[VOL IV] HAN-TSUEEN—PROVINCE OF KIANG-NAN

HAN-TSUEEN—PROVINCE OF KIANG-NAN

Cover Image: Han-tseuen, Province of Kiang-nan / Hanshan Spring SuZhou JiangSu China / Drawn by T. Allom Engraved by J.Redaway – ALAMY Image ID:2X55ND9

*Hanshan Spring is located in the western part of Suzhou, and its name means “Cold Spring” due to its icy and clear waters. The geographical location of Hanshan Spring is quite unique, situated within a narrow mountain valley, surrounded by steep cliffs and natural barriers that isolate it from the outside world. As for the historical background of Hanshan Spring, legend has it that an immortal once practiced here, leaving behind various mysterious tales. However, many more are drawn to Hanshan Spring by the emerald green water that gushes forth from the depths. People travel from far and wide to witness its magnificence.

Oh, would I were thy shoe, to be
Daily trodden on by thee.

ANACREON.

THE poet Pih-kew-e celebrates the salubrious climate and the exquisite natural beauties of Han-tseuen, in all the pomp of Chinese hyperbole. “On the lofty summits, where the white clouds rest, the milky source is elevated: the fountain has no heart, but, self-burning, rushes forth down the mountain, gathering new power as it falls, and appears in the full tide of majesty when it comes within the sight of man.” Although frequent scene of pleasure-parties, the study of such artists as China yet can boast of, and the favourite theme of her most popular lyrists. Whether they should be represented as guide-books, tours, or topographical productions generally, many volumes have been written by Chinese authors upon the mineral and vegetable productions of the Tae-ping chain, to which Han-tseuen belongs; and many, also, upon the charms of its deeply sequestered vales, stupendous cataracts, precipitous crags, and lofty summits. To the sublime heights of Han-tseuen, and to those awful precipices, that rise with mural perpendicularity above the plain, the city of Soo-chou owes all the healthful shelter it enjoys from the keen easterly winds. Like a rampart raised to screen the inhabitants, this noble range of hills is drawn around them so advantageously, that it is styled “the bulwark of the province.”

Ti-fa, prince royal, and afterwards emperor of China, once visited the Han-tseuen, or “cold spring,” either from motives of curiosity, or in pursuit of game. A young lady of high rank, attended by her maids, had proceeded thither a short time before, for the purpose of bathing in its frigid waters; but, perceiving a party of horsemen approach they retired with precipitation from their gaze. Not near enough to distinguish the real characters of these naiads, the royal cortège at first thought lightly of the circumstance; but, as they advanced to the spring, were surprised at seeing an eagle rise suddenly from the spot where the bathers had dressed themselves, carrying away some burden in its beak. Curiosity was now excited as to what the majestic bird had borne off,—what part of their property the mountain-nymphs, in their haste, had forgotten; and conjecture was busy as to who the graceful group could possibly have been. Arrived on the spot, the prince’s attention was quickly attracted by a shoe, so small, as to be but barely visible—so costly, that he had never before seen one equal to it. Treasuring the prize, which he did not hesitate to conclude that destiny had thrown in his path, he now only thought of discovering the miniature foot to which it once belonged. Scarcely had he reached his palace, and seated himself on the throne, with his courtiers around him, when the eagle flew into the veranda, and, making directly to the prince, dropped the fellow-shoe into his lap, and escaped again safely to its regions of liberty. No doubt could any longer exist as to the interposition of fate in the transaction.

The finding of the first shoe was not extraordinary, farther than its beauty and value; but the part the eagle had enacted in the plot was evidently supernatural. It was decreed, therefore, that proclamation should be made throughout the empire, for the owner of the shoes; and her attendance at court, commanded, under pain of death. As no one dared afford her an asylum, the lady Candida, the most beautiful woman, and richest heiress in China, obeyed the royal mandate; and, entering the audience-chamber, then lighted up in all its lustre, the radiance of her loveliness was still so overpowering, that the prince declared her to be his well-beloved wife in the presence of the assembled court. In this ancient legend the well-known fairy tale of Cinderella may be traced; but there is another fact connected with it, still more remarkable, it’s establishing an analogy between the customs and manners of two ancient nations, for the Candida of Chinese story, is evidently the Rhodope of Egyptian.