RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g THE TRAVELLING PALACE OF SOUTHERN SUNG 23 left the country without a ruler, the ministers and generals, after consultation with their mother, the concubine Young, unanimously installed I Wang Shih as the Generalissimo of the state and his brother Kuang Wang Ping as his deputy. After a while, they decided to travel south by boat. When everything was ready for departure, the cunning premier Ch'en I-chung begged to remain behind, using the excuse that he must bury his mother who had just died in Wenchow. Everybody disliked him and took him for a coward. The impetuous and impulsive warrior Chang Shih-chieh thought up a cunning scheme: he ordered some of his soldiers to remove the coffin of Ch'en's mother and to place it on a ship. Consequently Ch'en had to follow, much against his will. In the 4th month they arrived at Foochow, Fukien, In the next month they crowned I Wang Shih Emperor who thus became the last Sung emperor but one. He was then eight years of age. His posthumous name is Tuan Tsung, (*) by which I shall call him hereafter. From that month on, his reign was called Ching Yen (*). His younger brother Ping received the new title of Wei Wang (£), and his little sister, that of Princess of Tsin Kuo (+), while his own mother was properly honoured as the Queen Mother. They stayed in Foochow until the 11th month when news came that the Mongols were invading Fukien, so they sailed southward. After passing by Ch'uanchow (¥) and Amoy in Fukien and Ch'aochow (¶) (Swatow) and Chia-tsu-men (‡ƒ¶) (of Huichow) in Kwangtung, they entered the territory of Kwangchow-fu early in 1277. Passing by Mirs Bay (Ta-p'eng-wan (★*), northeast of Kowloon), the royal party probably went ashore for a short time to get a rest, since there remain a few historical sites by the names of Wang-mu chuang-t'ai (the Queen-mother's Dressing Table) and Wang-mu hsu (Queen-mother's Market). During the next two months they stayed at an island then called "Mei-wei". (This place at present is still unidentified.) In the 4th month (May 1277) the royal refugees landed at Kuan-fu Ch'ang accompanied by many descendants of former Sung emperors who had joined the royal party from different places along the coast. Page 30 Page 31 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d NOTES AND QUERIES 306 h) Feng Huo Yuan T'ien Yuan Shuai (風火院田 元帥) i) Wu Tai Yuan Shuai (五代元帥) j) Chung Lich Ta Yuan Shuai (忠烈大元帥) k) Lei Hai-ch'ing (†) Various Sightings Tien the Marshal of the Wind and Fire Ministry Marshal of the Five Dynasties The Great and Loyal Marshal See Werner's story below. I have never seen nor heard this title in any temple in Taiwan and South East Asia, nor in any book on these places. In Anking on the Yangtze in the thirties, the three gods of the actor's guild were T’ien (□) To (†) and Kuo (#)* In 1971 there were at least five temples dedicated to Chief Marshal T’ien and the three Tien brothers in Taiwan. One of these was in Taipei and one in Changhua (title 'c' in the list above) and another in Taipei, one in Tainan and one in Yunlin (title ‘a' above). According to a Penang (Malaysia) temple keeper and a Hsinchu (Taiwan) devotee, prior to 1949 the cult centre of this Taoist heterodox (*) cult used to be at Ch'uanchow (*), Fukien. Legends Numerous legends surround Chief Marshal T'ien. One basic story has already been recounted by Miss Werle. Variations and other stories include another recounted by Werner who, like Père Doré, failed to connect Marshal T'ien with Wu Tai Yuan Shuai, Marshal of the Five Dynasties (5#†) whom he calls the 'God of the Musicians'. Werner continued, "this god had his origin in a practical joke played by his school fellows on a young scholar who lived in the time of the Five Dynasties (907-60 AD). Whilst he was taking a siesta they drew a picture of a crab on his forehead and stuck two willow branches (sometimes represented as pheasant's tail feathers) behind his ears. When he awoke he was so chagrined that he 4 Shryock: The Temples of Anking: Libraire Orientaliste: Paris 1931, p. 163. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 50 each bearing a different surname. Depending upon which source you accept the maximum number of individual surnamed Pestilence Wang Yeh would appear to be a mere 106 or 132 out of the 360. There are at least five or six different legends describing the origins of these spirits which vary enormously both in general and in detail with the most popular story heard repeatedly in Taiwan and South-East Asia being of 360 musicians deified by an emperor of China. Cautionary stories about the threat to the populace from the 360 Plague Gods were common throughout China but other than in Fukienese communities they were not referred to as Wang Yeh. In some versions the spirits of the musicians spread out all over China and in our major legend five particular