The chapters are split up into short discussions and descriptions, because longer divisions are apt to be tedious where ancient history is concerned. And the narrative of political movement is frequently interrupted by the introduction of new matter, in order to provide novelty and stimulate the imagination. Moreover, all chapters and all subjects converge on one general focus.
On page 15 of "China, her Diplomacy, etc." (John Murray, 1901), I have confessed how tedious I myself had found ancient Chinese history, and how its human interest only begins with foreign relations. I have, however, gone systematically through the mill once more, and my present object is to present general results only obtainable at the cost of laboriously picking out and resetting isolated and often apparently unconnected records of fact.
NAMES OF CHIEF LOCALITIES
CHOU: at first a principality in South Shen Si and part of Kan Suh, subject to Shang dynasty; afterwards the imperial dynasty itself.
TS'lN: principality west of the above. When the Chou dynasty moved its capital east into Ho Nan, Ts'in took possession of the old Chou principality.
TSIN: principality (same family as Chou) in South Shan Si (and in part of Shen Si at times).
TS'I: principality, separated by the Yellow River from Tsin and
Yen; it lay in North Shan Tung, and in the coast part of Chih Li.
TS'U: semi-barbarous principality alone preponderant on the Yang- tsz River.
WU: still more barbarous principality (ruling caste of the same family as Chou, but senior to Chou) on the Yang-tsz embouchure and Shanghai coasts.
YÜEH: equally barbarous principality commanding another embouchure in the Hangchow-Ningpo region. Wu and Yüeh were at first subordinate to Ts'u.