with those who did not endorse that
loyalty to the emperor demanded by Mencius; so had other thinkers,
some of whom had preached morals which were bound to break up all
social relations, like the philosopher of egotism, Yang Chu, according
to Mencius disloyalty personified and the very reverse of his ideal,
the duke of Chou. The egotism recommended by Yang Chu to the
individual had begun to be practised on a large scale by the
contending states, their governments and sovereigns, some of whom had
long discarded Confucian rites under the influence of Tatar
neighbours. It appears that the anti-Confucian spirit which paved the
way towards the final extinction of Wu-wang's dynasty received its
chief nourishment from the Tatar element in the population of the
northern and western boundary states. Among these Ts'in was the most
prominent. Having placed itself in the possession of the territories
of nearly all of the remaining states, Ts'in made war against the last
shadow emperor, Nan-wang who had attempted to form an alliance against
the powerful usurper, with the result that the western part of the
Chou dominion was lost to the aggressor.

Nan-wang died soon after (256 B.C.), and a relative whom he had
appointed regent was captured in 249 B.C., when the king of Ts'in put
an end to this last remnant of the once glorious Chou dynasty by
annexing its territory. The king had already secured the possession of
the Nine Tripods, huge bronze vases said to have been cast by the
emperor Yue as representing the nine divisions of his empire and since
preseryed in the treasuries of all the various emperors as a symbol of
Imperial power. With the loss of these tripods Nan-wang had forfeited
the right to call himself "Son of Heaven." Another prerogative was the
offering of sacrifice to Shang-ti, the Supreme Ruler, or God, with
whom only the emperor was supposed to communicate. The king of Ts'in
had performed the ceremony as early as 253 B.C. (F. H.*)

(C)--_From the Ts'in Dynasty to 1875._

Ts'in dynasty 249-210 B.C.

Shi Hwang-ti.

Shi Hwang-ti.

After the fall of the Chou dynasty a kind of interregnum followed during
which China was practically without an emperor. This was the time when
the state of Ts'in asserted itself as the leader and finally as the
master of all the contending states. Its king, Chau-siang, who died in
251 B.C., though virtually emperor, abs