[474] MS. note, May 7, 1896.
[475] C. J. Ball, Chinese and Sumerian, 1913.
[476] History of the Archaic Chinese Writing and Texts, 1882, p. 5.
[477] The first actual date given is that of Tai Hao (Fu-hi), 2953 B.C., but this ruler belongs to the fabulous period, and is stated to have reigned 115 years. The first certain date would appear to be that of Yau, first of the Chinese sages and reformer of the calendar (2357 B.C.). The date 2254 B.C. for Confucius's model king Shun seems also established. But of course all this is modern history compared with the now determined Babylonian and Egyptian records.
[478] Amongst the metals reference is made to iron so early as the time of the Emperor Ta Yü (2200 B.C.), when it is mentioned as an article of tribute in the Shu-King. F. Hirth, who states this fact, adds that during the same period, if not even earlier, iron was already a flourishing industry in the Liang district (Paper on the "History of Chinese Culture," Munich Anthropological Society, April, 1898). At the discussion which followed the reading of this paper Montelius argued that iron was unknown in Western Asia and Egypt before 1500 B.C., although the point was contested by Hommel, who quoted a word for iron in the earliest Egyptian texts. Montelius, however, explained that terms originally meaning "ore" or "metal" were afterwards used for "iron." Such was certainly the case with the Gk. χαλκός, at first "copper," then metal in general, and used still later for σίδηρος, "iron"; hence χαλκεύς = coppersmith, blacksmith, and even goldsmith. So also with the Lat. aes (Sanskrit ayas, akin to aurora, with simple idea of brightness), used first especially for copper (aes cyprium, cuprum), and then for bronze (Lewis and Short). For Hirth's later views see his Ancient History of China, 1908 (from the fabulous ages to 221 B.C.).
[479] This term Y-jen (Yi-jen), meaning much the same as Man, Man-tse, savage, rude, untameable, has acquired a sort of diplomatic distinction. In the treaty of Tien-tsin (1858) it was stipulated that it should no longer, as heretofore, be applied in official documents to the English or to any subjects of the Queen.
[480] See J. Edkins, China's Place in Philology, p. 117. The Hok-los were originally from Fo-kien, whence their alternative name, Fo-lo. The lo appears to be the same word as in the reduplicated Lo-lo, meaning something like the Greek and Latin Bar-bar, stammerers, rude, uncultured.
[481] The Hakkas, i.e. "strangers," speak a well-marked dialect current on the uplands between Kwang-tung, Kiang-si, and Fo-kien. J. Dyer Ball, Easy Lessons in the Hakka Dialect, 1884.
[482] Numerous in the western parts of Kwang-tung and in the Canton district. J. Dyer Ball, Cantonese Made Easy, Hongkong, 1884.
[483] In this expression "Pidgin" appears to be a corruption of the word business taken in a very wide sense, as in such terms as talkee-pidgin = a conversation, discussion; singsong pidgin = a concert, etc. It is no unusual occurrence for persons from widely separated Chinese provinces meeting in England to be obliged to use this common jargon in conversation.