It Existed Before The Rebellion, As I See
In The Book Of Mr. Milne, Who Gives Interesting Details On Such Chinese
Charities.
(Life in China, pp.
46 seqq.)
NOTE 7. - The paved roads of Manzi are by no means extinct yet. Thus, Mr.
Fortune, starting from Chang-shan (see below, ch. lxxix.) in the direction
of the Black-Tea mountains, says: "The road on which we were travelling
was well paved with granite, about 12 feet in width, and perfectly free
from weeds." (II. 148). Garnier, Sladen, and Richthofen speak of
well-paved roads in Yun-Nan and Sze-ch'wan.
The Topography quoted by Mr. Moule says that in the year 1272 the Governor
renewed the pavement of the Imperial road (or Main Street), "after which
nine cars might move abreast over a way perfectly smooth, and straight as
an arrow." In the Mongol time the people were allowed to encroach on this
grand street.
NOTE 8. - There is a curious discrepancy in the account of these baths.
Pauthier's text does not say whether they are hot baths or cold. The
latter sentence, beginning, "They are hot baths" (estuves), is from the
G. Text. And Ramusio's account is quite different: "There are numerous
baths of cold water, provided with plenty of attendants, male and female,
to assist the visitors of the two sexes in the bath. For the people are
used from their childhood to bathe in cold water at all seasons, and they
reckon it a very wholesome custom. But in the bath-houses they have also
certain chambers furnished with hot water, for foreigners who are
unaccustomed to cold bathing, and cannot bear it. The people are used to
bathe daily, and do not eat without having done so." This is in
contradiction with the notorious Chinese horror of cold water for any
purpose.
A note from Mr. C. Gardner says: "There are numerous public baths at
Hang-chau, as at every Chinese city I have ever been in. In my experience
natives always take hot baths. But only the poorer classes go to the
public baths; the tradespeople and middle classes are generally supplied by
the bath-houses with hot water at a moderate charge."
NOTE 9. - The estuary of the Ts'ien T'ang, or river of Hang-chau, has
undergone great changes since Polo's day. The sea now comes up much nearer
the city; and the upper part of the Bay of Hang-chau is believed to cover
what was once the site of the port and town of KANP'U, the Ganpu of the
text. A modern representative of the name still subsists, a walled town,
and one of the depots for the salt which is so extensively manufactured on
this coast; but the present port of Hang-chau, and till recently the sole
seat of Chinese trade with Japan, is at Chapu, some 20 miles further
seaward.
It is supposed by Klaproth that KANP'U was the port frequented by the
early Arab voyagers, and of which they speak under the name of Khanfu,
confounding in their details Hang-chau itself with the port. Neumann
dissents from this, maintaining that the Khanfu of the Arabs was certainly
Canton. Abulfeda, however, states expressly that Khanfu was known in his
day as Khansa (i.e. Kinsay), and he speaks of its lake of fresh water
called Sikhu (Si-hu). [Abulfeda has in fact two Khanqu (Khanfu): Khansa
with the lake which is Kinsay, and one Khanfu which is probably Canton.
(See Guyard's transl., II., ii., 122-124.) - H.C.] There seems to be an
indication in Chinese records that a southern branch of the Great Kiang
once entered the sea at Kanp'u; the closing of it is assigned to the 7th
century, or a little later.
[Dr. F. Hirth writes (Jour. Roy. As. Soc., 1896, pp. 68-69): "For
centuries Canton must have been the only channel through which foreign
trade was permitted; for it is not before the year 999 that we read of the
appointment of Inspectors of Trade at Hang-chou and Ming-chou. The latter
name is identified with Ning-po." Dr. Hirth adds in a note: "This is in my
opinion the principal reason why the port of Khanfu, mentioned by the
earliest Muhammadan travellers, or authors (Soleiman, Abu Zeid, and
Macoudi), cannot be identified with Hang-chou. The report of Soleiman, who
first speaks of Khanfu, was written in 851, and in those days Canton was
apparently the only port open to foreign trade. Marco Polo's Ganfu is a
different port altogether, viz. Kan-fu, or Kan-pu, near Hang-chou, and
should not be confounded with Khanfu." - H.C.]
The changes of the Great Kiang do not seem to have attracted so much
attention among the Chinese as those of the dangerous Hwang-Ho, nor does
their history seem to have been so carefully recorded. But a paper of
great interest on the subject was published by Mr. Edkins, in the Journal
of the North China Branch of the R.A.S. for September 1860 [pp. 77-84],
which I know only by an abstract given by the late Comte d'Escayrac de
Lauture. From this it would seem that about the time of our era the
Yang-tzu Kiang had three great mouths. The most southerly of these was the
Che-Kiang, which is said to have given its name to the Province still so
called, of which Hang-chau is the capital. This branch quitted the present
channel at Chi-chau, passed by Ning-Kwe and Kwang-te, communicating with
the southern end of a great group of lakes which occupied the position of
the T'ai-Hu, and so by Shih-men and T'ang-si into the sea not far from
Shao-hing. The second branch quitted the main channel at Wu-hu, passed by
I-hing (or I-shin) communicating with the northern end of the T'ai-Hu
(passed apparently by Su-chau), and then bifurcated, one arm entering the
sea at Wu-sung, and the other at Kanp'u. The third, or northerly branch is
that which forms the present channel of the Great Kiang.
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