ABSTRACT
The early part of Chinese history, b.c. 2953 to 1122, relating to the ten periods preceding the Chou dynasty is almost mythical. All that seems clear is that the Chinese were not indigenous to the soil but came from distant lands, travelling along the Yellow River and establishing flourishing colonies at different points on its banks. Yen-ti succeeded Pao-hsi. He planted the five kinds of grain and invented the plough, he likewise opened markets for the interchange of goods. After him came Huang-ti, who made hats with tassels, and designed corresponding upper and lower garments. Virtue had dwindled into a very fragile plant in the soil of semi-mythical China, and gradually it withered again, vice flourishing ostentatiously in the person of Chou Hsin and his wicked consort Ta-Chi, who exercised complete control over him. Chou Hsin was fairly well gifted, but he was too fond of luxury.
