["Polo is correct in giving Tangut as the native country of Rhubarb
(Rheum palmatum) but no species of Rheum has hitherto been gathered by
our botanists as far south as Kiang-Su, indeed, not even in Shan-tung."
(Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc., I. p. 5.) - H.C.]
NOTE 4. - The meanings ascribed by Polo to the names of Su-chau and
King-sze (Hang-chau) show plainly enough that he was ignorant of Chinese.
Odoric does not mention Su-chau, but he gives the same explanation of
Kinsay as signifying the "City of Heaven," and Wassaf also in his notice of
the same city has an obscure passage about Paradise and Heaven, which is
not improbably a corrupted reference to the same interpretation.[1] I
suspect therefore that it was a "Vulgar Error" of the foreign residents in
China, probably arising out of a misunderstanding of the Chinese adage
quoted by Duhalde and Davis: -
"Shang yeu t'ien t'ang, Hia yeu SU HANG!"
"There's Paradise above 'tis true,
But here below we've HANG and SU!"
These two neighbouring cities, in the middle of the beautiful tea and silk
districts, and with all the advantages of inland navigation and foreign
trade, combined every source of wealth and prosperity, and were often thus
coupled together by the Chinese. Both are, I believe, now recovering from
the effects of devastation by T'ai-P'ing occupation and Imperialist
recapture; but neither probably is one-fifth of what it was.
The plan of Su-chau which we give is of high interest. It is reduced (1/10
the scale) from a rubbing of a plan of the city incised on marble
measuring 6' 7" by 4' 4", and which has been preserved in the Confucian
Temple in Su-chau since A.D. 1247. Marco Polo's eyes have probably rested
on this fine work, comparable to the famous Pianta Capitolina. The
engraving on page 183 represents one of the gates traced from the rubbing
and reduced to half the scale. It is therefore an authentic
representation of Chinese fortification in or before the 13th century.[2]
["In the southern part of Su-chau is the park, surrounded by a high wall,
which contains the group of buildings called the Confucian Temple. This is
the Dragon's head; - the Dragon Street, running directly North, is his
body, and the Great Pagoda is his tail. In front is a grove of cedars. To
one side is the hall where thousands of scholars go to worship at the
Spring and Autumn Festivals - this for the gentry alone, not for the
unlettered populace. There is a building used for the slaughter of
animals, another containing a map of the city engraved in stone; a third
with tablets and astronomical diagrams, and a fourth containing the
Provincial Library. On each side of the large courts are rooms where are
placed the tablets of the 500 sages.