Tales from Five Thousand Years of Chinese History (II)
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Cfaineie-En«IUh Reader» T ales ±T 5rF¥(r) from Five Thousand Years of C hinese H istory (II) Better Link Press й ш # — ................-8 K f «±TE^¥ (-)» 1. — ste-s 2. Ь ' - й ^ И Ш ..........................22 3. ВЙ51Г«¥№в - ................ зо д. ш ш т - 4o s. ш т ш я ..............go 6 . Ш Ш = Л ..........-.............58 7. Я П * ................... 68 8 . а ж ш т Alisher f’ voiy 20 ilCli ‘''g- ^ 2 8 v JfltC-Й i<X To the Reader 9 About the Book ...и 1. Qin Shihuang-the First Emperor of Unified China -........................13 2. Intrigues at Shaqiu 23 3. The Rebellion of Chen Sheng and W u G u a n g .........................31 4. Liu Bang and Xiang Y u .........................41 5. Xiang Yu Orders his Army to Smash All its Stoves and Sink All its Boats ......................... 51 6. Liu Bang's Contract with the People ...................... -5 9 7. The Banquet at H ongm en .........................69 8. Xiao He Chases after Han Xin 81 9 . т ы т > ............ go 10. И Ш Й 5К ................ п . ............ io8 12. Й З Д .................. и 8 в . ш т т ........ 128 и . ........... ........ 136 i s . щ ж я ш т ш ..................... 146 16. ............. 154 17. 32W f»№ *^ - ................. 164 18. 9К«ШВУб ............. 174 19. ....... 184 20. тЦЦ&Ц « № » >94 9- Rivalry between the States of Chu a n d H a n ......................... 91 10. Xiang Yu Haunted by Chu Chants 11. Song of the Rising W ind .........................109 12. The Oath of the White Horse 13. Cao Adopts the Ways of Xiao 14. Zhou Bo W rests Control of the Army 15. Zhou Yafu. M artinet of Camp Xiliu 16. Li Guang, the 'Flying General' 17. Generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing 18. Zhang Qian's Mission to the Western R e g io n s ..........................175 19. Su W u. th e S h e p h e r d ..........................185 20. Sima Qian, Author of the Shi ji 21. 3EBBSiti$ ......................202 22. т ж ъ т \ .........................2io 2 3 . 220 24. ШЖШШ 228 25. m ± * \ m .........................236 2 6 . ШШ&ШЯ .........................244 2 7 . ЫПШ 254 2 8 . > т .............................262 29. ШШШШ .............. -.... 274 3 0 . 284 21. Wang Zhaojun Carried off in Marriage by a Xiongnu •— ................. 203 22. Wang Mang Restores the Old System 211 23. Uprising of the Red Eyebrows and the Army of the Green W oods ......................... 221 24. Liu Xiu Restores the Han Dynasty .......................229 25. The Quest for Buddhist Sutras and Statues 237 26. Ban Chao Discovers that the Sword is Mightier than the P e n .........................245 27. Zhang Heng and his Seismometer .......................255 28. The Dang Gu Incidents 263 29. Fearless Fan Pang Goes to Jail 275 30. The Yellow Turban Uprising ...................... 285 -#iBW, #Ж^Гг. Sift. Si$. t:"r‘ -^ffisrrw sis, ш т т т & ъ , «xttf ia • й^жшяйд^й-е^йсмжм!, flt ЛЙФ69$$*У^ФЯ№Ж6<1»5;, itv. /МЙ#. «in ^«ФНХ#Ж^Х#№|Й. i9 № i$ * ¥ - 6<J|H]Bt. - I 'S E * . U ЙЗ^^ВЛЕЕЙ^Ж. ШЯШК£*=ШМ*'Й, Й*Т fsivj ^ $ 6 и й № # 8 6 № й . в в Й>ҒЖЖЕЕ911ШЯ|1ТЙЙЖ@№№Й<|ЖВ, ш ш ш . — <8# To the Reader Acquisition of proficiency in a foreign language calls for diligent practices in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Learning Chinese is no exception. To a student of Chinese, extensive reading exercises are as important as constant exposure to spoken Mandarin. Cultural China: Chinese-English Headers series is an open- ended series of collections of writings in Chinese, mostly essays and short stories by contemporary Chinese writers. Our purpose in putting together this bilingual series is to help you enjoy contemporary Chinese literature and other writings in their authentic, unadulterated flavor and to understand the Chinese society, culture, history, and the contemporary life of the Chinese people as you learn the language and hone your reading skills. A bilingual text will assist you in better savoring these works and in checking your understanding of the Chinese original against the English translation. We hope you will like this volume. - the Editor Ш (Г)» « ± т я т ¥ » ш ш & т т '4 . SSMihifHl ЙНЙ^Гй. a$4i6<jis@tt»jж I'mй-ж»Ш ',:^ж#«й (iw o- 1972 ) 5M £ Z 1s # 5Ь4 ЖЙТЙ;еШ ^№ йт. # Щ Т № ^ ш а . ш ' ш ъ ш , ® ш (1924-1996) & ш ц ъ 1 8 . т ж ъ ш . тш т^л^втааганЕ . i-xmM* m. шмхъ, шттштштш, «±ТЕТ¥ (-)» 8 l $ » f 6ш ш - * а м ж я 1* ¥ « г | 1ж ® % й ш ш * в Ф « 9 м « 5ё « ( » . m m m ф « й № е й * ^ . тптткшг-штУ' About the Book Tales From Five