[VOL II] TAE-PING SHAOU-KWAN, IN THE PROVINCE OF KEANG-NAN

TAE-PING SHAOU-KWAN. IN THE PROVINCE OF KEANG-NAN

Cover Image: Tae-ping Shaou-kwan, province of Keang-nan / WuHu AnHui China / Drawn by T. Allom Engraved by S.Sands – ALAMY Image ID:2X55MX3

*Taiping Prefecture was a prefecture during the Ming and Qing dynasties, located on the southern bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Its jurisdiction roughly corresponds to the present-day areas of Ma’anshan City and Wuhu City in Anhui Province.

“I am disgraced, impeach’d, and baffled here;
Pierced to the soul with slander’s venom’d spear,
The which no balm can cure, but his heart’s blood
Which caused this murder.”

SHAKSPEARE.

TWELFTH only in political importance amongst the flourishing cities of Keang-nan, Tae-Ping is first in picturesque position, and in general character for refinement and civilization. Partaking of the natural blessings of the province, a genial climate and generous soil, it is enabled to compete with the largest cities in the empire in the quality of its manufactures, the improved growths of its fruits and vegetables, and the reputation of its public seminaries. Indian ink, japanned wares, rice-paper, cotton, and silks, constitute the principal and most profitable of their transports; and the fishery of (sheyu) salmon is very productive; here salt, marble, and coal are procured in abundance in the encircling district.

The meeting of three navigable rivers here, all tributaries of the Yang-tse-keang, attracted hither, at an early period, the merchant, and manufacturer, and carrier; and here government deemed it prudent to establish a bar, or barrier, or boundary, at which toll was to be paid and licenses granted. The position of the city is insular, and its enclosing rivers are crossed by pontoons or bridges of boats, that rise and fall with the rapid changes in the water-level; navigation also is less impeded by such yielding structures than by permanent buildings of either wood or stone, and they are both more easily destroyed and more quickly restored whenever war may arise. Walls, twenty feet in height, surround the city, enclosing within their circuit a surface varied by rocky eminences and secluded glens. The public buildings are very numerous, especially those dedicated to Confucius and the study of philosophy. From these seats of learning, the empire is furnished with a large proportion of persons eminent for their acquirements in law and medicine, as well as those whose learning should render them superior to the baseness of becoming religious impostors, for as such only and truly can the priests of Bhudda be characterized.

The literary reputation of Tae-ping is very ancient, and many emperors have conferred privileges upon it commemorative of the education of great mandarins. At the period of Yu (the Chinese deluge), this noble city belonged to Yang-chow; in the age of Confucius, to the territories of Woo; during the anarchy of “The Fighting States,” to Tsou and Tsin; soon after which it is called in Chinese maps, Tan-yang. Its present appellation, Tae-ping-foo, was bestowed upon it by the Ming, or twenty-first dynasty.

No barrier in old China is more famous in story than the Shaou-kwan. Perhaps the tale which the natives tell of “The Flight of Tsze-sen,” is the most marvellous, as well as the most characteristic of national taste in literature. Woo-chang, father of the famous Tsze-sen, was tutor to the heir-apparent of the state of Tsoo, and having ventured to remonstrate with the king upon the banishment of his son, was himself sentenced to be his companion in exile. After some years’ absence, the tutor was recalled to court, and desired to invite his two sons to repair thither also. One of them obeyed, and paid the forfeit of his loyalty to a faithless monarch, by being immediately put to death along with his aged father. Conscious that a day of reckoning would yet arrive, that the surviving son would yet seek restitution of his rights, vengeance for the murder of his father and his brother, and be “a very serpent in his path,” the king directed Hei-sze-ming, brother of his chief minister, to go in pursuit of the survivor, and bring him, dead or alive, into the imperial presence. The officer immediately set out on his commission, attended by three thousand horsemen all clad in coats of mail. Intelligence of their approach reaching Tsze-sen, he resolved on immediate flight, but the rapid advance of his enemy not allowing a moment for taking leave of his family, his disconsolate wife dashed out her brains against the wall of her apartment, while her husband climbed over the garden-wall, and, mounting a horse, held in readiness by a faithful servant, effected his escape.

Their keen appetite for cruelty being rather sharpened than blunted by the first disappointment, his pursuers lost not a moment in resuming the chase; but their victim had employed his time to the best advantage, and, having entered a thick forest, through which the road passed, he ascended a lofty tree, and there awaited the arrival of the horsemen. From his concealment, taking deadly aim, he shot the leader of the party, Hei-sze-ming, with an arrow through the heart, which threw his followers into the utmost consternation. Having taken the precaution to secure his horse to a distant tree, Tsze-sen now descended, favoured by the confusion Hei-sze’s death had occasioned, and stealing away to his steed, mounted, and renewed his flight. Some few of his pursuers suspected the route he had taken, and, following in the track, came within arrow-shot of the fugitive. Of this rashness they soon repented, for his dexterity was so great, that, “like the Parthian, he shot them as he flew,” and not one now survived, to press him on his course.