spirits, deemed special protectors of the area, ended up in the Changchou and Ch'uanchou area of Fukien. The different legends, in general, claimed that the group of Pestilence Wang Yeh were 'scholars killed by Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, the unifier of China in 210 BC, who ordered the burning of books and the burial of Confucian scholars'; 'T’ang dynasty literati who died as a result of the folly of the emperor T'ang Ming Huang (685-762AD)'; 'The 360 Ming literati who refused to serve the usurping foreign dynasty, the Ch'ing and hanged themselves, (mid-seventeenth century AD)'; 'The five scholars who killed themselves to save villagers from an infected well'; or, finally, are 'spirits of the man-in-the-street who died of plague and became Plague gods'. A few temple keepers claim that the Pestilence Wang Yeh are subordinate to the Lord of Mount T'ai and of the Underworld (T’aishan Ta Ti 泰山大帝). The following are a number of the legends in greater detail. The first relates that during the reign of T'ang T'ai Tsung (627-649 AD) five scholars who had been unsuccessful at the imperial civil service examinations had stayed on in the capital living on what they could earn playing music. The emperor summoned them to the palace to play for him and had at the same time the Taoist 'pope' Chang T'ien Shih (Chang the Heavenly Master) in audience. The emperor wishing to test the 'pope's' magical powers ordered the musicians to play in the cellar whilst he told the ‘pope' that there were five demons in the basement. The 'pope' using his secret arts killed all five. The emperor was both appalled and ashamed of what he had caused and deified all five. Page 75 Page 76 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 52 A second legend also tells of five scholars, again during the T'ang dynasty, on their way to the capital to take the imperial examinations when they overheard demons plotting to poison a village well with pestilence pills. The villagers themselves would not believe the scholars so the five jumped into the well and polluted it with their corpses. The Jade Emperor was impressed by their self-sacrifice and appointed them Pestilence Wang Yeh. This story was originally specifically told by people from Ch'uanchou in Fukien. A third legend claimed that five men, Li, Chih, Wu, Chu and Fan became blood brothers in order to serve the man who, after his military campaign, established the T'ang dynasty and became its first emperor, Kao Tsu. The five were appointed to various offices of state, served the country well, and after they died were appointed Celestial Inspectors, known colloquially as Pestilence Princes, Wen Wang (HE). Two further legends date the origins of the Pestilence Wang Yeh to the Ming, some four hundred and sixty years after the T'ang. The first tells of 36 literati ordered by an early Ming emperor to travel forth beyond the borders of China to tell the world about China's greatness and in particular about the history of the great Tang dynasty. On one of the voyages all 36 were lost in a storm at sea and according to one of the surviving sailors, an auspicious pink cloud drifted over the roaring waves and celestial music was heard as the 36 were borne aloft. The emperor ordered a new ship to be built to be called the Ship of the Wang Yeh into which was placed a tablet for each of the 36 together with a decree personally written by the emperor requiring the officials at every port where the ship docked to welcome and honour the spirits of the dead literati. Yet another local legend claims that towards the end of the Ming era five literati, Chih, Li, Chu, Hsing and Chin, on their way to invigilate at the local imperial examinations at Ch'uanchou fell ill and died of plague. They lost their lives in the service of the people of the town and have been worshipped ever since as the Five Excellencies (Wu Fu Wang Yeh). In a popular story teller's tale, the Feng Shen Pang, recorded during the Ming dynasty, Lu Yueh, a Taoist with his four disciples fought for the last of the Shang dynasty against the Chou forces, using germ warfare (pestilence weapons). All five were on the losing side and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 62 1874 April July October 1874 1874 December Late 1874 1875 Summer? 