MOUNT OMEI AND CHOU KUNG SHAN
There are vague traditions that Mount Omei was a centre of primitive nature-worship long before the days of Buddhism. There is a passage in theShu Chingfrom which we learn that the semi-mythical emperor Yü (about the twenty-third centuryB.C.), after the completion of some of the famous drainage and irrigation works with which his name is associated, offered sacrifices on (or to) certain hills named Ts'ai and Mêng. It is a disputed point among the commentators where these hills are. Mêng is said to be one of the mountains that overlook Ya-chou, and we shall see in Chapter VIII. that one of those mountains is still the resort of pilgrims. As to Ts'ai, one commentator at least has inclined to the opinion that it must be looked for in the Omei range (see Legge'sChinese Classics, vol. iii. part i. p. 121). If this identification be correct, we must regard the brief notice in theShu Chingas the oldest reference in extant literature to Mount Omei. The student of Chinese who wishes to pursue further the vexed question of Mêng and Ts'ai will find a discussion of it in the 16thchüanof theSsuch'uan T'ung Chih. The probability seems to be that both Mêng and Ts'ai were close to Ya-chou, and that neither of them should be identified with Omei. Mêng seems to be one of the hills that lie to the south of the city; Ts'ai may or may not be the somewhat famous mountain generally known as Chou Kung Shan, or the Hill of Duke Chou, which is situated a couple of miles to the east. Chou Kung, who is said to have died inB.C.1105, is perhaps chiefly known to Europeans as the legendary inventor of the famous "south-pointing chariot," but he is regarded by the Chinese as a pattern of many virtues. His zeal for the public good was so great that he seems—if we may believe Mencius—to have anticipated the all-night sittings of the House of Commons. His merits indeed were of so extraordinary a nature that, as we know from theLun Yü, Confucius regarded it as a sign of his approaching dotage that for a long time he had ceased to dream of Chou Kung.
Other people besides Confucius were in the habit of dreamingof this great and good man. The hill near Ya-chou, according to a story preserved in the official annals of Ssuch'uan, owes its name to a dream-vision that came to the famous Chinese general, Chu-ko Liang. This distinguished warrior flourished in the second and third centuries of our era. He made his name by his successful campaigns against the Wild Men of the West—the Man-tzŭ and others—and on one occasion when he was proceeding at the head of his army to inflict chastisement upon them he spent a night on the slopes of the Ya-chou Hill and dreamed that Chou Kung paid him a visit. He regarded this as of such happy omen for the success of his expedition that he immediately caused a temple to Chou Kung to be erected on the auspicious spot. Since that time, the hill—which may or may not have been already sacred, under the name of Ts'ai, to the memory of the Emperor Yü—has always been known as Chou Kung Shan. The fame of the general Chu-ko Liang has almost rivalled that of Chou Kung himself. This "darling hero of the Chinese people," as Professor Giles calls him, has had temples erected in his honour in many towns of Ssuch'uan, and he is a well-known and popular figure on the Chinese theatrical stage.
BODHIDARMA
Bodhidarma (逹摩大師) is the original of theTa Moso often found in Ssuch'uanese temples. Catholic missionaries, struck by the sound of the name and the fact that Ta-Mo is sometimes found wearing an ornament shaped like a Christian cross, have clung to the idea that Ta-Mo was no other than the Apostle St Thomas. (SeeCroix et Swastika, by Father Gaillard, pp. 80seq.) Bodhidarma is regarded as the founder of the Zen sect in Japan. Japanese children know him well, for he is a conspicuous object in the toy-shops in the form of the legless Daruma. (See Lafcadio Hearn's charming essay inA Japanese Miscellany.)
"GODS" IN BUDDHISM
NIRVANA
On this subject may be consulted the passage on the "Eel-wrigglers" in the Brahma-gâla Suttanta, translated by Rhys Davids in theSacred Books of the Buddhists, vol. ii. Buddhism refrains from denying, rather than distinctly affirms,the existence of the Brahmanical gods; but these gods, if existent, are regarded as neither omnipotent nor immortal. They are subject to the law of karma just as man himself is subject. The Arahat is greater than any "god" because released from all change and illusion, to which the "gods" are still subject. (See Rhys Davids,Hibbert Lectures, pp. 210seq., 4th edn.) The abolition or retention of the Brahmanical deities would really make little or no difference to the philosophical position of canonical Buddhism.
