Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 edition. Excerpt: ... APPENDIX Note.--The three poems which follow are in themselves full of interest. Translated by the author, and now published for the first time in this country, they throw much light on Chinese life. One expressing conjugal tenderness, another showing that China has her heroines, and a third proving that the Chinese are not devoid of chivalrous sentiment. People capable of this strain of feeling are not beyond the pale of our sympathy. Of the three prose documents it is enough to say that they are cited in the text as of great value. SU WU TO HIS WIFE. On Setting Out on His Embassy to the Court of the Grand Khan of Tartary, loo B.C.* Twin trees whose boughs together twine, Two birds that guard one nest, We'll soon be far asunder torn, As sunrise from the west. Hearts knit in childhood's innocence, Long bound in Hymen's ties; One goes to distant battle-fields, One sits at home and sighs. On arriving he was thrown into prison, lowered into a well, and treated with great indignity. We are not told that his life was threatened, yet his master made war on the Khan to rescue or avenge him. The Khan in great alarm released him and came to terms. With such precedents in their history how could the Dowager and her clique be so blind as to follow the example of the Grand Khan? Like carrier bird, though seas divide, I'll seek my lonely mate; But if afar I find a grave, You'll mourn my hapless fate. To us the future's all unknown, In memory seek relief; Come, touch the chords you know so well, And let them soothe our grief. MULAN, A CHINESE JOAN OF ARC. A Chinese Ballad of the Liang Dynasty, 502-556 A.d. An officer being disabled, his daughter puts on his armor, and, so disguised, leads his troops to the conflict. The original is anonymous..."