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[[underlined]] Chapter V. [[/underlined]]
81

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(52)
The two others, as is well known, are now in the University Museum, in Philadelphia.
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[[underlined]] Old Ch'ang-an. [[/underlined]]
Early next morning we went by cart to examine the remains of Old Ch'ang-an 故長安, capital of the Chinese Empire during much of the Han period, with a view to learning what possibilities they might offer for excavation. The site lies [[strikethrough]] five or six [[/strikethrough]] four or five miles northwest of Hsi-an Fu (53),

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(53)
The distance from Hsi-an to Old Ch'ang-an the local people told us was 15 [[underlined]] li [[/underlined]], while the [[underlined]] Ku chin t'u shu chi ch'êng [[/underlined]] 古今圗書集成speaks of it as 20 [[underlined]] li [[/underlined]]; the discrepancy is no doubt due to differences in the points between which the distance is computed.
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a little south of the southern bank of the Wei; it was one of those that we had had especially in mind in planning our visit to Shensi.
Han Kau-tzŭ 漢高祖, founder of the Han Dynasty (54), we may re-

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(54)
The Hans, it is important to bear in mind, were the first Chinese ruling house to spring from the ranks of the common people. In earlier times the great mass of the latter had been peasant-serfs, bound to the soil that they tilled and of little consideration either socially or politically.
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call, had at first considered establishing his permanent official residence in the Lo-yang area, in what is now Honan. His ministers, on the contrary, argued that his prestige would be greatly enhanced and his still unstable power more easily and swiftly consolidated if he fixed his capital near what had been that of the lately fallen Ch'ins, in central Shensi. For that region, they pointed out, had unrivalled natural defences of mountain and river, and was in many other respects also preëminently fitted to be the seat of authority over a great empire. The new ruler had the wisdom to follow this advice. The result was the