NIRVANA
The view of Nirvana set forth in the text is that taught by Professor Rhys Davids, the veteran scholar to whom all European students of Buddhism owe so deep a debt of gratitude. (See hisBuddhism,Hibbert Lectures,American Lectures, and his valuable contributions to theSacred Books of the East. With regard to Nirvana, see especially hisQuestions of King Milinda, vol. i. pp. 106-108 and vol. ii. pp. 181seq.) As regards thetanhaor "thirst" for existence, which according to the Buddhist theory keeps us in the net of illusion and prevents the attainment of Nirvana, Huxley (Evolution and Ethics) mentions as a curious fact that a parallel may be found in theaviditas vitaeof Stoicism.
The Japanese views of Nirvana are set forth clearly and authoritatively in Fujishima'sLe Bouddhisme Japonais. "Selon les écoles du Mahâyâna, ce qui est vide au dedans et au dehors c'est l'existence composée et visible (samkrita): l'anéantissement de ce vide n'est donc pas lui-même le vide, mais plutôt la plénitude." The author goes on to quote from a sutra which declares that "illusion passes away; reality remains; that is Nirvana." To an English reader this naturally recalls some of Shelley's lines inAdonais, too well known to quote. Japanese Buddhism has, of course, developed somewhat on lines of its own. The popular Buddhism of Japan is portrayed with rare insight by Lafcadio Hearn, as in hisGleanings from Buddha-Fields, pp. 211seq.
Among recent attempts to escape from the pessimistic conclusion that, according to strict Buddhism, Arahatship must lead after all to complete extinction, Schrader's interesting essay in theJournalof the Pali Text Society, 1904-1905, is worth consulting. The question is one of deep philosophic interest, but a discussion of it cannot be attempted in the narrow space at our disposal here.
THE MAHAYANA
For explanations of the rise of the Mahayana, see (among many other authorities) Max Mūller'sIndia, p. 87 (1905 edn.) and hisLast Essays(First Series) pp. 260seq.(Longmans: 1901); see also p. 376 in R. Sewell's essay onEarly Buddhist Symbolism(J.R.A.S., July, 1886). For the growth of the Mahayana and kindred schools in China, the works of Beal, Edkins, Eitel and Watters are among the first that should be consulted. There is still a great deal that is mysterious in the early history of Mahayana and allied systems, and it is reasonable to hope that the discoveries recently made, and still being made almost daily by Stein and others in Chinese Turkestan and neighbouring regions, will throw a flood of light on the whole subject, and perhaps destroy many existing theories regarding the history of Buddhism during the ten or twelve first centuries of the Christian era.
ANTIQUITIES OF MOUNT OMEI
As Baber's discovery of thechüan tienor spiral-shaped brick hall and the bronze elephant which it contains aroused very natural enthusiasm among persons interested in Far Eastern antiquities, and is still repeatedly referred to in connection with Chinese archæology, it is with hesitation that I suggest a doubt as to whether either the building or the elephant is as old as Baber—and others after him—have supposed. (SeeSupplementary Papers, R.G.S., vol. i. pp. 34-36, and Archibald Little'sMount Omi and Beyond, pp. 64-5.)
In the 41stchüanof theSsuch'uan T'ung Chihthere are two passages relating to the Wan-nien Ssŭ, and one of them Baber apparently overlooked. It was written about 1665 in commemoration of a restoration of the Wan-nien and Kuang Hsiang monasteries under the auspices of a Provincial Governor. In it occur some remarks of which the following is a rough translation. "From the T'ang to the Sung dynasties the name of the monastery wasPai Shui P'u Hsien Ssŭ. In the time of Wan Li of the Ming, its name was changed toShêng-shou Wan-nien Ssŭ. As originally built (yüan chien) it contained atsang ching ko(i.e.a library) consisting of a revolving (circular?) spiral structure of brick, strongly built, of exceptionally delicate workmanship, very lofty and imposing, and of a beauty unsurpassedin the world." Now the existingtienis a most curious building of a foreign (probably Indian) type, but to describe it as lofty and imposing and of delicate and elaborate workmanship would be to spin a traveller's yarn of the baser sort. How, without impugning the good faith of the chronicler, can we reconcile such a glowing description with existing facts?
MOUNT OMEI
When we learn from the local records that the Wan-nien Ssŭ has been several times destroyed by fire, the obvious supposition is that the original splendid structure described in my quotation perished with the rest of the monastic pile. Baber himself points out that the tusks of the elephant inside thetienare of late date, the old ones having been "melted off," he was told, "by the intense heat." It seems natural to suppose that when the rebuilding of the monastery took place (and it was rebuilt, as we know, late in the sixteenth or early in the seventeenth century, and again about 1665) the monks had neither funds nor skill sufficient to enable them to restore thechüan tiento its pristine magnificence, and contented themselves with putting up a much smaller and meaner building, preserving as far as possible the original peculiarities of design.
