" Dogs (fed up for the purpose)
are still eaten in some parts of China, and (as we shall soon see)
they were eaten in ancient Yiieh.
CHAPTER XXXV
KNOWLEDGE OF THE WEST
The question of the expedition of the Emperor Muh to the West in
the year 984 B.C., or during that year and the two following, is
worthy of further consideration for many reasons; and after all
that has been said about the rise of the Chou dynasty, the decay
of the patriarchal system, the emulous ambitions of the vassals,
the destruction of the feudal Empire, and the substitution of a
centralized administration under a new dynasty of numbered August
Emperors, it will now be comparatively easier to understand.
We have seen that, if any local annals besides those of Lu have
been in part preserved, those of Ts'in at least were deliberately
intended by the First August Emperor to be wholly preserved, and
must therefore hold first rank among all the restored vassal
annals published by Sz-ma Ts'ien in or about 90 B.C.; and it must
be remembered that the original Lu annals have perished equally
with those of Ts'i, Sung, and other important states; it is only
Confucius' "Springs and Autumns,"--evidently composed from the Lu
archives,--that have survived.
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