| End of the deluge | [11]1657 A. M. |
| Fohi, first emperor, began to reign | 1947 A. M. |
| Noah died | 2007 A. M. |
| Eohi Chinun, second emperor, began to reign | 2061 A. M. |
| Hoang-ti, the third emperor, began to reign | 2201 A. M. |
| Hoang-ti after establishing the silk culture, died | 2301 A. M. |
Hoang-ti was therefore contemporary with Joseph when administering the affairs of Egypt.[12] But would we know what account the Chinese themselves give relative to the earliest introduction of the silk culture, we shall find it in the French version of the Chinese Treatises, by M. Stanislas Julien, or in the following words of pages 77 and 78, as translated and published in 1838, at Washington, under the title of “Summary of the principal Chinese Treatises upon the Culture of the Mulberry, and the rearing of Silk-worms.”
[10] A. M. signifies Anno Mundi, that is in the year of the World. The Year of Our Lord always commences on the first day of January, the day on which Christ was circumcised, being eight days old. From the Creation until the birth of Christ, was 4004 years.
Tirin places the birth of Christ in the 36th year of Herod, the 40th of Augustus, the 28th from the battle of Actium, the 749th of Rome, and the 4th of the 193d Olympiad.
[11] It will here not be improper to observe that the Samaritan text and Septuagint version of the Hebrew, carry the deluge as far back as to the year 3716 before Christ; or 1000 years before the Chinese account of Hoang-ti. On this subject see the New Analysis of Chronology, by the Rev. W. Hales, D.D. 4to., 3 vol.
[12] Joseph died in the 2369th year from the Creation.
In the book on silk-worms, we read: “The lawful wife of the emperor Hoang-ti, named Si-ling-chi, began the culture of silk. It was at that time that the emperor Hoang-ti invented the art of making garments(!).” The same fact is mentioned more in detail in the general history of China, by P. Maillà, in the year 2602, before our era (4447 years ago).
“This great prince (Hoang-ti) was desirous that Si-ling-chi, his legitimate wife, should contribute to the happiness of his people. He charged her to examine the silk-worms, and to test the practicability of using the thread. Si-ling-chi had a large quantity of these insects collected, which she fed herself, in a place prepared for that purpose, and discovered not only the means of raising them, but also the manner of reeling the silk, and of employing it to make garments.”
“It is through gratitude for so great a benefit,” says the history, entitled Wai-ki, “that posterity has deified Si-ling-chi, and rendered her particular honors under the name of the goddess of silk-worms.” (Memoirs on the Chinese, vol. 13, p. 240.)
We have seen that the most probable account relative to the time of Fohi, said to have been the first Chinese emperor, is that he reigned 2057 years before the Christian era, or in the year of the world 1947. “According to the most current opinion,” says M. Lavoisnè, “China was founded by one of the colonies formed at the dispersion of Noah’s posterity under the conduct of Yao, who took for his colleague Chun, afterwards his successor. But most writers consider Fohi to have been Noah himself(!).”