THE EAST IN MEDIEVAL TIMES 301

made large and valuable contributions to civilisation, her
political history, as ever, was very much disturbed. Progress
in" that vast country has been so often interrupted by war and
barbarism that one really wonders how the Chinese could
at all produce their rich culture. Under the Han dynasty
(206 B.C. to 221 A.D.), in addition to China proper, Tong-
krng and Annam had been reduced to being tributary states.
Besides developing excellent pottery, jade, bronze and iron-
work, silk brocades and embroideries, etc., the Han emperors
had encouraged literature and secured its preservation by
getting Confucian classics engraved on stone. The invention
of paper in 105 A.D. and! the modification of the ancient
Chinese characters had made writing an easier art. The in-
vention of the hair-pencil under the Ch'in had also facilita-
ted the practice of that art on silk. Soothill describes this as
'the period of the first great collators, commentators, and
historians, and of the fathers of the form of much subse-
quent poetry.' He also writes ; " Whatever may be said of
the government, the world-enriching discovery of paper would
alone entitle the Han period to be styled glorious."

After this China was partitioned between the three king-
doms of Wei, Wu, and Shu. These kingdoms fought
among themselves (221—589) and paved the way for the
Tartar invasions. It was the age, as in Europe, of chaos
and chivalry. But out of this darkness one figure arises.
It is that of a Tartar who, in 397, founded the House of
Toba. He organised the civil administration and, by his
encouragement of learning, civilised his barbarous people.
Though the Tobas at first persecuted the Buddhists, they
became its great supporters later, and through them the
religion was finally established in China. Its in-
fluence may be illustrated by the attitude of the founder
of a succeeding dynasty, viz., the Liang dynasty (502—