[VOL II] THE FOOCHUN HILL, IN THE PROVINCE OF CHE-KEANG

THE FOOCHUN HILL, IN THE PROVINCE OF CHE-KEANG

Cover Image: The Foochun Hill, in the Province of Che-keang / ZheJiang Fuchun Mountain HangZhou China / Drawn by T. Allom Engraved by J.C.Bentley – ALAMY Image ID:2X4BD2Y

*Mount Fuchun, located along the Fuchun River, is a collective term for many mountains in the areas of Fuyang District and Tonglu County in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

“Now let their virtue be its own reward,
And share the blessings which themselves prepared.
See these inglorious Cincinnati swarm
Farmers of war—dictators of the farm.”

BYRON.

ABOUT the year of our Lord twenty-five, Kwang-woo, of the Han dynasty, and prince royal of China, honoured, with his friendship and companionship, a private gentleman, of large fortune and great accomplishments, named Yen-tze-ling. Invited by the prince, to accompany him on a tour through the imperial dominions, Yen-tze left his native land, Hwy-ke, and travelled with his august friend, for several years, in search of that knowledge, wisdom, and resignation, which experience of men and manners never fails to impart. Upon the accession of the prince to his ancestral throne, the companion of his youth disappeared; and it was not without difficulty that he was at last discovered, by the emissaries of his illustrious friend, living in seclusion in the principality or government of Tse. Drawn from his inglorious obscurity, into the dazzling light of the imperial court, he was made Ta-foo, a privy councillor, prime minister, or imperial remembrancer; and no public act of confidence was performed without his approbation, or, at all events, without having been previously submitted to his consideration.

The affection which the emperor entertained for the friend of his youth was so unbounded, that they dwelt together in the palace, and even shared the same couch. It happened one night, during those uneasy slumbers to which anxious statesmen are supposed to be subjected, that the minister placed both his feet on the emperor’s breast; scarcely had the dawn appeared, when a mandarin, in breathless haste, entered the saloon of rest, exclaiming that he had, on the preceding night, seen a shooting star, a sure presage of adversity to the reigning dynasty. Upon a full explanation of the circumstance which had occurred, the mandarin expressed his entire satisfaction, and Yen-tze-ling was promoted to still higher honours, and the kingdom flourished under his wise counsels. Recognizing the prevalence of general prosperity throughout the empire, Kwang-woo congratulated his favourite upon the felicity which followed his policy, but the minister modestly answered, that the merit was due to the monarch who had the discernment to select so competent a servant.

Arrived at the summit of human ambition, the emperor’s “guide, philosopher, and friend,” the benefactor of his country, the dispenser of all patronage in the empire, Yen-tze-ling, like Sylla, Marlborough, Washington, or Bolivar, but still much more resembling Cincinnatus, resigned his power and pre-eminence, withdrew altogether from public life, became a tiller of the earth, and with his own hands actually guided the plough.

There is a romantic spot, amongst the Foochun hills, or place of the Foochun-heën, in the province of Che-keang, where the Tsien-tang-keang forces a way between the rocks, in its passage to the sea. The forms of the limestone cliffs, that here bend over the angry flood, are broken, irregular, and picturesque; a cascade from the mountains that tower over the plateau, on which the chief fan-building are erected, falls on the front of a perpendicular cliff, and its waters, recovering from their foamy character, roll onward into a spacious basin, in which the wild scenery around is often seen inverted, as in a spacious mirror. This exquisite spot is about ten miles west of Tung-leu-heën, in the district of Yen-chou. From the majestic character of its mountains, and the clear sky that always surrounded them, it was named Yen-ling-shan; but it is also called Kin-fun, the silken mantle, and Seaou-ling, the embroidered crest. In this land of the mountain and the flood, are the See-hoo, western lake; Shing-hoo, sacred lake; the Ling-yun, and Tung-yang rivers; besides many minor pools, and river-sources.

This was the sequestered spot in which the Chinese Cincinnatus sought rest from the cares of a political life, and the enjoyment, in his closing years, of that otium cum dignitate, to which the eminent in wisdom, learning, and patriotism are entitled. His chief occupation was farming, his principal recreation fishing; and to facilitate the latter, he caused several flights of steps to be cut in the rocks, down to the margins of the fishing-pools. A summer-house, or fishing lodge, stands at the foot of the flight that leads to the farm on the summit; and a little group of figures, in the foreground, on the opposite side, illustrates the only practicable mode of travelling (by chairs suspended between poles) in a district where public roads are unknown, carriages not employed, and where footpaths constitute the sole and the solitary avenues of communication between the homes of the inhabitants.