ABSTRACT
The feudal régime is assumed by the traditional history to be as old as Chinese civilization. It was practised under the Hsia and the Yin, before the Chou. The system of chiefdoms was, in any case, firmly established by the time when chronology begins ; but hardly anything is known of ancient Chinese history before the ch'un Ch'iu period. Without wishing to prejudge anything concerning earlier times, I name the “ feudal period ” that epoch which is known to us from dated narratives of the annalistic type, presented as extracts from seigniorial archives. The facts related in these narratives seem, in general, to deserve a certain credence. 1
