Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/106

94 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. studied a good deal, and after having finished his classical course he wished to become a candidate for the Mandarinate. He passed successfully his examin- ations for the bachelor's degree, but broke down in those for the doctor's; and his wounded pride then drove him into the conspiracies of secret societies, which, in China, as elsewhere, are the refuge of ambitious malcontents. The rebellion soon spread over the whole country, and Hoang-Tchao became its sole chief. The middle class Chinaman by no means aspired, however, after the honour of becoming the founder of a new dynasty, and at first he refused the title of Emperor, and called himself merely " The General who attacks the Heavens." In 879 he led his revolutionary bands into Fo-kien and Tche-Kiang, and took the capital of the latter province, the town of Han-Tcheou- Fou, situated at a short distance from the celebrated seaport Khan-Fou. In this town he ordered those frightful massacres, in which some of the numerous foreigners who came to trade in China were involved. Such is an abridged account of the narrative of Chinese historians. But it is in this way that the Arab writer gives the story of the events which overthrew the celebrated dynasty of Thang, and substituted for it that of Song : — " That which has turned China from the course of law and justice in which she was previously proceeding, and which has interrupted the expeditions against the port of Syraf, is the enterprise of a rebel, who did not belong to the royal house, and who was named Banschoua (Hoang-Tchao). This man began by an artful line of conduct and insubordination ; then he took arms, and began to commit extortion on private