre, and brought out the result that 1 Mencius, II, i, ch. 1. 24 THE SHO KING.
3B. Biot submitted a copy of Gaubil’s calculations to the younger Largeteau, a member, like himself, of the Institute of France, who went over them with the lunar tables of Damoiseau and the solar tables of Delambre, and brought out the result that 1 Mencius, II, i, ch. 1. 24 THE SHO KING. there was indeed an eclipse on the day stated, but before the rising of the sun at the then capital of China. My friend, the Rev. Dr. Chalmers of Canton, not knowing anything of the examination made by Largeteau, undertook to verify the eclipse in 1861, and found that while the year, the month, and the day, as given by Gaubil, were correct, the eclipse had taken place during the night, and could not have been seen by the Chinese astronomers. The eclipse mentioned in the document of the Sha cannot therefore be used at present to confirm the received chronology of China ; but I am unwilling to give it up entirely. M. Biot says that, ‘ Notwithstanding the failure of the attempt of Largeteau to verify the eclipse, the hope of yet finding it in some one of the years of the twenty-second century before our era is not entirely lost. We ought to wait till the further perfecting of the lunar tables brings us new lights, by means of which we can form a surer judgment.’ 6. We come to the earliest period of Chinese history of which the ShQ makes more than a cursory mention,—that The period Of Yo and Shun. It says that Shun was of Yao _— thirty years on the throne with Y4o, and that, and Shun. fifty years after, he died and went on high. We learn from it also that it was in the seventieth year of his reign that Y4o sought for another to relieve him of the toils of government. The period covered by the two therefore is 150 years, which both the schemes of chronology accept. Adding two years of mourning between Shun’s death and Yii’s accession to the throne, we have B.C. 2357 as the first year of Y4o. In the Canon of Yao, when that personage is giving directions to his astronomers how to determine the equinoxes and solstices, he tells them that at the vernal equinox they would find the star in Nido, and at the autumnal in Hsii; at the summer solstice, the star in Hwo, and at the winter in M4o. It has always been assumed by Chinese scholars that when Yé4o said, ‘The star of mid-spring is in 1 Etudes sur l'Astronomie Indienne et sur l’Astronomie Chinoise, pp. 376- 382. INTRODUCTION. 25 Nido, he meant the star culminating at dusk at that season, at the point of observation. And so of the other stars and seasons. A Chinese astronomer at the present day would similarly express himself.
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.
No commentary for this page.