has ever been said upon each of a vast array of subjects is brought into
a systematized book of reference, running to many hundred volumes, and
being almost a complete library in itself. It was printed, after
the death of K`ang Hsi, from movable copper types. The other is, if
anything, a still more extraordinary though not such a voluminous work.
It is a concordance to all literature; not of words, but of phrases. A
student meeting with an unfamiliar combination of characters can turn
to its pages and find every passage given, in sufficient fullness, where
the phrase in question has been used by poet, historian, or essayist.

The last years of K`ang Hsi were beclouded by family troubles. For some
kind of intrigue, in which magic played a prominent part, he had been
compelled to degrade the Heir Apparent, and to appoint another son
to the vacant post; but a year or two later, this son was found to be
mentally deranged, and was placed under restraint. So things went on for
several more years, the Emperor apparently unable to make up his mind as
to the choice of a successor; and it was not until the last day of his
life that he finally decided in favour of his fourth son. Dying in 1723,
his reign had already extended beyond the Chinese cycle of sixty years,
a feat which no Emperor of China, in historical times, had ever before
achieved, but which was again to be accomplished, before the century was
out, by his grandson.



CHAPTER V--YUNG CHÊNG AND CH`IEN LUNG

The fourth son of K`ang Hsi came to the throne under the year-title
of Yung Chêng (harmonious rectitude). He was confronted with serious
difficulties from the very first. Dissatisfaction prevailed among his