This, however, is mere supposition. I now return to our Chinese authorities, and in the 9thchüanof theOmei-hsien ChihI find an allusion to the Wan-nien Ssŭ by one Li Hua Nan (李化楠), an official who apparently flourished in the seventeenth century. He states most emphatically that the monastery was restored or rebuilt in both the Sung and the Ming periods, but had undergone such complete destruction by fire that nothing was leftexcept a chüan tien belonging to the period of Wan Li. Wan Li was the reign-title of a Ming emperor who reigned from 1573 to 1619. That thechüan tienwascarefully and thoroughly restoredunder Wan Li is admitted by the authority quoted by Baber himself: the only question seems to be whether the restoration left enough of the original building to justify our regarding it as a veritable monument "fifteen centuries old"—as Baber conjectured—or whether, as the evidence seems to indicate, the restoration was such that we have only a small and inferior copy of "a lofty and imposing building, of a beauty unsurpassed in the world."
No one, so far as I know, has yet drawn attention to the fact that the spiral building of the Wan-nien Ssŭ is not—or was not—the only building of its kind on Mount Omei. Among the few monasteries on the lower slopes of the mountain which I did not enter is the Hua Yen Ssŭ (not to be confused with the temple of the Hua Yen Ting mentioned on page 91). It was not till after I had left the province that I came across a description of this monastery, which made me much regret that I had not visited it. I translate the following passage from theOmei-Shan Chih(quoted in the 41stchüanof theT'ung Chih): "Thereis a very ancient and wonderful revolving (circular?) spiral building (有旋螺殿極奇古), and a tablet of the Shao Hsing period of the Sung dynasty, on the left side of which are carved the words '15lito Omei-hsien' and on the right the words '70lito the summit of the mountain.'" The words used to describe the shape of the "revolving spiral" building are identical—so far as they go—with those applied to the brick edifice in the Wan-nien Ssŭ: and the whole passage certainly implies that, whatever the date of the spiral building in the Hua Yen Ssŭ might be, it was at any rate prior to the Sung dynasty. The next visitor to Mount Omei should not fail to examine the curiosities of the Hua Yen Ssŭ; a close inspection of its spiral building—if it still exists—and a comparison of it with that of the Wan-nien Ssŭ might assist us in assigning a date to the latter, and might perhaps prove that however old the latter may be it is not without a rival in mere antiquity.
So much for the brick building. What is to be said about the bronze elephant that Baber so properly admired, and which he believed to be "the most ancient bronze casting of any great size in existence"?
Li Hua Nan, the writer who ascribes thechüan tiento the Wan Li period, goes on to add a piece of information which is much to our purpose. "There is a P'u Hsien 1chang6ch'ihin height, with a gilded body, riding a bronze elephant, set up in theJên Tsung period of the Sung dynasty." The sentence is somewhat ambiguous, for the date might refer to the image of P'u Hsien only and not to the elephant. Baber believed, on artistic grounds, that the P'u Hsien was of much later date than the elephant. On the whole, however, it seems probable that Li Hua Nan referred to both images. The Jên Tsung reign lasted from 1023 to 1063, so that if we select the middle of the period we may assign the elephant approximately to the year 1043. This cuts many centuries off the age of the elephant as reckoned by Baber.
There is no reason for doubting whether so fine a bronze casting of an animal unknown to China could have been made as late as the eleventh century. There were still Buddhists in India at that time, and Chinese pilgrims had not yet given up the habit of visiting India in search of relics andpei to yeh(palm-leaf manuscripts). Indian Buddhists, too, frequently came to Mount Omei. There is, indeed, no necessity for mere guesswork, for the monastic and provincial records contain ample evidence that the casting of large bronzes for Buddhist shrines was, during the Sung period at least, a regular industry in the city of Ch'êng-tu.
BUDDHA'S TEETH
The numerous miniature "Buddhas" that line the walls of the presentchüan tienhave attracted the attention of several European visitors, and perhaps deserve a few words of comment.Some are the property of pilgrims who leave them in the holy building in order that they may acquire sanctity, but the greater number are evidently antique and seem to be of uniform pattern. Baber was informed that they were of silver—darkened with age and the smoke of incense. Mr Archibald Little says they are of bronze. I made my own enquiries on the matter and was assured by the monks that they were of iron. Where did they come from? I conjecture that they are the images that once adorned a vanished hall of the Wan-nien Ssŭ, known as theSan Ch'ien T'ieh Fo Tien—Pavilion of the Three Thousand Iron Buddhas. I cannot find any history of this building, but from a poem by Ku Kuang Hsü, a Ssuch'uan chief justice of the Ming dynasty, I gather that it was remembered but had disappeared by his time. It existed in the Sung dynasty, for it is mentioned by one Fan Ch'êng Ta (范成大) who visited it during that period. The number of the images is easily explained as an allusion to the three thousand disciples who are said to have sat at the feet of P'u Hsien in the days when, according to the legend, that great Bodhisattva expounded the Good Law amid the forests of Mount Omei.
