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PART III. THE BOOKS OF HSIA.
Book I.
THE TRIBUTE OF Yü.
Hsia is the dynastic designation under which Yü and his descend
ants held the throne for 439 years (B. C. 2205-1767). On the conclusion of his labours, according to what was the universally accepted tradition in the Kâu period, Yu was appointed by Yảo to be earl of Hsia, a small principality in Ho-nan, identified with the present Yü-kåu, department Khai-făng, which thus still
retains the name of Yü. It has been repeatedly said in the Introduction that the Tribute
of Yu describes what was done before the death of Yão. The reason why it got its place as the first of the Books of Hsiâ was, no doubt, because the merit set forth in it was the ground of
Yü's advancement to the throne. Altogether the Books of Hsiâ are properly no more than three;
a fact which shows that in so early a period the duty of the recorder was little exercised, or that the destruction of its monuments in the course of time was nearly complete. We may assume that it was in consequence of both of these things that, when the collection of the ShQ was made, only three
documents of Hsia were found, to go into it. The word 'Tribute' in the name of this first Book is not to be
understood only in the sense of a contribution paid by one nation to another in acknowledgment of subjection, but also as the contribution of revenue paid by subjects to their proper ruler. The term, moreover, gives a very inadequate idea of the contents, which describe generally the labours of Yü in remedying the disasters occasioned by the inundation with which he had to cope, and how he then defined the boundaries of the different provinces, made other important territorial divisions, and determined the quality of the soil in each province, and the proportion of revenue it should pay, with other particulars. The Book, if we could fully credit it, would be a sort of domesday book of China in the twenty-third century
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