[6] The following list of distances by sea to the principal neighbouring ports may be of interest. The distance is in each case reckoned from the Weihaiwei harbour. _Shantung Promontory_, 30 miles; _Chefoo_, 42 miles; _Port Arthur_, 89 miles; _Dalny_, 91 miles; _Chemulpo_, 232 miles; _Taku_, 234 miles; _Shanghai_ 452 miles; _Kiaochou_, 194 miles; _Nagasaki_, 510 miles. [7] "The magistrate is the unit of government; he is the backbone of the whole official system; and to ninety per cent. of the population he is _the_ Government."--Byron Brenan's _Office of District Magistrate in China_. [8] England and Wales contain 58,000 square miles, with a population perhaps slightly less than that of Shantung. [9] As early as the seventh century B.C. deforestation had become a recognised evil in the State of Ch'i (part of the modern Shantung), chiefly owing to the lavish use of timber for coffins and grave-vaults. (_See_ De Groot's _Religious System of China_, vol. ii. pp. 660-1.) [10] Especially some of the sea-beaches, the defiles that lie between Yü-chia-k'uang and Shang Chuang, and the valleys in which are situated Ch'i-k'uang, Wang-chia-k'uang, Pei k'ou, Chang-chia-shan, and Ch'ien Li-k'ou. [11] The story is quoted in the _T'ai P'ing Huan Yü Chi_ (_chüan_ 20). [12] With regard to this assistance from spirits, cf. the Jewish legend that King Solomon by the aid of a magic ring controlled the demons and compelled them to give their help in the building of the great Temple. [13] See _T'ai P'ing Huan Yü Chi_, _loc. cit._ [14] For accounts of other appearances of the "sea-serpent" in Chinese waters, see Dennys's _Folk-lore of China_, pp. 109, 113-4. [15] See pp. 53 and 36. [16] _Shan_ is the Chinese word for "Hill." [17] See pp. 391 _seq._ [18] See pp. 397-8. [19] See pp. 393 _seq._ CHAPTER III HISTORY AND LEGEND Though Chinese historians have never set themselves to solve that modern European problem as to whether history is or is not a science, they have always--or at least since the days of Confucius--had a strong sense of its philosophical significance and its didactic value. Of the writings with which the name of Confucius is connected, that known as the _Ch'un Ch'iu_ or "Spring and Autumn Annals" is the one that he himself considered his greatest achievement, and Mencius assures us that when the Master had written this historical work, "rebellious ministers and bad sons were struck with terror." The modern reader is perhaps apt to wonder what there was in the jerky, disconnected statements of the _Ch'un Ch'iu_ to terrify any one, however conscience-stricken; but Mencius's remark shows that history was already regarded as a serious employment, well fitted to engage the attention of philosophers and teachers of the people.