"BUDDHA'S TEETH"
The most famous of the supposed teeth of Buddha is, of course, the celebrated relic preserved in Kandy. The Buddhists of Ceylon will have none of the story that the original tooth was ground into powder by a pious Portuguese archbishop of the sixteenth century, and they firmly believe that the genuine relic still reposes in Kandy at the Malagawa Vihara. China possesses, or is supposed to possess, several of the alleged Buddha's teeth, but they seem to have acquired no more than a local reputation. One—similar in appearance to that of Mount Omei—is described by Fortune as being in possession of a monastery at Fu-chou. A writer in theFan Ju Tzŭ Chi(范汝梓記), commenting upon the specimen in the Wan-nien Ssŭ, remarks that it weighs 15 catties, equivalent to about 20 lbs. He says that in the Ching Yin (淨因寺) in Ch'êng-tu there is one that weighs 3-1/3 lbs., and another in the Chao Chiao Ssŭ (昭覺寺) in the same city that weighs 9-1/2 lbs. He goes on to describe a far more remarkable specimen that had the singular property of producing out of its own substance myriads of othershê lior Buddhistic relics, some of which flew off into space while others fell on the floor and knocked against the furniture with a jingling sound. This surprising tooth appeared by special commandbefore the emperor, but we are not informed whether theséancewas a successful one. Our historian shows something of a tendency to indulge in frivolous speculations regarding the capacity and measurements of the mouth that could accommodate teeth of such monstrous sizes and singular properties, and he points out that according to tradition a true Buddha's tooth is always marked with certain sacred symbols, such as thedharma chakraor Wheel of the Law.
Marco Polo mentions a great embassy sent by the emperor of China to Ceylon in 1284 for the purpose of obtaining certain relics of "our first father Adam," such as his hair and teeth and a dish from which he ate; and he remarks that the ambassadors, besides acquiring the dish, which was of "very beautiful green porphyry," and some of the hair, "also succeeded in getting two of the grinder teeth, which were passing great and thick." It need hardly be said that the monarchs of the Yüan dynasty took a very considerable interest in Buddha, but none at all in "our first father Adam." That they sent embassies to Ceylon for Buddhist relics is probably true, for the fact is mentioned in Chinese Chronicles; but it is impossible to say whether any of the numerous "teeth of Buddha" that have appeared in different localities in China formed part of the relics then brought from Ceylon. (The notes appended to Cordier's edition of Yule'sMarco Polo, vol. ii. chap. xv., should be consulted by all interested in the subject of the migrations of Buddhist relics.)
THE K'AI SHAN CH'U TIEN
The name of this monastery shows that it claims to be one of the original religious foundations of Mount Omei. According to tradition it was here that P'u Kung, as related in Chapter VI., was gathering herbs when he came across "in a misty hollow" the tracks of the lily-footed deer that led him to the mountain-top. The monastery is supposed to have been founded in commemoration of the occurrence.
TA SHÊNG SSŬ OR GREAT VEHICLE MONASTERY
THE HOLY LAMPS
The old name of this monastery was Hua Ch'êng (化成), and the name was chosen by its founder, "a holy monk fromthe foreign countries of the West," who said that the scenery reminded him of his native country. Tradition says that he built the original hermitage of the bark of trees; hence the additional nameMu-p'iby which the foundation was known for centuries afterwards. One of the stories about this part of the mountain is that two hungry pilgrims were fed with fruit here by a wonderful white monkey.
NOTE 10 (p. 102)
"THE GLORY OF BUDDHA"
Several Chinese descriptions of the Fo Kuang will be found in the chronicles of Mount Omei and of Omei-hsien, notably those of Ho Shih Hêng (何式恒) and Yüan Tzŭ Jang (袁子讓). According to the latter, there are more than five colours. He describes the appearance somewhat as follows. The central circle is of jade-green; the outermost circle consists of a layer of pale red, and the successive inner circles are of green, white, purple, yellow and crimson. Each beholder, he says, sees his own shadow in the mist of the central circle.
A crude drawing of the "Glory" may be noticed near the upper left-hand corner of the Chinese plan of Mount Omei, which is reproduced in this book.