1875 Winter 1877 February Kueichou, but Mesny had already departed To Ch'engtu (six month stay] Visited the temple dedicated to Tu Fu the poet in Ch’engtu Returned by very large houseboat via Sui-fu, Chungking and I-ch'ang to Hankow. Mesny entertained at the palace of General Viscount Pao Chao in K'uei-chou en route on the Yangtze. In Hankow he met Rev. David Hill Published 'Tungking' [date in the book itself: Mesny however, claimed later that it was published in 1875] Officially married Nien Suey-tsen in Hankow Travelled overland from Chin-kiang, through Shantung [Chi-nan], en route for Peking. Spent winter in Chi-nan at invitation of Ting Pao-chen, the Governor of Shantung, to whom he claimed he had been an adviser Peking Returned to Kueichou via Shanghai [November]. Hankow and Human [1876] Re-appointed Superintendent of the Kueichou Armouries, an appointment he held until March 1877 Mesny entertained two British Protestant missionaries in Kuei-yang Overland Trek to Western China, through Burma to India and by sea to England 28 May June 1878 8 January November 26 December 28 December 1879 February 9 March 4 June Departed Kuei-yang for Szechuan [his third visit to the province (en route for England, via Tibet, Burma and India, with Captain Gill)] Arrived Ch'engtu Arrived in England from Calcutta Visited Channel Islands Received telegram from Chinese Minister in London desiring Mesny to accompany the returning Chinese Minister at Berlin to China: departed! Marseilles for Hong Kong aboard the Irrawaddy Arrived Hong Kong from England Departed Hong Kong for Canton Visited Amoy Departed Canton for Kueichou, via Kuei-lin (Kuangsi] Arrived Kuei-lin 25 July Arrived Tu-yun Fu 4 August [1880/1881] 1880 February 15 March August 1881 January February Arrived Kuei-yang Possibly visited Hanoi? Governor of Kueichou province recommended Mesny to the Throne for the bestowal of posthumous honours for three generations [San-tai Erh-p'in Kao-feng] Set out for Lan-chou via Chungking [where he had remained six months] Mesny spent the night at Ch'ien-hsi Chou, some 90 kms NNW of Kuei-yang, where he was attacked by an armed mob Departed Chungking [after 'delay due to unexpected contretemps" which Mesny did not clarify] Arrived Lanchou Departed Lanchou, crossed Gobi to Ham taking six to seven weeks ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 63 1881 April June 1882 February March Spring 1882 November 1882/1883 1883 May 1833 Autumn 1883 ca 1883/1884 Early 1884 1884 July Arrived Hami Passed through Shensi and Kansu to Turkestan he tried to push on through Central Asia to India but was stopped; again, tried to push on to the Russian frontiers via Ili and Tarbagatai but was stopped, visited Hami [HQ Chinese Army]. Residence in Hami where he said he remained until the Treaty of Livadia [2-10-79] was signed and where he learned a number of Turkish words. [Mesny claimed that in 1882 returning from Kashgaria he stayed in Tso Tsung-t’ang's camp. [Tso was recalled from Hami to Peking in late 1880] Departed Hami and retraced his steps leisurely across the Gobi desert to Kansu, on to northern Tibet (visited old fashioned gold diggings) and back to Kan-chou to refit before continuing into Tibet a second time in another direction. He then, travelled through the Kokonor region ending up at Lanchou, February 1881, via Hsi-ning. Departed from Northwest China for Peking, via Si-an, Ho-nan Fu, Tai-yuan Fu and Pao-ting Fu. Whilst in Si-an Mesny visited the Nestorian Cross, later, on his first evening in Taiyuan he lost 640 pages of notes, the journal of his Journey to Hami from Canton Arrived Peking Visited Tientsin to await the first steamers of the season carrying mails Returned to Tai-yuan in Shansi and Pao-ting Fu, and again visited Si-an. Visited the famous Shao-lin monastery in the Sung-shan [Mountains] near Ho-nan Fu and invited to settle down for a couple of years with the monks. Departed Shansi for Canton; however, Visited Yunnan province at the invitation of T'ang Chung to assist in the development of natural resources of the province The French authorities in Tongkin insisted that Mesny leave the province Passed through Ch'engtu and Yunnan Fu heading for Canton via Po-se, Nanning Kuangsi [Kuei-hsien, where he spent three to four months whilst the Franco-Chinese war raged in Tongkin), Kueichou and the West River. He travelled much of the way by large house boat. He took careful notes which he offered to the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce but failed to receive any encouragement Arrived Canton, then visited Hong Kong, Macau, Swatow, Amoy and Foochou [Viceroy Chang Chih-tung retained Mesny at Canton for one year and ten months (nfd) He lived in an hotel unable to get an appointment from Chang he eventually withdrew. Mesny met Kung Chao-yuan, the Commissary General at Shanghai for Formosa, at the Kiangnan Arsenal in Shanghai Visited tomb of Su Hsiao-hsiao near Hangchou. (a celebrated courtesan of the 11th century AD) Departed Canton via Hong Kong for Foochou and Shanghai [elsewhere he noted that he had been recommended for the post of Foreign Superintendent of the Arsenal at Foochou during his visit there in 1883) In Wu-chang and Han-yang ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 117 Ch'uanchou immigrants overseas, and in particular those from Yangchun. There are more than seventy-three temples in Taiwan dedicated to the deity, mostly in the Yunlin area, and as would be expected, he is very popular in Southeast Asian Fukienese