Disc., I. p. 5.) - H.C.]
NOTE 4. - The meanings ascribed by Polo to the names of Su-chau and
King-sze (Hang-chau) show plainly enough that he was ignorant of Chinese.
Odoric does not mention Su-chau, but he gives the same explanation of
Kinsay as signifying the "City of Heaven," and Wassaf also in his notice of
the same city has an obscure passage about Paradise and Heaven, which is
not improbably a corrupted reference to the same interpretation.[1] I
suspect therefore that it was a "Vulgar Error" of the foreign residents in
China, probably arising out of a misunderstanding of the Chinese adage
quoted by Duhalde and Davis: -
"Shang yeu t'ien t'ang, Hia yeu SU HANG!"
"There's Paradise above 'tis true,
But here below we've HANG and SU!"
These two neighbouring cities, in the middle of the beautiful tea and silk
districts, and with all the advantages of inland navigation and foreign
trade, combined every source of wealth and prosperity, and were often thus
coupled together by the Chinese. Both are, I believe, now recovering from
the effects of devastation by T'ai-P'ing occupation and Imperialist
recapture; but neither probably is one-fifth of what it was.
The plan of Su-chau which we give is of high interest.