"THE HOLY LAMPS"
Among good Chinese descriptions of this phenomenon may be mentioned those of Yüan Tzŭ Jang (袁子讓) of the Ming and Ho Shih Hêng (何式恒) of the present dynasty. Both writers have been mentioned in the preceding note. The former wrote a delightful account of his visit to Mount Omei. It is in a flowing unpedantic style, and it proves that its writer had a keenly observant eye and a great liking for old-world legends combined with a power of working them up into a graceful narrative.
THE HSIEN TSU TIEN, CHUNG FÊNG SSŬ AND TA O SSŬ
TheHsien Tsu Tienrepresents the earliest of the Mount Omei monasteries, and is said to have been built by P'u Kung in the reign of Ming Ti of the Han dynasty after the famous episode of the lily-footed deer. Probably if the searchlight of strict historical enquiry were to be turned on the legends and records of Mount Omei, it would be found that the mountain knew nothing of Buddhism until the third or fourth centuries of our era. It is a significant fact that some of the legends about P'u Kung—the herb-gathering official who followed the deer and first saw the "Glory"—state or imply that he belonged to the Chin period, which did not begin till the year 265. There is more than a likelihood that the historians of such ancient monasteries as the Hsien Tsu Tien and the Wan-nien Ssŭ deliberately ante-dated their foundation in order to throw back the beginnings of Omei's Buddhistic history to the earliest possible period. It is almost inconceivable that Omei can have become the resort of Buddhist monks during the very reign of the emperor who is credited with the first introduction of Buddhism into China.
According to the monastic chronicles, the earliest name of the monastery we are considering was P'u Kaung Tien, "The Pavilion of Universal Glory." The name was subsequently altered to Kuang Hsiang Ssŭ (光相寺), and so it was known during the T'ang and Sung periods. In the time of Hung Wu, first emperor of the Ming, it was rebuilt and roofed with iron. Associated with it were four small bronze pagodas, some of the remains of which are still lying on the ground within the precincts of the present Chin Tien (which was apparently first built in the reign of Wan Li of the Ming). A thorough restoration—carried out during a period of three years—took place in the second half of the fifteenth century. At the end of the Ming period it was utterly destroyed—presumably by fire. It was again rebuilt during the reign of K'ang Hsi of the present dynasty under the auspices of a Provincial Governor named Chang (seenote 6, paragraph 2), and minor restorations on a smaller scale have taken place more recently.
TheChung Fêng Ssŭor Half-way Monastery bears the alternative name of "The Gathering Clouds," an allusion to the fact that here the upward-bound pilgrim enters into the region of mist. It dates from the Chin dynasty (about the third century of our era) and was restored in the Sung and Ming periods.
THE TA HSIANG LING
TheTa O Ssŭis an ancient foundation rebuilt in the first year of K'ang Hsi (1662). It is one of the principal religious houses on the mountain, and has a finer site than most of its rivals. An alternative name is Fu Shou An. This name is due to the fact that the words Fu Shou—"Happiness and Longevity"—were carved on a neighbouring rock by a celebrated recluse of the Sung dynasty named Hsi I, known as the Wizard of Omei.
YA-CHOU-FU
The military importance of this city was very great so long as the tribal chiefs and Tibetans had not been reduced to comparative quiescence. The commander-in-chief of the military forces of the province was permanently stationed at this frontier city. (Shêng Wu Chi,11th chüan.)
THE TA HSIANG LING
There is a small unsettled controversy regarding the name of the Ta Hsiang Ling. It is possible that the mountain owes its name not to the legend of P'u Hsien's elephant, but to the famous general Chu-ko Liang (seenote 1). Devout Buddhists are bound to hold that the name means "The Great Elephant," and this is the view taken in all Buddhistic accounts of western Ssuch'uan and in the maps issued by the monks of Mount Omei. But other authorities—including the officialTopographyand theShêng Wu Chi(5thchüan)—give the central character not as象(hsiang, elephant) but as相(hsiang, minister of state), thereby changing the mountain's name into "The Great Mountain of the Minister." This minister is none other than Chu-ko Liang, who is said to have crossed the mountain during his western campaigns. The "Small Elephant Pass" in the Chien-ch'ang Valley is similarly metamorphosed into "The Small Mountain of the Minister," and for a like reason. This latter mountain, however, is also known officially as the Nan Shan or South Mountain. (寕遠府南山土名小相嶺皆以武候經過得名:Shêng Wu Chi,loc. cit.)
This note will throw a light on a passage that occurs in MrArchibald Little'sMount Omi and Beyond(pp. 204-205) and exonerate Captain Gill from the charge of inaccuracy.
