THE HOUSE OF HAN, 206--B. C.--220 A. D.
(24 Emperors, 2 Usurpers)
_Liu-pang Founds Illustrious Dynasty--Restoration of the Books--A
Female Reign--The Three Religions--Revival of Letters--Sze-ma Ts'ien,
the Herodotus of China--Conquests of the Hans_
The burning of the books and the slaughter of the scholars had
filled the public mind with horror. The oppressions occasioned by
the building of the Great Wall had excited a widespread discontent;
and Liu-pang, a rough soldier of Central China, took advantage of
this state of things to dispossess the feeble heir of the tyrant.
He founded a dynasty which is reckoned among the most illustrious
in the annals of the Empire. It takes the name of Han from the
river on the banks of which it rose to power. When Liu-pang was
securely seated on the throne one of his ministers proposed that he
should open schools and encourage learning. "Learning," exclaimed
the Emperor, "I have none of it myself, nor do I feel the need
of it. I got the empire on horseback." "But can you govern the
empire on horseback? That is the question," replied the minister. To
conciliate the favour of the learned, the Emperor not only rescinded
the persecuting edicts, but caused search to be made for
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the lost books, and instituted sacrificial rites in honour of the
Sage.
Old men were still living who had committed those books to memory
in boyhood. One such, Fu-seng by name, was noted for his erudition;
and from his capacious memory a large portion of the sacred canon
was reproduced, being written from his dictation. The copies thus
obtained were of course not free from error. Happily a somewhat
completer copy, engraved on bamboo tablets, was discovered in the
wall of a house belonging to the Confucian family. Yet down to
the present day the Chinese classics bear traces of the tyrant's
fire. Portions are wanting and the lacunæ are always ascribed to
the "fires of Ts'in." The first chapter of the Great Study closes
with the pregnant words, "The source of knowledge is in the study
of things." Not a syllable is added on that prolific text. A note
informs the reader that there was a chapter on the subject, but that
it has been lost. Chinese scholars, when taxed with the barrenness
of later ages in every branch of science, are wont to make the
naïve reply, "Yes, and no wonder--how could it be otherwise when
the Sage's chapter on that subject has been lost?"
After the second reign, that of Hwei-ti, we have the first instance
in Chinese history of a woman seizing the reins of government.
The Empress Lu made herself supreme, and such were her talents
that she held the Empire in absolute subjection for eight years.
Like Jezebel she "destroyed all the seed royal," and filled the
various offices with her kindred and favourites. At her death they
were butchered without
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mercy, and a male heir to the throne was proclaimed. His posthumous
title _Wen-ti_, meaning the "learned" or "patron of letters,"
marks the progress made by the revival of learning.
One might imagine that these literary emperors would have been
satisfied with the recovery of the Confucian classics; but no, a
rumour reached them that "there are sages in the West." The West
was India. An embassy was sent, 66 A. D., by Ming-ti to import
books and bonzes. The triad of religions was thus completed.
Totally diverse in spirit and essence, the three religions could
hardly be expected to harmonise or combine. Confucianism exalts
letters, and lays stress on ethics to the neglect of the spiritual
world. Taoism inculcates physical discipline; but in practice it
has become the mother of degrading superstition--dealing in magic
and necromancy. Buddhism saps the foundations of the family and
enjoins celibacy as the road to virtue. Metempsychosis is its leading
doctrine, and to "think on nothing" its mental discipline. It forbids
a flesh diet and deprecates scholarship. Through imperial patronage
it acquired a footing in China, but it was long before it felt at
home there. As late as the eighth century Han Yu, the greatest
writer of the age, ridiculed the relics of Buddha and called on
his people to "burn their books, close their temples, and make
laity of their monks."
Yet Buddhism seems to have met a want. It has fostered a sympathy
for animal life, and served as a protest against the Sadducean tenets
of the lettered class. It long ago became so rooted in the minds of
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the illiterate, who form nine-tenths of the population, that China
may be truly described as the leading Buddhist country of the globe.[*]
[Footnote *: THE APOTHEOSIS OF MERCY
A LEGEND OF KUANYIN PUSA--IN NORTHERN BUDDHISM
Two images adorn this mountain shrine,
Not marble chiselled out by Grecian art,
But carved from wood with Oriental skill.
In days of yore adored by pilgrim throngs,
They languish now without a worshipper.
High up a winding flight of stony steps
See Gautama upon his lotus throne!
More near the gate, her lovely face downcast,
Sits Mercy's Goddess, pity in her eye,
To greet the weary climbers and to hear
Their many-coloured tales of woe and want.
The Buddha, in sublime repose, sees not
His prostrate worshippers; and they to him
No prayer address, save hymns of grateful praise.[1]
'Twas he who for a blinded world sought out
The secret of escape from misery;
The splendour of a royal court resigned,
He found in poverty a higher realm!
