The question of the antiquity of the Chinese nation has long exercised the minds of Sinologists, and various are the conclusions arrived at by them on the subject.

Professor Lacouperie has pointed out that the Chinese are offshoots of the Accadian stock. This I am quite ready to admit; but I cannot agree with him in thinking that the early Chinese Emperors can be identified with Babylonian Kings about 2000 years B.C. There are no ancient monuments, inscribed sarcophagi and stones, or contemporary excessive antiquity; so we are compelled to criticize carefully the evidence handed down to us in the shape of the old Chinese classics.