Scarcely had he escaped from one danger, than another presented itself; this was the approach of a large body of cavalry. Escape being impossible, he rode boldly forward, and found, to his surprise, that they were not enemies of his cause; on the contrary, that they detested the tyrant who had occasioned the miseries of his family. Passing on still, the same Providence that had hitherto watched over him continued its faithful guardianship: he next met a peasant on the way, and, entering into conversation with him, found that he too bewailed the fortunes of his country, and earnestly prayed for the downfall of its despotic ruler. This declaration encouraged him to ask the peasant’s guidance to Sung, where the exiled prince lay concealed. There he organized a little army, and prepared to defend himself; but the king’s forces were too numerous to endure her great afflictions, the princess terminated her own existence, having committed her son, a spirited youth, to the protecting care of her husband’s friend. Tsze-sen was not long in forming his resolution, nor longer, probably, in acting upon it; and taking the princely boy along with him, he cut his way, sword in hand, through the ranks of the enemy, and escaped. In this desperate adventure he was supported by eighty brave soldiers, at the head of whom was Tsze-wan-ling, beside a number of his father’s followers and dependents. With this force he set out for the state of Chin, another of the petty kingdoms into which China was then divided. Arrived at the court of this principality, he was presented to the king by Meaou-tszoo, the prime minister. His accomplishments, learning, military skill, and manly person, soon recommended him to the favour of the monarch, who invited him to prolong his visit, promising him in return the hand of his only daughter. Tsze consented, and the report was quickly circulated amongst the courtiers. The king ordered a splendid entertainment, at which all the ladies of quality attached to the palace made their appearance, amongst whom was the foster-mother of the betrothed princess. This fond, foolish old lady, overjoyed at the prospect of her protégée’s alliance with a hero so distinguished, could not refrain from pointing out Tsze-sen to all the ladies. In China, such conduct is not only rash, but immoral; and so much were the feelings of Tsze outraged by her indecorum, that he instantly declined the marriage.

It now became necessary for him to withdraw from the court of Chin: in doing which it appeared that unforeseen difficulties were to be encountered. When the king of Tsoo first heard of Tsze’s arrival at the court of Chin, he requested the monarch of that country to cut off his flight, by intercepting him at the barrier of Tae-ping shaou-kwan; and two generals, Yuen-yeu and Nang-yn, were appointed to execute the design. The fascinating manners of the fugitive having completely captivated the king and his daughter, military operations and the occupancy of the barriers were in consequence suspended. But the marriage being broken off, and Tsze again en route for an asylum, both for the royal child and for himself, the stratagem of his mortal foe was revived.

To force the passage of the position at Shaou-kwan, was hopeless, under the circumstances, and stratagem is best employed in opposing stratagem. Providing himself with proper disguises, he set out as an itinerant merchant, the little prince carrying some of his parcels; in the day-time wandering amongst the hills, and taking unfrequented paths, at night resting in woods or caves. But the effects of this gipsy mode of life upon the health of the prince, alarmed Tsze so much, that he at length resolved on running all hazards, and appealing to the most skilful physician of the district. Proceeding to his dwelling in the hills, they found a grey-headed old man, who advanced towards them with a bamboo stick, to guide and support his feeble steps; but scarcely had Tsze described the symptoms of We-shing’s complaint, than the venerable leech recognized the two friends. The fidelity and humanity of medical men is proverbial in all countries; they are never known to betray the secrets of the sick-room or death-bed; nor do the members of any profession bestow so large a share of their time and attention gratuitously upon the poor. The Chinese doctor disclosed his detection of the fugitives’ disguise, for the express purpose of saving their lives by facilitating their safe passage of the bridge; and he caused a neighbour of his, who resembled Tsze-sen in features and stature, to put on the fugitive’s clothes, mount his horse, and ride timidly to the bridge-head, while the rest of the party accompanying him in the usual way of servitors. The moment the false Tsze reached the bridge, he was arrested by the guards, while the attendants were all permitted to pass without any attention or inquiry, the object of the king being accomplished, as they supposed. The prisoner protested against such treatment, declared that he was not Tsze-sen, that he knew nothing of such a person; but the more energetically he denied the charge, the more confident the guards became that they had captured the real Tsze. At length the aged doctor was passing that way, and hearing the circumstances, proceeded to the prison, when, to the amazement of all parties, but more especially of the generals Yuen-yeu and Nang-yn, he recognizes and identifies a neighbour of his own.

The delay which this stratagem obtained, the fugitives improved to the utmost; and, continuing their flight, reached the banks of the Woo-leang; a fisherman conveyed them across the river, but Tsze suspecting that his pursuers would compel him to ferry them across also, or to disclose his route, besought him to observe secrecy. To this the boatman solemnly pledged himself, and, bidding the prince and his friend farewell, pushed out into the midst of the stream, and, while they were yet in sight, tore up his sails, and sunk himself and his boat for ever in the waters. There was a woman, also, washing clothes at the edge of the river, when Tsze embarked, whose betrayal of their route might have proved equally fatal: to her Tsze also communicated the secret of his real character, and besought her fidelity. Before the boat had reached the farther shore, they perceived that she had committed self-destruction by hanging herself from the branch of a tree.

By such means, mysterious certainly, if not miraculous, the lives of Tsze-sen and We-shing were preserved, and, escaping from the snares that were laid for their destruction, they arrived at last at the court of Woo. The prince, being seated on his throne, appointed Tsze-sen the commander of his army, who, marching upon the territories of Tsoo, avenged his brother’s cruel death, and has ever since been celebrated as the Coriolanus of Chinese history.

---