It may be worth mentioning that a neighbouring mountain bears the officially-recognised name of Shih-tzŭ Shan, or Lion Hill, but theT'ung Chihexplicitly states that this is owing to its peculiar shape. There is nothing in the contour of the Ta Hsiang Ling to suggest an elephant.
CH'ING-CH'I-HSIEN
This little town has had a variety of names during its long and chequered history, and it frequently changed hands. Its position was for centuries somewhat analogous to that of Berwick-on-Tweed during the Anglo-Scottish border wars. TheT'ung Chihstates that it passed into the hands of the Chinese after one of the numerous "pacifications of the West," in the 30th year of Han Wu Ti (111B.C.), but it was lost to China many times after that. Its present name and status as a magistracy date from the eighth year of Yung Chêng (1730). This was an epoch in which a series of able Chinese emperors were making determined and, on the whole, successful efforts to reduce the Wild West to obedience.
THE LIU SHA RIVER
The Liu Sha is also known as the Han Shui or Chinese water. It is said to rise in the "Fairy's Cave" (hsien jên tung) in the Fei Yüeh range. Thence it flows to the Shih Chien Shan or Trial-of-the-Sword Hill and joins the Chien Shui (澗水) and thereafter enters the Ta Tu. According to theHuan Yü Chi(寰宇記) an evil miasma arises from this river every winter and spring, causing fever.
NOTE 17 (p. 122)
THE FEI YÜEH LING AND HUA-LIN-P'ING
LU TING BRIDGE
This great pass has for centuries been regarded by the Chinese as a very important strategic point in connection with their western wars. During the eighteenth century, whenstrenuous warfare was being carried on against the Chin Ch'uan chiefs and others, the summit of the pass was permanently held by a Chinese guard, and the village that lies at the mountain's western base—Hua-lin-p'ing—was garrisoned by a considerable body of troops.
THE TA TU RIVER
The Ta Tu (Great Ferry) is said to derive its name from the fact that it was crossed by the ubiquitous Chu-ko Liang. In the neighbourhood of Chia-ting it is commonly known as the T'ung, and above Wa Ssŭ Kou its two branches are always known as the Great and Small Chin Ch'uan. (Shêng Wu Chi,5th chüan.)
LU TING BRIDGE
TheSsuch'uan T'ung Chihmakes the following remark in connection with the suspension bridge at Lu Ting. "Formerly there was no bridge. The waters of the river are swift and turbulent, and boats and oars cannot be used. Travellers used to cross by hanging on to a rope stretched across the river—a dangerous proceeding." (We shall see, when we come to the Yalung, that rope bridges are still in use.) In the fortieth year of K'ang Hsi (1701) it was decided with imperial sanction to construct an iron suspension bridge, not merely for the convenience of travellers to and from Tibet, but also to facilitate the military operations which during the reigns of K'ang Hsi, Yung Chêng and Ch'ien Lung were carried on with great vigour against the Tibetan tribes. The bridge is accurately described in theChihand in theHsi Tsang Tu K'asas being 31chang1ch'ihin length and 9ch'ihbroad, and as possessing 9 chain-cables supporting wooden planks, and side-railings of cast-iron. Achangis 11-3/4 English feet, and ach'ihabout 14-1/10 English inches. The bridge is similar in construction to those that span the Mekong, Salwen and other rivers in Yunnan. They are remarkable examples of Chinese engineering skill, and never fail to astonish European travellers who behold them for the first time.
The completion of the Lu Ting bridge seems to have had a considerable moral effect on the border tribes, for theChihcontains the names of dozens oft'u ssŭ(tribal chiefs) who immediately afterwards submitted to Chinese overlordship andconsented to pay tribute. The more remote chiefs came in later, but most of those in the neighbourhood of the road to Tachienlu and the Ta Tu River hastened to become vassals of China during the five first years of the eighteenth century. The vassalage consisted—and for the most part still consists—merely in the payment of a small annual tribute. But the chiefs of the Greater and the Smaller Chin Ch'uan—the country that includes the valley of the Ta Tu and its branches above Wa Ssŭ Kou—resisted Chinese encroachments for many years in a most vigorous and courageous manner, and it was not till the reign of Ch'ien Lung, towards the end of the century, that the resistance of the last Chin Ch'uanroiteletwas finally quelled—with the usual accompaniments of slaughter and devastation. Even as it was, the Chinese owed their ultimate success more to the assistance rendered them by other tribal chiefs—of whom the Ming Chêng Ssŭ or King of Chala was the most important—than to their own military skill. The war is well described—though from an exclusively Chinese standpoint—in theShêng Wu Chi(聖武記).
