[The Rev. W.S. Ament (Marco Polo, 119-120) writes, "the historian of the
city of Cho-chau sounds the praises of the people for their religious
spirit". He says: - "It was the custom of the ancients to worship those who
were before them. Thus students worshipped their instructors, farmers
worshipped the first husbandman, workers in silk, the original silk-worker.
Thus when calamities come upon the land, the virtuous among the people make
offerings to the spirits of earth and heaven, the mountains, rivers,
streams, etc. All these things are profitable. These customs should never
be forgotten.' After such instruction, we are prepared to find fifty-eight
temples of every variety in this little city of about 20,000 inhabitants.
There is a temple to the spirits of Wind, Clouds, Thunder, and Rain, to the
god of silk-workers, to the Horse-god, to the god of locusts, and the eight
destructive insects, to the Five Dragons, to the King who quiets the waves.
Besides these, there are all the orthodox temples to the ancient worthies,
and some modern heroes. Liu Pei and Chang Fei, two of the three great
heroes of the San Kuo Chih, being natives of Cho Chou, are each honoured
with two temples, one in the native village, and one in the city. It is not
often that one locality can give to a great empire two of its three most
popular heroes: Liu Pei, Chang Fei, Kuan Yu."
"Judging from the condition of the country," writes the Rev. W.S. Ament
(p. 120), "one could hardly believe that this general region was the
original home of the silk-worm, and doubtless the people who once lived
here are the only people who ever saw the silk-worm in his wild state. The
historian of Cho-Chou honestly remarks that he knows of no reason why the
production of silk should have ceased there, except the fact that the worms
refused to live there.... The palmy days of the silk industry were in the
T'ang dynasty." - H.C.]
NOTE 3. - "About a li from the southern suburbs of this town, the great
road to Shantung and the south-east diverged, causing an immediate
diminution in the number of carts and travellers" (Oxenham). [From Peking
"to Cheng-ting fu, says Colonel Bell (Proc.R.G.S., XII. 1890, p. 58), the
route followed is the Great Southern highway; here the Great Central Asian
highway leaves it." The Rev. W.S. Ament says (l.c., 121) about the
bifurcation of the road, one branch going on south-west to Pao-Ting fu and
Shan-si, and one branch to Shantung and Ho-nan: "The union of the two roads
at this point, bringing the travel and traffic of ten provinces, makes Cho
Chou one of the most important cities in the Empire. The magistrate of this
district is the only one, so far as we know, in the Empire who is relieved
of the duty of welcoming and escorting transient officers. It was the
multiplicity of such duties, so harassing, that persuaded Fang Kuan-ch'eng
to write the couplet on one of the city gateways: Jih pien ch'ung yao, wu
shuang ti: T'ien hsia fan nan, ti yi Chou. 'In all the world, there is no
place so public as this: for multiplied cares and trials, this is the first
Chou.' The people of Cho-Chou, of old celebrated for their religious
spirit, are now well known for their literary enterprise." - H.C.] This
bifurcation of the roads is a notable point in Polo's book. For after
following the western road through Cathay, i.e. the northern provinces of
China, to the borders of Tibet and the Indo-Chinese regions, our traveller
will return, whimsically enough, not to the capital to take a fresh
departure, but to this bifurcation outside of Chochau, and thence carry us
south with him to Manzi, or China south of the Yellow River.
Of a part of the road of which Polo speaks in the latter part of the
chapter Williamson says: "The drive was a very beautiful one. Not only were
the many villages almost hidden by foliage, but the road itself hereabouts
is lined with trees.... The effect was to make the journey like a ramble
through the avenues of some English park." Beyond Tingchau however the
country becomes more barren. (I. 268.)
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE KINGDOM OF TAIANFU.
After riding then those ten days from the city of Juju, you find yourself
in a kingdom called TAIANFU, and the city at which you arrive, which is the
capital, is also called Taianfu, a very great and fine city. [But at the
end of five days' journey out of those ten, they say there is a city
unusually large and handsome called ACBALUC, whereat terminate in this
direction the hunting preserves of the Emperor, within which no one dares
to sport except the Emperor and his family, and those who are on the books
of the Grand Falconer. Beyond this limit any one is at liberty to sport, if
he be a gentleman. The Great Kaan, however, scarcely ever went hunting in
this direction, and hence the game, particularly the hares, had increased
and multiplied to such an extent that all the crops of the Province were
destroyed. The Great Kaan being informed of this, proceeded thither with
all his Court, and the game that was taken was past counting.][NOTE 1]
Taianfu[NOTE 2] is a place of great trade and great industry, for here they
manufacture a large quantity of the most necessary equipments for the army
of the Emperor. There grow here many excellent vines, supplying great
plenty of wine; and in all Cathay this is the only place where wine is
produced. It is carried hence all over the country.[NOTE 3] There is also a
great deal of silk here, for the people have great quantities of
mulberry-trees and silk-worms.
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