Yet The Circuit Of The Modern City Is
Stated In The Official Book Called Hang-Chau Fu-Chi Or Topographical
History Of Hang-Chau, At Only 35 Li.
And the earliest record of the
wall, as built under the Sui by Yang-su (before A.D. 606)
, Makes its
extent little more (36 li and 90 paces.)[1] But the wall was
reconstructed by Ts'ien Kiao, feudal prince of the region, during the
reign of Chao Tsung, one of the last emperors of the T'ang Dynasty (892),
so as to embrace the Luh-ho-ta Pagoda, on a high bluff over the Tsien-tang
River,[2] 15 li distant from the present south gate, and had then a
circuit of 70 li. Moreover, in 1159, after the city became the capital
of the Sung emperors, some further extension was given to it, so that,
even exclusive of the suburbs, the circuit of the city may have been not
far short of 100 li. When the city was in its glory under the Sung, the
Luh-ho-ta Pagoda may be taken as marking the extreme S.W. Another known
point marks approximately the chief north gate of that period, at a mile
and a half or two miles beyond the present north wall. The S.E. angle was
apparently near the river bank. But, on the other hand, the waist of the
city seems to have been a good deal narrower than it now is. Old
descriptions compare its form to that of a slender-waisted drum (dice-box
or hour-glass shape).
Under the Mongols the walls were allowed to decay; and in the disturbed
years that closed that dynasty (1341-1368) they were rebuilt by an
insurgent chief on a greatly reduced compass, probably that which they
still retain. Whatever may have been the facts, and whatever the origin of
the estimate, I imagine that the ascription of 100 miles of circuit to
Kinsay had become popular among Westerns. Odoric makes the same statement.
Wassaf calls it 24 parasangs, which will not be far short of the same
amount. Ibn Batuta calls the length of the city three days' journey.
Rashiduddin says the enceinte had a diameter of 11 parasangs, and that
there were three post stages between the two extremities of the city,
which is probably what Ibn Batuta had heard. The Masalak-al-Absar calls
it one day's journey in length, and half a day's journey in breadth. The
enthusiastic Jesuit Martini tries hard to justify Polo in this as in other
points of his description. We shall quote the whole of his remarks at the
end of the chapters on Kinsay.
[Dr. F. Hirth, in a paper published in the T'oung Pao, V. pp. 386-390
(Ueber den Shiffsverkehr von Kinsay zu Marco Polo's Zeit), has some
interesting notes on the maritime trade of Hang-chau, collected from a
work in twenty books, kept at the Berlin Royal Library, in which is to be
found a description of Hang-chau under the title of Meng-liang-lu,
published in 1274 by Wu Tzu-mu, himself a native of this city: there are
various classes of sea-going vessels; large boats measuring 5000 liao
and carrying from five to six hundred passengers; smaller boats measuring
from 2 to 1000 liao and carrying from two to three hundred passengers;
there are small fast boats called tsuan-feng, "wind breaker," with six
or eight oarsmen, which can carry easily 100 passengers, and are generally
used for fishing; sampans are not taken into account. To start for foreign
countries one must embark at Ts'wan-chau, and then go to the sea of
Ts'i-chau (Paracels), through the Tai-hsue pass; coming back he must look
to Kwen-lun (Pulo Condor). - H.C.]
The 12,000 bridges have been much carped at, and modern accounts of
Hang-chau (desperately meagre as they are) do not speak of its bridges as
notable. "There is, indeed," says Mr. Kingsmill, speaking of changes in the
hydrography about Hang-chau, "no trace in the city of the magnificent
canals and bridges described by Marco Polo." The number was no doubt in
this case also a mere popular saw, and Friar Odoric repeats it. The sober
and veracious John Marignolli, alluding apparently to their statements, and
perhaps to others which have not reached us, says: "When authors tell of
its ten thousand noble bridges of stone, adorned with sculptures and
statues of armed princes, it passes the belief of one who has not been
there, and yet peradventure these authors tell us no lie." Wassaf speaks of
360 bridges only, but they make up in size what they lack in number, for
they cross canals as big as the Tigris! Marsden aptly quotes in reference
to this point excessively loose and discrepant statements from modern
authors as to the number of bridges in Venice. The great height of the
arches of the canal bridges in this part of China is especially noticed by
travellers. Barrow, quoted by Marsden, says: "Some have the piers of such
an extraordinary height that the largest vessels of 200 tons sail under
them without striking their masts."
[Illustration: Plan of the Imperial City of Hangchow in the 13th Century.
(From the Notes of the Right Rev. G.E. Moule.)]
Mr. Moule has added up the lists of bridges in the whole department (or
Fu) and found them to amount to 848, and many of these even are now
unknown, their approximate sites being given from ancient topographies.
The number represented in a large modern map of the city, which I owe to
Mr. Moule's kindness, is III.
NOTE 3. - Though Rubruquis (p. 292) says much the same thing, there is
little trace of such an ordinance in modern China. Pere Parrenin observes:
"As to the hereditary perpetuation of trades, it has never existed in
China. On the contrary, very few Chinese will learn the trade of their
fathers; and it is only necessity that ever constrains them to do so."
(Lett.
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