This book traces the origin and development of Chinese empire and exposes the problem of religion in the history of China. "The question of the origin of the Chinese has been discussed by several foreign savants: Gust. Schlegel made a comparison between the primitive roots of the Chinese and Aryan languages; the theory of an Egyptian origin has found favor with Kircher, Mairan, De Guignes, and Pauthier. Terrien de Lacouperie has pushed to the limit the theory of so-called Bak tribes migrating from Elam to the banks of the Hwang-ho, 2500 B.C., and taking with them the civilization of what was later China...."