Note 1 — Chapter VIII
Reading edition
One of the causes which have led the Chinese themselves into great errors with regard to the ancient state of their country, is the having given to their ancient characters the acceptations which they did not acquire until later times.
The characters which are now translated by the words emperor, province, city, palace, meant no more in former times than the chief of a tribe, a district, a camp, a house. These simple meanings did not flatter their vanity sufficiently, and they therefore preferred employing terms which would represent their ancestors as rich and powerful, and their empire vast and flourishing in the first year of its foundation as if by magic.—M. de Guignes' Littera.