ABSTRACT
Individual power and the hierarchy are dated, in their first beginnings, from the epoch during which matriarchal right held sway for a time. The theme of the Great Ancestresses, the Queen-Mothers, fills an important place in Chinese mythology. Every seigniorial race springs from a Hero, but it is the Mother of the Hero who receives the greatest honour. Nothing in the feudal town is more sacred than the temple of the Ancestress of the race. The most beautiful of the dynastic hymns are sung in her praise. 1
