The chief requirement was superficial polish in prose and verse.
The themes were taken exclusively from books, the newest of which
was at that time over a thousand years old. To broach a theory
not found there was fatal; and to raise a question in physical
science was preposterous. Had anyone come forward with a new machine
he might have been rewarded; but no such inventor ever came because
the best minds in the Empire were trained to trot blindfold on
a tread-mill in which there was no possibility of progress. Had
the mind of the nation been left free and encouraged to exert its
force, who can doubt that the country that produced the mariner's
compass might have given birth to a Newton or an Edison?
After Wu none of the monarchs of this dynasty
[Page 125]
calls for notice. The last emperor was compelled to abdicate; and
thus, after a career of nearly three centuries bright with the
light of genius and prolific of usages good and bad that set the
fashion for after ages, this great house was extinguished.
[Page 126]
CHAPTER XXIII
THE SUNG DYNASTY, 960-1280 A. D.
(18 Emperors)
_The Five Philosophers--Wang Ngan-shi, Economist--The Kin Tartars--The
Southern Sungs--Aid of Mongols Invoked to Drive Out the Kins--Mongols
Exterminate Sungs_
On the fall of the house of T'ang, a score of factions contended for
the succession. During the fifty-three years preceding the establishment
of the Sungs, no less than five of them rose to temporary prominence
sufficient to admit of being dubbed a "dynasty.
Pages:
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135