The empire of the eastern Tsin, towards the close of which Fa-Hsien lived, had its capital at or near Nan-king, and Ch'ang-gan was the capital of the principal of the three Ts'in kingdoms, which, with many other minor ones, maintained a semi-independence of Tsin, their rulers sometimes even assuming the title of emperor.
(2) The period Hwang-che embraced from A.D.399 to 414, being the greater portion of the reign of Yao Hing of the After Ts'in, a powerful prince.

He adopted Hwang-che for the style of his reign in 399, and the cyclical name of that year was Kang-tsze.

It is not possible at this distance of time to explain, if it could be explained, how Fa-Hsien came to say that Ke-hae was the second year of the period.

It seems most reasonable to suppose that he set out on his pilgrimage in A.D.399, the cycle name of which was Ke-hae, as {.}, the second year, instead of {.}, the first, might easily creep into the text.

In the "Memoirs of Eminent Monks" it is said that our author started in the third year of the period Lung-gan of the eastern Tsin, which was A.D.