Rec., xix., 1888, p. 207). - H.C.]
[Illustration: South-West Gate and Water-Gate of Su-chau; facsimile on half
the scale from a mediaeval Map, incised on Marble, A.D. 1247.]
NOTE 3. - This statement about the abundance of rhubarb in the hills near
Su-chau is believed by the most competent authorities to be quite
erroneous. Rhubarb is exported from Shang-hai, but it is brought
thither from Hankau on the Upper Kiang, and Hankau receives it from the
further west. Indeed Mr. Hanbury, in a note on the subject, adds his
disbelief also that ginger is produced in Kiang-nan. And I see in
the Shang-hai trade-returns of 1865, that there is no ginger among
the exports. [Green ginger is mentioned in the Shang-hai Trade Reports for
1900 among the exports (p. 309) to the amount of 18,756 piculs; none is
mentioned at Su-chau. - H.C.]. Some one, I forget where, has suggested a
confusion with Suh-chau in Kan-suh, the great rhubarb mart, which seems
possible.
["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. The main temple is 50 by 70 feet, and
contains the tablet of Confucius and a number of gilded boards with
mottoes. It is a very imposing structure. On the stone dais in front, a
mat-shed is erected for the great sacrifices at which the official
magnates exercise their sacerdotal functions. As a tourist beheld the
sacred grounds and the aged trees, she said: 'This is the most
venerable-looking place I have seen in China.' On the gateway in front, the
sage is called 'The Prince of Doctrine in times Past and Present.'" (Rev.
H.C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec., xix. p. 272). - H.C.]
NOTE 5. - The Geographic Text only, at least of the principal Texts, has
distinctly the three cities, Vugui, Vughin, Ciangan. Pauthier
identifies the first and third with HU-CHAU FU and Sung-kiang fu. In
favour of Vuju's being Hu-chau is the fact mentioned by Wilson that the
latter city is locally called WUCHU.[3] If this be the place, the
Traveller does not seem to be following a direct and consecutive route
from Su-chau to Hang-chau. Nor is Hu-chau within a day's journey of
Su-chau. Mr. Kingsmill observes that the only town at that distance is
Wukiang-hien, once of some little importance but now much reduced.
WUKIANG, however, is suggestive of VUGHIN; and, in that supposition,
Hu-chau must be considered the object of a digression from which the
Traveller returns and takes up his route to Hang-chau via Wukiang.
Kiahing would then best answer to Ciangan, or Caingan, as it is
written in the following chapter of the G.T.
[1] See Quatremere's Rashid., p. lxxxvii., and Hammer's Wassaf, p. 42.
[2] I owe these valuable illustrations, as so much else, to the unwearied
kindness of Mr. A. Wylie. There were originally four maps: (1) The
City, (2) The Empire, (3) The Heavens, (4) no longer known.
