p. 89:  The most important trait which points to foreign trade, is the occurrence of glass in Chinese tombs in Indo-China and of glass in China proper from the fifth century B.C. on; it is assumed that this glass was imported from the Near East, possibly from Egypt (O.  Janse, N. Egami, Seligman).

p. 91:  Large parts of the “Discussions” have been translated by Esson M. Gale, Discourses on Salt and Iron, Leiden 1931; the continuation of this translation is in Jour.  Royal As.  Society, North-China Branch 1934.—­The history of eunuchs in China remains to be written.  They were known since at least the seventh century B.C.  The hypothesis has been made that this custom had its origin in Asia Minor and spread from there (R.  F. Spencer in Ciba Symposia, vol. 8, No. 7, 1946 with references).

p. 92:  The main source on Wang Mang is translated by C. B. Sargent, Wang Mang, a translation, Shanghai 1950 and H. H. Dubs, History of the Former Han Dynasty, vol, 3, Baltimore 1955.

p. 93:  This evaluation of the “Old character school” is not generally accepted.  A quite different view is represented by Tjan Tjoe Som and R. P. Kramers and others who regard the differences between the schools as of a philological and not a political kind.  I follow here most strongly the Chinese school as represented by Ku Chieh-kang and his friends, and my own studies.

p. 93:  Falsification of texts refers to changes in the Tso-chuan.  My interpretation relies again upon Ku Chieh-kang, and Japanese astronomical studies (Ijima Tadao), but others, too, admit falsifications (H.  H. Dubs); B. Karlgren and others regard the book as in its main body genuine.  The other text mentioned here is the Chou-li which is certainly not written by Wang Mang (Jung-chai Hsue-pi 16), but heavily mis-used by him (in general see S. Uno).

p. 94:  I am influenced here by some of H. H. Dubs’s studies.  For this and the following period, the work by H. Bielenstein, The Restoration of the Han Dynasty, Stockholm 1953 and 1959 is the best monograph.—­The “equalization offices” and their influence upon modern United States has been studied by B. Bodde in the Far Eastern Quarterly, vol. 5, 1946.

p. 95:  H. Bielenstein regards a great flood as one of the main reasons for the breakdown of Wang Mang’s rule.

p. 98:  For the understanding of Chinese military colonies in Central Asia as well as for the understanding of military organization, civil administration and business, the studies of Lao Kan on texts excavated in Central Asia and Kansu are of greatest importance.

p. 101:  Mazdaistic elements in this rebellion have been mentioned mainly by H. H. Dubs.  Zoroastrism (Zoroaster born 569 B.C.) and Mazdaism were eminently “political” religions from their very beginning on.  Most scholars admit the presence of Mazdaism in China only from 519 on (Ishida Mikinosuke, O. Franke).  Dubs’s theory can be strengthened by astronomical material.—­The basic religious text of this group, the “Book of the Great Peace” has been studied by W. Eichhron, H. Maspero and Ho Ch’ang-ch’uen.