Page 40 - J. P Morgan Collection of Chinese Art and Porcelain

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

way of Burma and Assam, appeared in the Southwest,

started by traders of the Shu State (Szchuan province),
and by this route Hindu ideas of forest seclusion and

asceticism penetrated, giving a marked color to the

early Taoist cult which sprang up in these parts.

The famous builder of the Great Wall, who was des-

tined to overthrow the Chou dynasty, succeeded to the

throne of his native State of Ch'in in B. C. 246. In

B. C. 221 he had conquered and annexed all the other
States, and founded a new and homogeneous empire on

the ruins of the feudal system. He further extended

the empire widely towards the south, drove back the

Hiung-nu Turks on the north, and built the Great Wall

as a rampart of defence against these horse-riding

nomads. He next tried to burn all historical books,

declared himself the First Divus Augustus (Shih

Huang-ti), and decreed that his successors should be

known as the Second, Third and so forth, even down

to the ten-thousandth generation. But his ambitious

projects came to naught, as his son who succeeded as

Erh Shih Huang-ti, or Emperor in the second gener-
ation in B. C. 209, was murdered by the eunuch Chao

Kao, two years after, and in 206 his grandson, a mere

child, gave himself up to the founder of the house of

Han, Liu Pang, bringing with him the jade seals of

AState, and was assassinated a few days later. table

of the regular succession of dynasties follows here for

reference, with the dates of their commencement.

The figures in brackets indicate the number in the series
of twenty-four voluminous dynastic histories devoted
to their annals. (See Wylie's Notes on Chinese Lit-

erature, p. 13.)

NAME OF DYNASTY BEGAN REMARKS

;Ch'in ) ^-^ Capital at Ch'ang-an.
(1,2)
221
1^ Han ) 206

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