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[[underlined]] APPENDIX II. [[/underlined]] 19. was an epoch when great philosophers and writers lived; when the ancient feudal system was falling into decay; and when states were rapidly becoming politicized. It was probably in the conceptual domain---in the realms of poetry, mythology, and religion---that the influence of Ch'u was most active. Although she failed to found that physical empire for which she strove so long and so gallantly, her contribution to the Chinese civilization of later times was enormous. [[underlined]] The State of Wu. [[/underlined]] Following Ch'u, both in point of time and in location farther down the Yangtze---at the latter's delta, in fact [[superscript]] (51) [[/superscript]] ---was Wu (see [[underline]] supra [[/underlined]], pp. 13 [[underlined]] sq. [[/underlined]] of this Appendix), first mentioned in history in 601 B.C. The rulers of Wu claimed as the founder of their line the elder of those two sons of a pre-Conquest Chou chieftan (already mentioned; see pp. 8 [[underlined]] sq. [[/underlined]]) said to have gone to the Yangtze valley and assimilated themselves to the natives there. [[superscript]] (52) [[/superscript]] This claim is usually dismissed as base- --------------------------------- [[superscript]] (51) [[/superscript]] In the 1st millennium B.C. the Yangtze River, instead of entering the sea through a single wide estuary, as now, had a delta with three main mouths, the famous "San Chiang" 三江 of Chinese literature. In regard to the courses taken by these, much controversy has arisen; but the consensus of opinion seems to be that the present mouth represents the (greatly enlarged) northernmost channel, and that another, much silted up, is to be sought in the existing "Soochow Creek" , passing [[strikethrough]] [[?]] [[/strikethrough]] through Shanghai; while the third (and southernmost), now disappeared altogether, flowed into Hangchow Bay. The latter point, as we shall see when we come to speak of the state of Yüeh, is not without significance. ---------------------------------- [[superscript]] (52) [[/superscript]] On the beginnings of Wu, see the [[underlined]] Shih chi [[/underlined]], chapt. XXXI, [[underlined]] ad init. [[/underlined]] The late Dr. Laufer once told me that he suspected a Tibeto-Burman element in the modern Soochow dialect (spoken today in that part of China once occupied by Wu). His belief in this regard, if confirmed by further studies, would tend to support the suggested possibility of an ultimate Tibeto-Burman origin for all the Yangtze River states, and also for the Chou Dynasty itself (see pp. 3 [[underlined]] sq. [[/underlined]] and [[underlined]] passim. [[/underlined]] ----------------------------------- less; but it has been taken seriously from as far back as Confucian times at least. [[superscript]] (53) [[/superscript]] Nor is there anything inherently improbable about a Chinese
Transcription Notes:
Needs Chinese characters
a pre-Conquest Chou chieftain
In the 1st millennium B.C.
characters added.
