National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

CHAPTER III

CHINA AND THE EURASIATIC NORTH IN THE PERIOD OF THE
CHOU DYNASTY (1122-255 B. C.)


1) European literature on possible interrelations.
As soon as the art of bronze had escaped from the shadows of prehistoric
times, it made use in China of a strongly developed animal ornamentation that
was of a peculiar character unknown elsewhere. This ornamentation usually
forms hieroglyphics so confused that they are unrecognizable, and seldom are
they realistic. The attemps to connect these animal-forms with countries out-
side of China are nearly as numerous as books on Chinese art. In searching
for the inspirers students have turned many times towards the circle of the Steppes
in northern Asia. Such an attribution is of special interest when it is made by a
famous scholar, an expert on the art of nearby countries. Rostovtzeff, for
instance, first believed it possible to derive Scythian as well as Chinese animal
representation from an unknown locality in Central Asia (1). He later upheld
this theory with less assurance (2), and now he has entirely given it up (3). Bo-
rovka has maintained the same point of view with considerable energy (4). The
dragon and monster masques of the Chou bronzes, that is, the most frequent
motives, he considered as derived from Scytho-Siberian art. In the end he him-
self felt the chronological discord between very early Chinese forms and their
would-be models of so much later date. This resulted in his doubting the Chou
date on pieces which to his mind had been influenced from outside (5). However
it is not our knowledge of China that is at fault, but rather the theory of Bo-
rovka.
2) Chinese historical texts.
When we study Chinese texts, we find the tangible possibility of a connection
with the Barbarians. Plath has already supplied a list of neighbours differing
from the Chinese either by their culture, their language, or their race (6).
Maspero has classified them again according to their origin, and to their geo-
graphic distribution (7). The texts group them systematically and geographically.
To the east on the peninsula of Shan-tung live the I; to the west, particularly