communities where his images are to be seen in a great number of temples. However, his image has not been noted in either Hong Kong or Macau, nor had the local carvers in the two colonies heard of the deity. In Taiwan and Fukienese communities in Southeast Asia, many small images are grouped in comparatively large numbers on the main altar tables of Ch'ing-shui temples. These are borrowed by the sick or by close relatives who beat them home, where they are venerated, often to diagnose sickness before prescribing a remedy. This is done through a medium, though occasionally a villager who has never been in a trance before may suddenly voice the advice of Ch'ing-shui. Some families purchase their own image of Ch'ing-shui for their family shrine, usually after the deity has approached a member of the family in a dream and suggested the idea to him or her. Very rarely do laymen approach the god directly; he is consulted through a medium who recites incantations and receives instructions at a séance during which the deity determines the cause of the problem and prescribes the remedy. In Penang, Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih is the main deity in the famous snake temple, where a great number of vipers hang from beams and branches and are known as the lieutenants of Ch'ing-shui or 'blue dragons', being referred to by devotees simply as 'dragons'. In another Penang temple, four images of soldiers in armour flank the image of the main deity, Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih, with all four having surnames and together being known as the Four Great Marshals (of Ch'ing-shui) [Ssu Ta Yuan-shuai]. Legends about Ch'ing-shui are numerous and varied. One or two temple custodians have tried to place him amongst the mythological heroes of the Feng-shen Yen-i, including Purcell, but nowhere in the legends of the early dynastic era is there any reference to Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih. In general, he appears to have been a Buddhist monk, born in Yangchun during the Sung dynasty, in AD 1044, and to have died in ca. 1124. Amongst the various claims, one custodian suggested that he was a Sung military adviser, Ch'en Ming-chao, who fought a losing battle against foreign invaders and then fled south with the defeated dynasty and settled. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 52 dedicated to the 3rd century BC hero, Li Mu? Peasant memories have so frequently proved to have been selective and extremely partial to local heroes and as the famous battle fought by Yang Yeh in northern Shansi took place quite close to the site of the temple it would be understandable for them to assume rightly or wrongly that the temple had been dedicated to his son in those distant days before the temple was destroyed. And here is another problem. No one nowadays knew when the temple had been demolished, the best bet would seem to be during the Japanese campaigns of the 1930s. NOTES 'The Khitan [in Chinese Ch'i-tan] were Tatars who adopted the Chinese name Liao for their dynasty, and were hunters from approximately the area now known as Inner Mongolia 4 ༣ "General" in Chinese used to be a generic term for the leader of an independent body of soldiers and was even used for leaders of village militia groups as small as a score or so He was also known as P'an Hung and referred to in the novel as the Sung Imperial adviser Hung-yang Tung At the Hung-yang cave) The Eldest Son was Yang Yuan-ping, the Second Son, Yang Yen-ling, and the Third, Yang Yen-kuang. *This cult is in no way connected with Yang Hou, whose images have been noted in eight temples in Hong Kong and Macau 7 A small temple in Taipei is dedicated to the Four Ambassadors [who crossed to Taiwan] from the Chin Lake in Ch'uanchou, and despite the main deities within all being pestilence Wang-yeh, and acknowledged as such by the temple keeper, they were also identified as four of the sons of Yang Yeh. The images were well-nigh impossible to discern with any clarity as the protective plate glass was extremely grimy. 8 Werner also noted that Ch'an Shih-kung was a popular deity in Kiangsi province whose aid was sought by peasants for rain during prolonged drought. He added that pictures of the deity in monasteries showed him with a vermilion mark on his forehead and with a tiger crouched at his feet. Legend explained that a tiger which had menaced travellers had been ordered by Ch'an Shih-kung to desist, and it had followed him like a dog thereafter. It would seem that the deity noted by Werner was not in any way connected with Yang Wu Lang. 9 In a small Singapore temple the following title was inscribed into a multi-deity tablet, even though no images of the Yang clan were present: Hsien-feng Yang Chiang-chun Chi-chiao Wang-yeh [The Fleet of Foot Vanguard General]. ================================================================================