Polo's C Frequently Expresses
An H, Especially The Guttural H Of Chinese Names, Yet Cuncun Is Not
Satisfactory As The Expression Of Hanchung.
The country was so ragged that in ancient times travellers from Si-ngan fu
had to make a long
Circuit eastward by the frontier of Ho-nan to reach
Han-chung; but, at an early date, a road was made across the mountains for
military purposes; so long ago indeed that various eras and constructors
are assigned to it. Padre Martini's authorities ascribed it to a general
in the service of Liu Pang, the founder of the first Han Dynasty (B.C.
202), and this date is current in Shan-si, as Baron v. Richthofen tells
me. But in Sze-ch'wan the work is asserted to have been executed during
the 3rd century, when China was divided into several states, by Liu Pei,
of the Han family, who, about A.D. 226, established himself as Emperor
[Minor Han] of Western China at Ch'eng-tu fu.[1] This work, with its
difficulties and boldness, extending often for great distances on timber
corbels inserted in the rock, is vividly described by Martini. Villages
and rest-houses were established at convenient distances. It received from
the Chinese the name of Chien-tao, or the "Pillar Road." It
commenced on the west bank of the Wei, opposite Pao-ki h'ien, 100 miles
west of Si-ngan fu, and ended near the town of Paoching-h'ien, some 15 or
20 miles north-west from Han-chung.
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