TACHIENLU
The Chinese characters (seeItinerary) used for the name Tachienlu are three separate words signifyingstrike,arrow,forge. These characters were originally chosen merely to represent the sound of the Tibetan name Tar-rTse-Mto or Dartsendo (derived from the names of the streams that meet there), but Chinese archæologists contrived to forget this and insisted upon finding an interpretation of the word that would suit the meaning of the three Chinese characters. Accordingly they constructed an ingenious legend to the effect that the famous Chu-ko Liang—always as useful in literary as he used to be in military emergencies—came to Tachienlu in the third century of our era, and ordered his lieutenant, Kuo Ta, to forge arrow-heads there for the imperial army. The actual forge is said to have been in a cave on a hill at a short distance to the north-east of the city. The proof of the absolute truth of this story consists in the incontrovertible fact that the hill in question is called the Kuo Ta hill to this day, and there is a cave in it. The story is further embellished by the statement that when the forge was in use a blue-black ram ran round the hill and frightened away the barbarians (i jên) so that the good work could proceed without interruption.
An ancient name of the Tachienlu district is said to have been Mao Niu Kuo—the Land of Yaks.
THE KING OF CHALA
SINO-TIBETAN TRADE
Chinese accounts of Tachienlu as a trading centre may be found in theHsi Tsang T'u K'ao, theTachienlu T'ing Chihand the more easily accessibleShêng Wu Chi. In the fifth volume of the last-named work the town is aptly described as being (from the commercial point of view) the hub of a wheel—the centre at which all the spokes meet.
THE KING OF CHALA
Tachienlu is not a correct name for the state as a whole: it is strictly applicable only to the city. The state may be described as Chala or as Ming Chêng. Ming Chêng (明正) corresponds with the Chinese title of the king—Ming Chêng Ssŭ (明正司)—which was conferred upon an ancestor no less than five hundred years ago. The meaning of the Chinese words—"bright" and "correct"—are of no consequence. The word "Chala" we have already discussed on page 136.
The king's Chinese rank is that of ahsüan wei shih ssŭ(宣慰使司)—one of the numerous titles invented by the Chinese for their vassal chiefs. This title carries with it the Chinese rank 3b. As ahsüan wei shih ssŭthe king of Chala takes precedence of the chiefs of Litang and Batang, his neighbours on the west, both of whom arehsüan fu shih ssŭ(宣撫使司) with Chinese rank 4b. All three take precedence of the ruler of Muli, who is anan fu shih ssŭ(安撫使司), with rank 5b. (For an explanation of these titles and ranks, see Mayers'Chinese Government, 3rd edn., pp. 46-47. The Chinese official hierarchy consists of nine ranks, subdivided into a higher and a lower grade, oraandb.) Special decorations may be and often are conferred upon an individual chief, and these may carry with them the "button" of a superior rank: the button and its privileges, however, are not hereditary. The rank of the chiefsquâChinese officials does not affect their positionquârulers of native states. The "kings" of Litang, Batang and Muli are within their own borders quite as powerful as the "king" of Chala. The latter, however, holds his kingship by strict hereditary right, whereas the "regalities" of Litang and Batang are not necessarilyhereditary, though in practice they may be generally so. The kingship of Muli is hereditary in one family (seePage 215), but as the king is also a lama, and therefore a celibate, the descent can only be collateral.
It must be remembered that there are many other semi-independent kings and chiefs along the borderland of Burma, Tibet, Turkestan and Mongolia. Some are the vassals of China, others the vassals of Tibet, while there are probably some even to-day who pay no tribute and acknowledge no suzerain. Few of these chiefs, however, have the importance and dignity of those mentioned in this note.
