It was in the third century B.C. that one of the world's wonders, the Great Wall of China, was built--running west from the sea to a length of a thousand and four hundred miles, and going over mountain and valley without deviation. Its purpose was to act as a barrier, easy of defence, against the wild tribes that pressed in from the north. The Emperor under whom this mighty, though not wholly effective, obstacle {22} was raised, was powerful enough to put down most of the feudal dukes, and, much as the feudal dukes and lords in Europe were replaced by the king's official tax collectors, so in China, Viceroys of provinces, appointed by the Emperor, took the place of the dukes. The Viceroys also were not always obedient to the central power, but on the whole the change made for peace within the empire. Confucianism then, as the doctrine of that great teacher was called, was not a religion, but merely a system for the ordinance of man's life on earth, without reference to a God; but about the same time as Confucius, Buddha lived and founded the religion of Buddhism in India; and in the first century A.D. Buddhist missionaries came to China. It is to this influence that the pagoda-shaped temples are due which are a prominent feature in Chinese scenery, for it was in this form that the Buddhist temples were roofed. The new religion gained numerous converts, and its monasteries are many in China to this day; but it really seems to have made but little difference in the lives of the people--for two reasons. First because the Chinese are least ready to change their way of life of any people in the world, and secondly because the unselfishness, which is the leading principle in the religion of Buddha, had been already preached as a leading principle in the maxims of Confucius and of wise men of China before him. The general story of China nevertheless continues to be the story of dissensions within the empire and of uncivilised tribes threatening its borders on the north and west. Among these we may notice that there were Huns, akin to those who threatened, and from time to time overran, parts of Europe also. [Sidenote: The Nestorians]