4042 — Chinese Chronology
Is it true that the Chinese have no account in their archives of the Flood, and have they been in existence longer than Bible chronology can give us any account of? Among the old traditionary nations it is pretty difficult to get anything like a correct chronology. This is especially true with China. China has her traditional history and her recorded history, but her traditional history is not to be depended upon in any way. Whether in that we have a tradition of the Flood, we do not know. We have not examined it with that in mind. But as regards its history, we have no reliable history that carries us back to that time. For instance, Nelson's Encyclopædia states: "The earliest reliable historical account is that compiled by Sz-ma Ts'ien, in the first century B.C. According to native tradition, the earliest dynasty was that of the five monarchs ruling from the 29th to the 20th century before Christ. These were successively followed by the Hia (2205-1766 B.C.), Shang (1766-1122 B.C.), and Chou (1122-255 B.C.) dynasties, of whom only the last is truly historical. Twenty-five of the Chou monarchs are stated to have reigned from 827 B.C. to 255 B.C., and these are recognized as historical by Sz-ma Ts'ien. His views are, moreover, corroborated by certain 'bamboo books' which were found (A.D. 284) in the grave of a North China feudatory who had lived in the fourth century B.C. It is only with the Chou dynasty, therefore, that we begin to get in some degree on the solid ground of fact." Again it is stated, "But the first year of Kung-ho, namely B.C. 842, is the year the historian Sz-ma Ts'ien selected as the first genuine date that can be relied on in old Chinese history." This certainly is a good testimony from good authority.