On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c5.3

v1.c5.3

The Introduction begins—"By going back over the measures of the [Three] Huang and examining from this distance of time the records of the [Five] Ti we learn the beginnings of the reigns of Pao-hsi (Fu-hsi) and Hsien-Yuan (Huang Ti) by whom the people were brought under civil government and the country was marked off into natural divisions. And [we learn how] Yao of T'ang receiving astronomical knowledge (lit. "Celestial revolutions") his light spread everywhere, and how Shun of Yü being entrusted with the earthly arrangements his excellent influences extended to all the empire.. From these down only the archives of recorded events have been transmitted. To hear of the virtuous in a far off past, to merely learn from word-recording historians—what are these compared with the seasonable meeting with a time of ideal government and the good fortuna living under a sovereign who reigns without ruling?"