Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/15

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TAINAN.
3
TAIRA.

it their capital in the seventeenth century. Tainan was a treaty-port under Chinese rule, and under .Japanese control it has tlie same status. It has three steam sugar mills and one rice mill. Population, about 140,000. The for- eign population is very small.


TAINE, tan, Hippolyte Adolphe (1828-93). A Frencli historian and critic of literature and art, born at Vouziers, April 21, 1828. He went to Paris in 1841, entered the Ecole Normale in 1848, where he showed much independence and restiveness under its philosophic eclecticism. In 1851 he was appointed to the chair of phil- osophy at the College of Toulon, but he immedi- ately resigned, studied medicine and the sciences, and so brought himself into touch with the spirit of the rising generation, with whom his essays on La Fontaine, Livy, and Les Philosoplies francais dii XlXcme siccle (1853-50) won im- mediate recognition, while his Voyage aux eaux dcs Pyrenees (1855) showed his mastery of or- derly and minute observation. Thus he compelled recognition, and the Government that had thought him dangerous in 1854 made him pro- fessor in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1864. Here he gave several series of lectures on the history of art that are models of philosophic criticism, and, applying the same principles in another field, published a monumental Hist aire de la litteruture anylaisc (1804). Then followed Idealisme anglais (1804); Positivisme anglais (1864), the latter a study of J. S. Mill; Philoso- phie de I'art (1805); Philosophic de Vart en Italie (1800); Voyage en Italic (1866-72); L'ideal dans I'art (1807) ; the cynically amusing Notes sur Paris (1867) ; the important De I'in- telligence (1870); Notes sur I'Angleterre (1872); and finally his greatest work, Origines de la France contemporaine, consisting of Ancien regime (1875), La Revolution (1878-84), and the Regime inodcrne (1890). A Life and Let- ters of U. Taine (1828-52) was published in French and in English in 1902.

Taine was the theorist of niituralism, of im- mense yet systematized erudition, and of a logic that was almost mechanical. He represents in criticism the scientific spirit that was making itself felt almost simultaneously in all branches of French intellectual activit}', in the poetry of the Parnassians, the philology of Renan, the fiction of Flaubert, the dramas of the younger Dumas, the high art of Meissonier, and the low art of Forain. The analj-tic, meticulous spirit of his generation found in his "little facts, well chosen, important, significant, amply substan- tiated, minutely noted, the material of every science." He sought to make psychology, a;sthetics, and literary criticism into exact sci- ences, capable of rigorous analysis and syste- matic deduction. Physiology determined psy- chology, environment was the cause of literary evolution. Moral standards fell under the same dissection. "Virtue and vice are products like vitriol and siigar." His is always the interest of the naturalist, not of the artist. The style waa like the man and like the philosophy, grave, sin- cere, simple, almost always serene. There is in his work hardly a trace of irony, of strain or of enthusiasm, none at all of sentimentality or of mysticism. His system may not have been deep, but it was wonderfully opportune, and Taine was a guiding light to the intellectually productive men of France almost until his death. Oxford gave him an honorary degree of LL.D. in 1871. He was tardily elected to the French Academy in 1878, and died in Paris, March 5, 1803. Most of his works have been translated into various languages. Consult: Bourget, Essais de psychol- ogie contemporaine, vol. i. (Paris, 1887) ; Le- maitre, Les contemporains, vol. iv. (ib., 1890- 92) ; Monod, in Contemporary Review (London, 1893) ; Margerie, Hippolyte Taine (Paris, 1894) ; Boutmy, Taine, Scherer, Laboulayc (ib., 1901); Tiraud, Hippolyte Taine (ib., 1901).


TAI-NGAN FU, tl'nan'fuu'. A departmental city of the Province of Shan-tung, China, sit- uated at the foot of the famous Mount Tai (see Tai Shan), 60 miles south-southeast of Tsi-nan fu, the capital of the province. The im- portance of Tai-ngan is due chietly to the im- mense numbers of pilgrims who come to visit Mount Tai. Its suburbs on tlie south and west, however, are large, populous, and prosperous. The most important of the numerous temples of Tai- ngan is the Tai Temple, covering several acres, surrounded by a strong wall and containing many fine old cypresses. Population, with sub- urbs, about 80,000.


TAI-PEH, ti'pa', or TAI-PAK, tl'pak' (pro- nounced by the Japanese Dai-hoku, di'hok'fjS). The capital of the Japanese island of Formosa (q.v.). It is a small walled city, about 13 miles from Tamsui (q.v.), with which it is connected by rail, as well as with Kelung (q.v.). Near it is found the large and populous town of Bangka or Mangka, the centre of the tea trade. The total population of Tai-peh proper and of the suburbs is estimated at over 100,000, including nearly 6000 Japanese.


TAI-PING (ti'ping') REBELLION (abbreviation of Chin, t'ai p'ing chao, great peace dynasty). The name given by foreigners to the uprising which threatened the overthrow of the Chinese Empire (1850-64). See Chinese Em- pike (section Modern History) and Hung Siu- T.s'euen.


TAIRA, til'e-ra. A Japanese clan of Imperial descent, one of the four great families, Fujiwara, Minamoto, and Tokugawa being the others, which have been most distinguished in the history of Japan. The Taira family was established in the ninth century, when some of its members were given the control of provinces in the west. In 814 another house, the Minamoto, also of Imperial descent, had been put in control in the east. For centuries the Taira and the Minamoto were content in their respective spheres, but in the twelfth century they came into conflict over the succession to the Imperial throne. The head of the Taira was Kiyomori, a man of great ability and of large experience in warfare. He was successful in his plans, defeated the Minamoto, and made himself supreme in the Empire. He took the oflice of Prime Minister from the Fujiwara family, married his daughter to the Emperor, filled all important offices with his clansmen, humiliated the Fujiwara nobles, and attempted the extermination of the Minamoto family. After his death in 1181 the Minamoto clan obtained possession of the eastern part of Japan, and then of Kioto. The Taira retreated westward, were pursued by Yoshtsune, and finally defeated in 1185 in the sea fight of Dan-no-Ura.