Kathay: A Cruise in the China Seas

by W. Hastings Macaulay

Situated on a continent, supposed to have been selected by the Creator as the spot on which to place the first of the human race; upon which, as is told in holy writ, at the Divine command, light first burst upon the world, it is singular that this part of Asia should so long have remained in darkness, and that even now conjecture loses itself in searching for the origin of this peculiar people.

If we take the first book of the Pentateuch for our guide, we must come to the conclusion, that in the confusion of tongues at the building of Babel, when the Lord said, as is described in the eleventh chapter of that book, "Let us go down and there confound their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech;" "and from thence the Lord did scatter them abroad upon the face of the earth;" that this nation formed a portion of those presumptuous builders, who, in their migrations, settled down upon the banks of the Yellow River, and there multiplying, gradually peopled this vast surface.

Their early traditions, indeed, appear to extend beyond the period of the flood, and from these the "dark idolater of chance," who would rejoice to prove that "Book of Books" a splendid fable, draws his deductions. But how he fails. The learned men of China, those held in the greatest repute amongst a people where such a reputation is not easily obtained, themselves admit, that the history of their empire in its infancy, is, for the most part, apocryphal, and that the myths of these early writers are only to be considered as such, and are not to affect its chronology.

Indeed, the character of the language, when it refers to superior powers, has such a tendency to exaggeration, as to afford great facilities to those who would construe it to suit this particular purpose.[1]

The Chinese historians speak of their Celestial Emperor, who reigned forty-five thousand years! They also name a Terrestrial Emperor, whose reign extended eighteen thousand years! And they had, in addition, a Human Emperor, who occupied the throne for the same period, in succession. There is then their fabulous period, which commences with the creation of man, when Pwan-Koo (First Man) was produced. After which the Celestial Emperor, Teen-Hwang-She, "Imperial Heaven," settled the years, taking eighteen thousand years to perform this task. Succeeded by Te-Hwang-She, "Royal Earth,"—who is said to have devoted the same period to fix the months. After Royal Earth comes Jin-Hwang-She,—"Sovereign Man,"—who divided the land, and was forty-five thousand years about it.

Following the string of their traditions, we come down to two thousand three hundred and fifty-six years before Christ, when was founded the first dynasty,—that of Te-yaou,—according to their chronology, Hea being Emperor, or Chief, as De Guignes rationally supposes. This is about the time of the dispersion of the human family, and, I think, the proper date for the birth of this nation. Let that be as it may, there is a great similarity between their traditions and our sacred record. Their first man was produced by superior power, and was placed over the inferior animals.

In the reign of Te-yaou there was an account of a great flood. Shortly after, wine was discovered, and its intoxicating effects found out in the reign of Fohi, who answers the description of Noah. Then came a prince noted for his fondness for hunting, who was contemporary with Nimrod. And there was a seven years' drought, like that described in Genesis, ch. xli.

Another singular coincidence in their chronology, which I may be allowed to refer to before dismissing this part of the subject, is the fact set down by one of their historians, that in the fifty-fifth year of the forty-fifth cycle, the Emperor Ming-te, in about the tenth year of his reign, sent messengers to look for "the holy man of the West." Now this period corresponds with the commencement of the Christian era: and allowing for discrepancies unavoidable in such a calculation, could it not have been possible that a faint glimmering of the "Star of Bethlehem" had crossed this monarch's vision, and that, but for their dilatory footsteps, these ambassadors of the Chinese Emperor might have knelt by the side of those other "wise men of the East," who were guided by its beams to the cradle of the infant Saviour? Certain it is, that Buddhism was introduced into China about that time, and that this ruler felt the need of a holy man, as if by inspiration!

The Chinese appear rapidly to have progressed in the arts, and to have been foremost in all those inventions, which in their application have conduced so much to the amelioration and welfare of the human race. Eleven hundred and eight years before we commence to count our era (B. C. 1108,) the unerring magnet that points so steadily to the pole, was discovered by this ingenious people; and who may say what other progress may have been made in science and literature up to B. C. 220, when the cruel and ambitious Che-Hwang-te, who, having finished the Great Wall, and wishing to date the foundation of his empire from his reign, collected and burned all such records as he could obtain, and destroyed by a cruel death the wise men within his dominions.[2]

Since then, at a very early part of the Christian era, they are known to have made a representative of money in the shape of paper,[3] and a stamp duty was imposed upon the sale of lands (A. D. 369). Shortly after, learning became much cherished; literary men rose to dignities and honor, and colleges were endowed in different parts of the empire.