In the carly days of history, after Abraham with his company had gone out from the heathen worship of Ur: of the Chaldeas, but before Moses! Ead led the Children of Israel away from bondage in Egypt, the Ying hela sway over the land of Sinim. While this period of Chinese history is sem!- legendary, yet it is roughly estimated as, 1700-1100 'B.
Since 1900, the Boxer Year, it been known that Changte, Honan, was the site of a Yin Capital, but it was not until the Spring of 1834 that arckacologists had located and begun excavations of their tombs here. Ten of these, have already been opened: up, but more may yet be discovered. Revelations of more than passing, In~ terest have been made.
Although: local villagers have doablless been sinking shawls deep down. into the earth for many years search of treasure, the historical significance of tke objects found was Pot manifest until the Boxer Year, when Mr. Wang Vu-jung. a native of Fushan in Kiangsu Province, while living "in Peking, bought from Jcurlo dealer, several hundred pieces fof bone or shell, which he had brought from Honan. Another curio Jdealer also sold him several hundred These bones or shells were! Inseribed with ancient Chinese char-_ acters.
Characters at Four Silver Ounces:
The value that Wang placed on them was indicated by the fact that {for each charader found on a bone Ihe paid four ounces of silver. [Scholars from various paris of the Jeountry were consulted in. decipher Ing the inscriptions, and these wril-Ings Rave added mich to our know-edge of carly Chinese history. Mr. Wang Vu-jung was unfortunately killed by the Boxers in the Autumn Jot 1900, and his sons and grandsons Sold his collection to Mr. Liu Ca, a native of Tantu County on the Yangtze River, in Ckiangsu Province. Liu Joo did very valuable work on the bone inscriptions, and in 1903 wrote Jo book on' the subject, which has monks were too many to mention detail. It must be sufficient to state that they reached Kuangtung and there formed a sworn brotherhood with pieces of grass for incense sticks and sticks of wood for candies.
They several times rebelled against {the Ching dynasty, but never with success, and they eventually decided to disperse over the face of China and organize themselves so that they could continue the struggle "at more auspicious date."
'Though the Ching dynasty has been overthrown, the Hung League still exists in different forms os the basis of nearly every secret society in China. There are others, of course. But in the main they' are. modelled upon the Hung societies. Missionaries in the interior have sometimes found these societies one fof their greatest obstacles, since their ritual calls for certain practices that are incompatible with the Christian religion. They have therefore encouraged converts to break away from them. This has sometimes been serious for the con~ veris, since the societies do not tolerate renegades, and also the renegade finds himself outside the mutual aid provisions of the society, which include assistance in funerals, assistance to widows and orphans, help to the sick, and many other: things which the average person would be loath to forego. The abuses to which any organization that claims secrecy in its authority open have caused the authorities jin British colonies where there are Chinese to be very severe on these societies. In Singapore, for example, {the societies are banned. They have been found to be largely responsible for the drug traffic and to have levied "protection" charges on houses of il-fame and to have been behind murders and factional fights. Until they came under the eye of the Law, however, they proved one of the most fruitful sources of studying these societies and more than one meeting has been attended, on the quiet, by British police officers. A. Veampaign against them in the Netherlands East Indies provided most of the information about their ritual. There a number of copies of the complete ritual were discovered and translated. It is a feature of the ritual, however, that many of the characters used have two or sometimes three meanings, and sinologues are still not agreed on the exact meaning of all of them. been very helpful to Inter investigators, such as is friend Mr. Loa Chen tors, such as his friend Mr. Loa Chen-[yn of Shangyu County in Chekiangy Province. Mr. Loa sent culo buyers 1010. from Sraniung and. Chang: shin to Honan and secured over 10, 100" pieces. "Later te sent a relative Changle to excavate, and secured over 20,000 pieces. In i012 he wrote his rst volume of the "Records the Waste of Yin" In 1014 he wrote the "Selected Records of the. Waste Yin" and in i015 e came him: S0i¢ lo. Changte to, investigate, ater Which he" wrote "The, Imprint. Futy' Days ty a Dream Tu this book he sialed that elles were found over an area of over slit Janda half seres. and' to a depth of more' than. iwenly" feel, The. bones for shells, without characters, were fe ound "in piles. Many "horns animals were also. found, But thes lent-day animals. ole id' not resemble the horns of pres-
'Oiher "investigators Include Int. Wang Kwoa-wel of Haining, Chektang Province, who wrote very extensively this subject, two Japanese. whose Chinese names' were Lin Tartu and Kang-chien, "and Rev. James tion Menzies, Head of the Depar ment of Archaeology in Checlo University in Stantung Province. Of either Western or. Chinese scholars who have Jooked upon this study a5 art and. gone themselves to" the Spot to survey, apart from Mr. Loa Chen-tu, we know only of the Rev. Menzies! andthe Japanese the Lin Taito Th the Spring of 1914 Ins. Menzies was constantly' riding an old white Forse back and forth over the Waste Few mon. have shown "Oracle "Records from the Waste of Yin" in 1917, Book on the same subject in 1028.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.