Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c11.30

v2.c11.30

First, we have the famous Dynastic Histories. As is wellknown, there are twenty-four official Histories which deal with the history of China from the earliest time up to the end of the Ming dynasty (1643 A.D.). The first book, Che-ki, deals with the history of the country from the earliest time up to 122 B. C. The other books deal separately with the history of every dynasty which has since reigned in China. The history of each dynasty was written after its downfall with the help of the Government archives. It contains accounts of foreign countries "which have always been drawn up from the materials at hand, and may therefore be considered to refer to the time when the dynasty still existed, even if the time of their compilation and publication falls considerably later¹".