alters its course, sweeping away villages and towns in a destructive
torrent. Among most early agricultural nations, such a river would have
inspired superstitious awe, and floods would have been averted by human
sacrifice; in the Shu-King, however, there is little trace of
superstition. Yao and Shun, and Yü (the latter's successor), were all
occupied in combating the inundations, but their methods were those of
the engineer, not of the miracle-worker. This shows, at least, the state
of belief in the time of Confucius. The character ascribed to Yao shows
what was expected of an Emperor:--

He was reverential, intelligent, accomplished, and
thoughtful--naturally and without effort. He was sincerely
courteous, and capable of all complaisance. The display of these
qualities reached to the four extremities of the empire, and
extended from earth to heaven. He was able to make the able and
virtuous distinguished, and thence proceeded to the love of the
nine classes of his kindred, who all became harmonious. He also
regulated and polished the people of his domain, who all became
brightly intelligent. Finally, he united and harmonized the
myriad States of the empire; and lo! the black-haired people were
transformed. The result was universal concord.[1]

The first date which can be assigned with precision in Chinese history
is that of an eclipse of the sun in 776 B.C.[2] There is no reason to
doubt the general correctness of the records for considerably earlier
times, but their exact chronology cannot be fixed. At this period, the
Chou dynasty, which fell in 249 B.C. and is supposed to have begun in
1122 B.C., was already declining in power as compared with a number of
nominally subordinate feudal States. The position of the Emperor at this
time, and for the next 500 years, was similar to that of the King of