Daring the times of the Chan Kuo or "Righting Kingdoms," B.C. 400—200, Chinn Proper was divided the King doms of T'sin in the west; Tso, Han Wei, in the northern north central portions of China; the Kingdom Yen in Chibli; Ts in 'Shantan Zs'u in central' China or what is now Known as the provinces of Hunen, Hupely, Kiangsi, Anhui, Chekiang and Ki UT these seven kingdoms, that ut the most warlike and was then aiming at absorbing the others ts territorities. The kingdom of Tsu possessed the largest tortitories, but having an effete prince at head was in as much danger of abserption into Tein as its other neighbours. The subject of our sketch was a man cly the move of Huang Shieh, who first came int" eminence us the chief preceptor of Yung Yuan, heir-apparent to the Airone of Teta. About the year B.C.:04 ithe armies of Ts'u having been defeated in agent battle by the celebrated Tsin general Eh', the then king of Ts'u was so soared at " possible invasion of his capital by the successful Tsin soldiers that he sent Yurg Yuan, accompanied by " suite vat the hed of which was Huang Shieh, act as a hostage at the court of Tsin, sear Sian Shensi, prom andre confederacies agy vit Tein. After a captivity of over sixteen years, news arrived from Ts'u to the chief preceptor to the effect that the king -of Ts'u was getting into rapid doxy, and hat unless steps were taken to induce the to allow his hostage to return to his kingdom, the chances would be that some other brother of his would usurp the throne, t" the then heir-apparent detriment. Despatches in hand, Huang Shieh reported the news to master and asked him what intended todo. The young Prince la enid to have fallen on his guess before his precepror—an act not considered unbecoming in China, where the preceptor comes fifth in the "Five relations of mankind "—and implored his help, Huang Shieh after some conversation, then went over to the then prime mi p, and in his a ments in jetting the host return to Ts'u, dwelt upon th ance of binding the heir-apparent tude to the king for his act of clemency in allowing him to return, wherers if x strange prince were to sit on the throne of Ts'u, not only would there be no cause for gratitude between the two kingdoms, but the po: lo of Ten would surely hold the en of Tsin at feud for keeping their lo prince in n foreign country, which would cause no end of trouble:
in the future. Struck with of this argument, the prime minister in an audience with the Tein advised him to allow the heir-apparent of Ts'a to return home. But the crafty king of Tein wanted the young hostage ices of territory t him xo, 80 asa bonds, he eaid that the chief preceptor might go first and the condition of the king of Te'u, and if it were really serious he might wri say 80, when he (the king of 1 send the heir-apparent back to his kingdom in the pomp and style becoming powerful prince. This answer was given to Huang Shieh who accordingly determined to use strategy in smuggle his prince home, heroically determining to stag behind and brave the wrath of the vindictive and crafty king of Tsin. Te ay happened that at the time an embassy from Ts'u was in the Tsin capital nud to the envoy Huang Shieh applied for help. It was than agreed that. the prince nuld take no one with him, but attired as a charivteer of the envoy e Ts'u Tein in secrecy. The mo the prince left the capital in the train of the envoy of his father, Huang Shieh reported to the prime minister that his charge had been taken ill and that he could not leave him in this state until he found him well out of danger, This was believed and although the king of Tsin sent repeated messages to Huang Shieh hastening his departure to Ts'a to report an the condition of that king, Huang Shieb, desirous of gaining time enough to enable his young master to get out of Tsin territory, procrastinated, stating that the prince was still ill and that he dared not leave him just them. Nearly three weeks had now pasted, and the devoted Huang Shieh, calculating that the prince must be now well beyond the territories and influen of ain, and thus beyond pursuit. and recapture, donned Ins court costume and prepared to brave the wrath of the king of Tsin or die, Of course, it happened in he had expected: the king of Tsin wis as grent anger at the duplicity that hnd been practised on him, and at once commanded the devoted Huang Shieh to be cast into nud executed the next morning for what he called "treachery and high treason" to Tain. Here, as the man surely deserved, a saving star xppenred in the person of the Tsin prime minister, who, shrewd and politic statesman himself, saw the advantages of gaining the friendship of Huang Shieh, who by this act of devotion to his.prince would without doubt hold great power on the xcce-sion of the latter to the throne of Ts'u, Possessed of the gratitude of the heir-apparent and of Hua h, the kingdom of Te'u would not in with the ambition of Tsin, and Tsin having swallowed up the other kingdoms would then be ready to cope with Ts'u, wh kingdom alone would be unable to wi xcourdingly rescinded the order for Huang Shich's execution, and instead, loaded him with honour, gold and jadestone for his grand act of devotion tw his own prince, set him xt. liberty and sent him back in pomp and glory tu Tsu, The meeting between the heir-apparent and preceptor, in the ancient capital of ear the present Chingchow in Hupeh province) whew the latter returned ofer braving death and a captivity of nearly seventeen yenrs, may well be inmgined.
iches or honour were enough for the that had saved his prince from captivity and misery, A short time after the return of Huang Shieh to Ts'u, the old king died, and Yu.g Yuan mounted the throne as King K'wvlieh, Of course the first natural thing for the new king to do was to give n substantial reward to his favourite and benefactor, Ho mode him prime minister and in addition created him Prince of Tw'tinshén, granting him territories comprising twelve hsiens or districts in northern Kinngau near what is now the modern course of the Yellow River, but then bounding the territories of the kingdom of Ts'i (Shantung p This however Hi A now call the Pr insh@n, patriotically advising his new king to fortify those cities and place them in the hands of good general to watch the movements of the Kingdom of Ts4, which was then on very friendly terms with the bugbear of Chins, in. In exchange therefore, his master gave him what are known now as the modern prefectures of Soochow, Sungkixng and Chinkinng on the Yangize, This was accepted, and the Prince of Te'unshén crime down from Hupeh, overland, in about the year B.C 261, to inspect his new territories, Soochow which was built by n noted refuges from the kingdom of Ts'n, named Tex-si, for the then king of Wu, about 200 years before, seemed to strike the fancy of the new lord, so after making considerable to the city which consisted st others in digging duals inside the walls to connect with the Tahu Lake, he nade it the new capital of his dominions, The crowded and well-known city gate called the Ch'angmén which is the prinerpal depot of trade between Shanghai and Soo chow was named by the Prince of Ts'iiu-shen, This now brings us to the subject of Shanghai or as itis still called Shénchiang, from the Bret word of which the eldest Chinese daily paper here is also called, und which means the Shanghai or Shénchiang News. Tradition hxs it that during his isit of inspection after leaving Soochow, the Prince of Ta'iinshén, was struck with the advantage of a certain spot on the then gerconst, which, with " shrewd farsightedness for which he was famous, he ered to be the key of the country especially with regard to Sovchuw. shen. Being also ina situation to command the sea, it has also received the name of Shangheti or "above the sea" which for euphony in poetry and suchlike is often changed to Haishang, which also has the sue signification quoted above. There is no need to state that this shrewd Prince did not go far wrong in his prophecy of over 2,000 years ngs, for Shanghat does command the sea, and its present Jubilee of fifty years of foreign intercourse may be said to command everything in China, 80 far as importance goes, The ancient Japanese also saw the importance of the spot even as early as the lath century of our eraas may be witnessed from the repeated incursions made upon this city and by their numerous piratical fests. The Chinese themselves recognise it, for despite
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.