Literary relations between vassal states--Confucius set the ball of philosophy a-rolling--The fourfold "Bible" of China--Odes were generally known by heart--Comparison with President Kruger and his texts--Quotations from Odes and Book enable us to fix dates--Books were heavy weights in those days--People trusted to memory--The Rites more exclusively understood by the ruling classes-- Comparison with Johnsonian wits--Instances cited, with side proofs--History and Classics corroborate each other-Evidences-- Confucius' ancestor composes odes--Political song by the children of Tsin--Another still-existing ode in reference to the Second Protector--Ts'u's early literary knowledge--General knowledge of Odes and History--Ignorance of Ts'in-Ts'in ancient documents the only ones now remaining--First definite notion of abolishing the feudal system--The pivot point 403 B.C.--Ts'in's conquests in north, south, east, and west--The First August Emperor's travels-- Lao-tsz's Taoist philosophy becomes fashionable--Ts'in's hatred of orthodox literature, and of the Odes and Book in particular--The Book of Changes escapes his hatred--Revolutionary decree of the First August Emperor-Lost annals of all feudal states but Ts'in-- Learned Tartars of Tsin-Confucius used Tsin annals too--Origin of the name _Shi-ki,_ or "Historical Annals"--Further evidence of lost histories--Curious name for Ts'u Annals--Ts'u poetry- Ts'u's knowledge of past history--The term "Springs and Autumns"-- Baldness of early Chinese annals. CHAPTER XXXI _ORIGIN OF THE CHINESE_ Whence did the Chinese come?--All men of equal age and ancestry-- Records make civilization and nobility--Evidences of antiquity-- China and the West totally unknown to each other in ancient times-- Tartars the connecting link--Though tamed by religion they are not much changed now--Traders then, as now, but no through travellers--Chinese probably in China for myriads of years before their records began--Tonic peculiarities of all tribes near China except the Tartars--Chinese followed lines of least resistance-- Tartars driven back, but difficult to absorb--So with Coreans and Japanese-Indo-China not so favourable for Chinese absorption-- Records decided the direction taken by culture--Southern half- Chinese have equal claims with orthodox Chinese--Traditions of ancient emperors in north, coast, and south parts--Suggestions as to how the most ancient Chinese spread themselves--No hint of immigration from anywhere--The old suggestion of immigration from the Tarim Valley and Babylonia--Suggested compromise with Western religious views--Creation and Nature--Compromise with the supernatural and imaginative--Summing up. CHAPTER XXXII _THE CALENDAR_