Thousand Years o f Chinese History is .1 collection of stories arranged in chronological order, covering a period from ancient times to the pre-Opium-War Qing Dynasty. The topics were selected by educator and linguist. Lin Handa (igoo-1972). who drew up the outline for the collection and contributed some chapters. Following Lin's death. Cao Yuzhang (1924-1996) took over his mantle and completed the work. This combined effort of two consecutive authors has enjoyed wide appeal by virtue of its historical accuracy, well-structured narrative, fluent writing and distinctive style. The bilingual Tales from Five Thousand Years o f Chinese H istory III I starts from the unification of China by Qin Shihuang, and culminates in the Yellow Turban Uprising during the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty. For the sake of brevity, the original Chinese work has been slightly abridged in this bilingual edition. Ш. flbie^S^ flgffffl "£’ GZtKffl-^ESD<l#№S^*EiS± №№»$, ЖЙЙЖЯ! МФ" Й#^-. ^ЖФЕЯЖ-М Ф. ^ S W iB te S e . teiSMiE: ^Й'ЙЙНЬЖЕЙЙШ.Щ^ /r-fl^'J, ssrftpq-ttsw , 95 -HtNHitts^, a # -it: -Ж№$|)Т-1Й^Ш. ^ s e - t . *?saa#*6<j N ж№? 6-гк18й±. (Swan) weteSte: -Яй 6W^»jHijEx, зғняжжгоей, я г . «ЖЫЕ/ИЙЖТЙЙЯРЖ*." Qin Shihumiv - the I . Qin Shihuang - the First Emperor of Unified China After conquering the six major sovereign slates, thereby ending the divisions of the Warring States Period and unifying China. King Zheng of Qin viewed his own accomplishments as dwarfing those of the legendary Three Huang (Three August Onesl and Five Or (Five Sovereigns). Believing that the title of w a n g (king) no longer did justice to his unprecedented achievements, he decided to create a new title, h u a n g d i. H uangdi combined the word h u a n g from the Three H uang and the word d i from the Five Dr. Being the first huangdi. King Zheng adopted the name. Shihuangdi (the First Emperor). He then decreed that his successor would be referred to as Er Shihuangdi (the Second Emperor), the successor of his successor as San Shihuangdi (the Third Emperor), and so on. for ten thousand generations'. After the unification of China, questions arose as how to govern a country of such immense size. At an imperial audience. Chief Counselor Wang Wan said to Qin Shihuang. "Now that the conquest of these sovereign states has been so recently accomplished, it is essential that fiefs be created and princes be named to them, especially for states geographically distant from the imperial capital. Xianyang, such as the states of Van. Chu and Qi. I urge his Majesty to appoint his sons to rule those fiefs." 13 №2*ЕаИ»ЖЕ«Й<1ЖЯ., R f i m & t i , №й: “/йц^галгивдй^ш. я/в*. @1^т-шйй^±. * т к ш - ш * п . ^»«±аа*я5й.’ ¥ГгМЖ!йЕ^^!|(?ЖйУ-С-Ж.(1к * $ Ж |г Ь ^ # й9 » й , О и ш т , «ВЖВЯ-^Е+^Ж®, gPTiliffttfi. ЙРМ ^s«$6iflsst6e». |к|жи«ж. шшф «1Й^6ёЙб^*ТШЙ*Ю11*, s t-H -tff ( S № 6 < j # * s s a № f m ± 6 < j ), йГЖЙкИ *ЯЛ6££**7. 6 е й ж Е - ф is z ни, я в [in ж 6 й -й" Е - и si а to . й : ж 5Е1 1 ЖШ. #№ to¥ffi*/M t^-#. нйфш ж W%W^. ВЖЕ—7 . £«$£*lg]to$fc±fTjt. *№„ ^®№М8@. E $$#±ffi^^^to№ S 5-# 0 C ^ Qin Shihuang then asked his other ministers lor comments on this suggestion, and many agreed. I.i Si was the lone voice of dissent. He argued. When King Wu of Zhou founded his dynasty, lie created feudal lords, who soon became bitter enemies vowing each other's destruction. Not even the King of Zhou could dissuade them from this path of mutual ruin. Clearly creating fiefs is a bad idea. A better approach would be to create a nation wide system of prefectures and counties." This idea was music to Qin Shihuangs ears. He abolished the old feudal system in favor of this new administrative structure, dividing the empire into 36 prefectures, each subdivided into a number of counties. The governors of the prefectures were directly appointed by the imperial court. All decisions, big and small, pertaining to the administration of the state, were made by the emperor. In those days, petitions and reports were written on long pieces of bamboo. It is said that Qin Shihuang read through 12071 л 11 J 'n equals 1/2 kilogram! worth of these a day, and would not rest until he had finished reading all of them. This is an indication to the degree authority was concentrated in his hands. Before Qin Shihuang unified China, each sovereign state had its own distinct system of standardization, without any thought to harmonizing its standards with another slate. Thus, local vehicles varied in size depending upon the state, and the roads in each state were built to suit the width of their vehicles.