ABSTRACT
At that time China—which by the way was then only a fraction of the modern Chinese Empire—bore a relation to the surrounding lands similar in most respects to that borne by the Roman Empire to the wilds of Germany and Britain and the peoples of the North generally. However, it was not till the reign of Wuti, the sixth of the succeeding Han Dynasty that Chinese acquired any trustworthy information concerning either Korea or Japan. The hold of the Chinese upon Northern and Central Korea lasted for no more than two generations—from 106 to 36 b.c. In addition to foreign contemporary records there is still one more “ source “ for Japanese history previous to 461 a.d. As regards the date of beginning of the dolmen age there must necessarily be much uncertainty. The Chinese written character was introduced into Korea as a permanent factor about the time of Christ, and with it came the possibility of permanent historical records.