The greatest length of the state of Chala, from Rumi-changu on the north, to Lo Jang and Muli on the south, is 1,050li(say 350 miles); the greatest breadth, from Lu Ting on the east, to the Yalung on the west, 400li(say 133 miles). Under the king's control are 49 sub-chiefs, including 1t'u ch'ien hu(土千戶) and 48t'u pai hu(土百戶). At'u ch'ien hunominally presides over 1,000 households, at'u pai huover 100. These terms, however, are quite elastic in meaning. The former takes precedence of the latter, but he does not necessarily control a wider territory, or a larger population. The population of the whole state—not including Tachienlu—consists of 6,591 households. (This is the figure given in theSsuch'uan T'ung Chih, the latest edition of which belongs to the nineteenth century.) The number seems a small one, but a Tibetan household—the members of which are all farm-hands or herdsmen—is generally large, though the average family is so small that the population of Chinese Tibet is probably—apart from Chinese immigration—at the present time stationary. The annual tribute payable to China by the king himself amounts to 161 taels 7 candareens—a sum which, according to our reckoning, amounts to about £25. His 49 sub-chiefs or headmen pay between them a further tribute of about 180 taels 9 mace 2 candareens—equivalent to about £27. The total revenue raised by China out of this large tract of country is, therefore, only slightly over £50 a year. But this amount was assessed at a time when the tael was worth far more than it is worth now, and its purchasing power in the Tibetan states is in any case considerably greater than in the east of China; moreover, the money is not, strictly speaking, a tax, but a mere acknowledgment of China's suzerainty.Ula(seepp. 136-137) is the real tax paid to China by the tributary states of the west, and China exacts it in case of need to the grim uttermost. Over and above the exaction ofulaand the payment of tribute the people are, of course, obliged to pay taxes to the king himself. The king's powers in the matter of taxation appear to be unlimited, for the principle of "no taxation without representation" has not yet been accepted as a political axiom in the state of Chala. But theonly direct tax consists of a kind oflikin, or toll on merchandise in transit; this is ample to defray the cost of administration, and the king's private exchequer is apparently chiefly dependent for its supplies on the revenues of his hereditary property, which are very considerable. The king of Chala succeeds in doing what the kings of England used at one time to get into serious trouble for not doing—he "lives of his own."
THE KING OF CHALA
The position of thet'u ch'ien huandt'u pai huis a peculiar one. Though they are under the jurisdiction of the king, they may be regarded as possessing a certain amount of independence. TheSsuch'uan T'ung Chihstates that the king became a vassal of China in the year 1666, but hist'u ch'ien hudid not follow suit till 1700, while the 48t'u pai huall "came in" together in 1701 (the fortieth year of K'ang Hsi). The Suzerain Power, however, is careful to differentiate between the great vassals and the little ones: the king of Chala—like others of his rank—receives, in return for his homage, sealed "letters of authority" and a stamped warrant; eacht'u pai hureceives only the warrant. All these formalities are of small practical consequence: the Chinese insist upon controlling the high-road to Lhasa, and upon receiving their just dues in the shape ofulaservice and tribute, but otherwise the kings andt'u pai huof the western border are just as free as they were before they "tied their heads"—as the Tibetan saying goes—to the emperor of China. It may be worth while adding that the king of Chala is expected to prostrate himself before the imperial throne at Peking once in twelve years. In practice it appears that he does not do so with great regularity. The expenses entailed by such a journey—chiefly in connection with the valuable presents always expected by the Court on such occasions—must be a very severe tax on his majesty's privy purse.
The first appearance of a ruler of Chala in Chinese history may be assigned to the first years of the Ming dynasty, in the second half of the fourteenth century, when the king showed his good-will to his mighty neighbour by assisting the imperial troops in the frontier warfare of those days. In the fifth year of Yung Lo (1407) he received the title of Ming Chêng Ssŭ, and in the fifth year of K'ang Hsi (1666) his successor definitely abjured his allegiance to Tibet and became a vassal of China. In 1771 the king—whose name was Chia Mu Ts'an—received official recognition from the emperor for his valuable assistance against the Chin Ch'uan rebels, and received a Peacock's Feather and the "button" of the Second Rank. Twenty years later his successor had a similar honour conferred upon him for like services, and in the fourteenth year of Chia Ch'ing (1809) the king went with a retinue to Peking to do homage to the emperor. Since then the history of the little state has gone through fewvicissitudes; but, now that the relations between China and Tibet are going through a process of re-adjustment, it is probable that the new administrative arrangements will tend to the gradual effacement of the powers and privileges of all the Sino-Tibetan kings and chiefs, including the ruler of Chala, and the conversion of their territories into magistracies and prefectures under the direct control of China. Perhaps this is a fitting time, while "the old order changeth, yielding place to new," to put on record some account of systems of government and constitutions that no doubt have in the past fulfilled some useful purposes, but seem destined before long to pass utterly away.
HEIGHTS OF PASSES
With regard to the elevations given in this book it is very necessary to say that those referring to localities between Tachienlu and Li-chiang must be regarded as tentative and provisional only. Future travellers, better equipped with instruments than I was, will doubtless find much to correct. My readings were for the most part dependent on aneroids, which are very untrustworthy at great altitudes. Wherever possible, I have accepted the results of previous travellers, especially those of such accomplished surveyors as Major Davies.
POPULATION OF YALUNG WATERSHED
M. Bonin appears to have had the same experience. He states that in travelling from Chung-tienviâMuli to Tachienlu—a journey of about a month's duration—he did not meet a single Chinese. "All the inhabitants," he says, "belong to the Tibetan race." (Bulletin de la Soc. de Géog., 1898, p. 393.)
RACE-TYPES OF YALUNG WATERSHED