Tʻang

— The first missionaries to China, men of the Buddhist faith, called the land Chin-tan, or Dawn. Centuries later, when the rulers of the Tʻang dynasty had made the Empire the most polished nation of the world, the Hills of Tʻang became the popular name for the whole land, a designation still frequently used in regions south of the Yang-tzŭ Kiang. This little volume does not pretend to discuss fully either the land or the people of China. All that is attempted is to furnish a glimpse of the hills and men of Tʻang, and to sketch, in outline, the Christian dawn as it is touching mountain and plain, city and hamlet, throughout this most populous empire.