Yet greater far the victory, when he broke
The chain of Fate and spurned the wheel of change.
To suffering humanity he says,
"Tread in my steps: You, too, may find release."
[Footnote 1: Such as _Om mani padmi hum_ ("O the jewel in the lotus")]
Like him, the Pusa was of princely birth,
But not like him did she forsake a throne,
Nor yet like him did she consent to see
Nirvana's pearly gates behind her close.
A field for charity her regal state.
Her path with ever-blooming flowers she strewed,
Her sympathy to joy a relish gave,
To sorrows manifold it brought relief,
Forgetting self she lived for others' weal
Till higher than Meru her merit rose.[2]
[Footnote 2: Mt. Meru, the Indian Olympus.]
At length a Voice celestial smote her ear.
"Nirvana's portal to thee open stands,
The crown of Buddhaship is thine by right.
No wave of care that shore can ever reach,
No cry of pain again thine ear assail;
But fixed in solitary bliss thou'lt see
The circling ages rolling at thy feet!"
"Shall I then have no tidings of mankind?
Such heaven a throne of glittering ice would be.
That changeless bliss to others thou may'st give.
Happiest am I th' unhappy to upraise.
Oh for a thousand hands[3] the task to ply!
To succour and relieve be mine," she said,
"Bought though it be by share of suffering.
Turn then the wheel,[4] and back to earth again."
[Footnote 3: She is often so represented, as the symbol of present
Providence.]
[Footnote 4: _Lunhui_, the wheel of destiny, within which birth
and death succeed without end or interval.]
From out the blue came down the Voice once more:
"Thy great refusal wins a higher prize;
A kingdom new thy charity hath gained.[5]
And there shalt thou, the Queen of Mercy, reign,
Aloof from pain or weakness of thine own,
With quickened sense to hear and power to save."
[Footnote 5: She escapes the wheel, but remains on the border of
Nirvana, where, as her name signifies, she "hears the prayers of
men."]
Fair image thou! Almost I worship thee,
Frail shadow of a Christ that hears and feels!
W. A. P. M.
PEARL GROTTO, NEAR PEKING, August 8, 1906.]
Buddhist monasteries are to be seen on every hand. They are often
subsidised by the state; and even at the tomb of Confucius a temple was
erected called the "Hall of the Three Religions." In it the image of
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Buddha is said to have occupied the seat of honour, but prior to
the date of my visit it had been demolished.
Each of these religions has a hierarchy: that of Confucius with
a lineal descendant of the Sage at its head; that of Lao-tse with
Chang Tien-shi, the arch-magician, as its high priest; and, higher
than all, that of Buddha with the Grand Lama of Tibet.
Under the house of Han a beginning was made in the institution
of civil service examinations--a system which has continued to
dominate the Chinese intellect down to our time; but it was not
fully developed until the dynasty of T'ang. Belles-lettres made
a marked advance. The poetry of the period is more finished
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than that of the Chous. Prose composition, too, is vigorous and
lucid. The muse of history claims the place of honour. Sze-ma Ts'ien,
the Herodotus of China, was born in this period. A glory to his
country, the treatment Sze-ma Ts'ien received at the hands of his
people exposes their barbarism. He had recommended Li Ling as a
suitable commander to lead an expedition against the Mongols. Li
Ling surrendered to the enemy, and Sze-ma Ts'ien, as his sponsor, was
liable to suffer death in his stead. Being allowed an alternative,
he chose to submit to the disgrace of emasculation, in order that he
might live to complete his monumental work--a memorial better than
sons and daughters. A pathetic letter of the unfortunate general,
who never dared to return to China, is preserved amongst the choice
specimens of prose composition.
Not content with the Great Wall for their northern limit nor with
the "Great River" for their southern boundary, the Hans attempted to
advance their frontiers in both directions. In the north they added
the province of Kansuh, and in the other direction they extended
their operations as far south as the borders of Annam; but they
did not make good the possession of the whole of the conquered
territory. Szechuen and Hunan were, however, added to their domain.
The latter seems to have served as a penal colony rather than an
integral portion of the Empire. A poem by Kiayi, an exiled statesman
(200 B. c.), is dated from Changsha, its capital.[*]
[Footnote *: See "Chinese Legends and Other Poems," by W. A. P.
Martin.]
In the south the savage tribes by which the Chinese
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were opposed made a deep impression on the character of the people,
but left no record in history. Not so with the powerful foe encountered
in the north. Under the title of Shanyu, he was a forerunner of
the Grand Khan of Tartary--claiming equality with the emperors of
China and exchanging embassies on equal terms. His people, known
as the Hiunghu, are supposed to have been ancestors of the Huns.
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