251. 炎宋興

Yen2 sung4 hsing1  

Fiery sung rise 

Then the fire-led House of Sung arose,

Yen is 火 huo fire doubled to convey an idea of intensity. There is no term by which this word can really be translated in this connection. The meaning is that the Sung dynasty ruled under the guiding influence of fire as its own especial element. Hence Zottoli's rendering, "Ignea Sung," gives no clue whatever to the real signification, while Eitel's "glorious Sung" is altogether wrong. 

Sung see line 227. 

Hsing see line 215. 

252. 受周禪

Shou4 chou1 shan4

Receive chou resignation

and received the resignation of the House of Chou. 

Shou is composed of 爪 chao claws above, and 又 yu hand (see line 18) beneath, a hooked line which is here said to be a contraction of 舟 chou a boat, and plays the part of phonetic, while the two first mentioned make up the ancient radical. It commonly means to be the recipient of, to suffer, and is now classed under radical yu. 

Chou see line 141. [The reference is to the six-year-old son of the last Emperor of the Later Chou dynasty, who resigned in A.D. 960 in favour of the founder of the Sung dynasty.] 

Shan is composed of 示 shih divine manifestation as radical, with 單 tan single as phonetic. It means sacrificial worship of Earth, which is part of the Imperial prerogative; also, to abdicate. Read ch'au2, it means to sit in contemplation, as Buddhist priests do. 

253. 十八傳

Shih2 pa1 ch'uan2

Ten eight transmit 

Shih see line 45. 

Eighteen times the throne was transmitted, 

Pa see line 88. 

Ch'uan see line 163. 

254. 南北混

Nan2 pei3 hun4

South north blend

and then the north and the south were reunited. 

Nan see line 61. 

Pei see line 61. 

Hun is composed of 水 s hui water as radical, and 昆 k'un together, an elder brother, as phonetic. It means to mix; hence confused, etc. [The Sung dynasty was interrupted in A.D. 1127 by the 金 Chin Tartars, who had been called in to exterminate the 遼 Liao Tartars, carrying off the Emperor and his heir and occupying the northern portion of the empire. Another son of the unfortunate monarch succeeded in re-establishing the line, and for greater security transferred his capital southwards to modern Hangchow. Hence the first period was called the Northern, the latter the Southern, Sung; and it is to the final reunion of the two under the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan in A.D. 1260 that this line refers, although the last representative of the Sungs lived on until 1279. Eitel makes a grave mistake in regard to hun, as follows:— "Though a southern Sung dynasty branched off from the northern (A.D. 1127) when the disorders commenced."]