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designate the imperial province of Honan on account of its central situation, and if Tien-hia savours of vanity, it had the excuse of being applied to the most extensive Empire ever governed by one sovereign. On the other hand, terms are not wanting that suggest the high esteem in which the Chinese have always held themselves. Tien-chan is such a term and Chung-hwa-kwoh is another. The people of China, for whom the doctrine of the divine right of kings possessed more practical significance than it had for Occidental nations, spoke of their Sovereign as Tien-tsz, or "son of heaven," and his dominions as Tien-chan, or (the land ruled by) the "heavenly dynasty." This latter name became "Celestial Kingdom" in the vocabulary of Europeans and Americans, who supplemented it by calling the Chinese people "Celestials," a term invented in the Occident, having no equivalent in the Chinese language, and being moreover entirely inconsistent with the spirit of the Chinese polity. As for Chung-hwa-kwoh (middle flowery kingdom) and Hwa-yen (flowery language), they are frank indications of the fact that the Chinese considered their land the most civilised and their language and literature the most refined in the world; an estimate which had at least the merit of being absolutely true at the time when it was made. One other form of appellation may be mentioned, namely, that derived from the name of the reigning dynasty. It is thus that the people often call