[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.
