ut the
work, many of which are in current use at the present day.

The Historical Record.

History as understood in Europe and the west began in China with the
appearance of a remarkable man. Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien, who flourished
145-87 B.C., was the son of an hereditary grand astrologer, also an
eager student of history and the actual planner of the great work so
successfully carried out after his death. By the time he was ten years
of age, Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien was already well advanced with his studies;
and at twenty he set forth on a round of travel which carried him to
all parts of the empire. Entering the public service, he was employed
upon a mission of inspection to the newly-conquered regions of
Ss[)u]ch'uan and Yuennan; in 110 B.C. his father died, and he stepped
into the post of grand astrologer. After devoting some time and energy
to the reformation of the calendar, he took up the work which had
been begun by his father and which was ultimately given to the world
as the _Shih Chi_, or Historical Record. This was arranged under five
great headings, namely, (l) Annals of Imperial Reigns, (2)
Chronological Tables, (3) Monographs, (4) Annals of Vassal Princes,
and (5) Biographies.

Burning of the Books.

The Historical Record begins with the so-called Yellow Emperor, who is
said to have come to the throne 2698 B.C. and to have reigned a
hundred years. Four other emperors are given, as belonging to this
period, among whom we find Yao and Shun, already mentioned. It was
China's Golden Age, when rulers and ruled were virtuous alike, and all
was peace and prosperity. It is discreetly handled in a few pages by
Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien, who passes on to the somewhat firmer but still
doubtful ground of the early dynasties. Not, however, until the Chou
dynasty, 1122-255 B.C., had held sway for some three hundred years can
we be said to have reached a point at which history begins to separate
itself definitely from legend. In fact, it is only from the 8th
century before Christ that any trustworthy record can be safely dated.
With the 3rd century before Christ, we are introduced to one of the
feudal princes whose military genius enabled him to destroy beyond
hope of revival the feudal system which had endured for eight hundred
years, and to make himself master of the whole of the China of those
days. In 221 B.C. he proclaimed himself the "First Emperor,"