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I. ANCIENT HISTORY. "9
_Vith an interregnum of forty years this dynasty lasted
from z2o5 to I765 B. C., and consisted of seventeen sovereigns.
Of these there is .little of note recorded until we
reach the last, the Emperor Chieh _[_, a name held up to
abhorrence in Chinese classical literature. Endowed with
great physical strength, able to twist iron bars like ropes,
he yet became the slave of an abandoned wife _lt _,
presented to him by her father, the Chief of Shih _IL to
propitiate him and thereby procure the withdrawal of his
invading forces. The Court was transformed into a palace
of debauchery, Chieh though past middle age yieIding
himself, along with his wife and courtiers, to the most outrageous
profligacy ;--a lake of wine, trees laden with delicacies,
ivory chambers, majestic towers, every luxury
that lust and licence could suggest.
In the fifty second year of Chielt's reign the Prince of
the State of Shang, impelled as he felt by Heaven itself, attacked
this debased and debasing ruler, deposed and inaprisoned
him until his death three years later, and himself
took over the control of the Empire.
THE SHANG ]_, or YIN _ DYASTY. With
T'ang _-_, the Prince of Shang, commences the second of
the three great ancient dynasties. As in the case of the
Hsia so with the Shang its first dynastic title was adopted
from the name of its Founder's territory, examples of
which usage are found in our own House of York, Lancaster,
etc. The title Yin was adopted three and a half
centuries later, from _e name of the town to which the
Emperor P'an K_ng _i_ _ removed his capital.
The prolonged existence of the House of ttsia had by