RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 336 This book contains several technical flaws. Many of the Chinese works and place names romanized in the text do not appear in the glossary and place name index. The first two chapters present differing numbers for the size of the Dutch military force found on Taiwan. Hsu (p. 15) using a Japanese translation of the Dagh-Register, Batavia and an article by Nakamura Takashi, states that the Dutch forces never exceeded 2000 while Wang (p. 36) gives no source but states that the Dutch troops numbered 2200. A similar figure to Wang's can be found in James W. Davidson's The Island of Formosa. There are also some technical mistakes such as no scale nor direction indicated on a map (p. 149) and lack of unified spelling for the city of Jilong (Keelung, p. xv; Chilung, p. 140). The map on page 40, presumably indicating migration routes in Taiwan during the late seventeenth century, shows Fort Zeelandia (near modern Tainan) on the mainland portion of Taiwan as it is today due to silting at the mouth of the Yanshui River. Other maps or pictures display the fort on a sandspit, in some cases connected to the main island (pp. 29 and 119) and in one case on a separate small island (p. 13). On the linguistic side, the character for a Chinese picul which is pronounced dan (tan) is romanized by its other pronunciation (shih) which means a rock or stone. More crucial is the lack of a central theme to the essays selected as a whole. This is perhaps an inescapable problem of a book in which several authors are presenting their findings on singular aspects of a vast and complex subject. The contribution of this book, therefore, lies in the collection, within one English volume, of articles on various aspects of Taiwan's historical geography. RICHARD LOUIS EDMONDS The University of Hong Kong The Birth of Vietnam, by Keith Weller Taylor, Berkeley, The University of California Press, 1983. xxi + 397pp, tables, maps. Keith Taylor has provided a much needed and detailed account of Vietnamese history during the first millennium — its formative ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 42 Boats. Pestilence Wang Yeh are also quite common on the altars of Fukienese community temples in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia having been carried there by emigrants. Although there are no Pestilence Wang Yeh on the altars of temples in Hong Kong and Macau, there are two deities bearing the same honorific, and also there is the concept of pestilence demons being exiled during a major festival. One of the two deities is the comparatively rare Cantonese cult deity, Chang Wang Yeh (E), consulted before building a house or fixing the date for a wedding. His image is to be seen on a side altar in a secondary hall in the Hung Hsing Temple in Wanchai, and again in another Cantonese temple in Waterloo Street in Singapore where his title is Chang Wang Lao Yeh. The other deity is K'ang Wang Yeh (E). He is one of the four life-size images at floor level before the main altar of the Northern Emperor [Chen Wu] in Mong Tseng Wei near Deep Bay in the New Territories. These four are known simply as the Four Generals and whilst the other three are relatively common deities from Chinese mythology, Hua Kuang, Chao Yuanshuai and Yin Yuanshuai, nothing is known in this temple about K'ang Wang Yeh.8 The Five Ubiquitous Ones, the Wu T'ung (F), formerly worshipped in North China as pestilence deities have been seen in Ch'aochou (Teochew) illegal squatter temples in Hong Kong but not in Taiwan. According to several temple keepers the Five are potentially harmful unorthodox (H) spirits and not beneficial spirits (#). One keeper added that the Five had been worshipped in Kiangsu and Chekiang provinces as well as by Ch'aochou people and that they were in some way connected with the roaming spirits of the tens of thousands soldiers killed during the wars which ended the Mongol (Yuan) dynasty and led to the founding of the Ming. The Five have no individual identities whereas the Pestilence Wang Yeh do have surnames. Unlike other deified Chinese, images of the Pestilence Wang Yeh are floated out to sea or burnt to carry away the pestilence demons associated with them. The nearest in comparison here would be the paper images of deities burned after major festivals such as the image of Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy in her form as Ta Shih (±) the very ugly demonic form which she assumes to prevent lustful demons from assaulting her when visiting the Afterworld during her missions of mercy. Her image as Ta Shih in paper and bamboo is burnt to carry her over ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 58 Taiwan is dedicated to General Su. He is worshipped by Lukang traders of Quemoy (Chinmen) stock for protection. Two images of him stand on the main altar, one being the main image (Su Fu Ta Wang Yeh *) and the other a secondary image (Erh Wang Yeh Em). According to the temple keeper the latter was carved to satisfy the demand of worshippers for a portable image to take home for private reverence. A third image known as the San Wang Yeh (=E) was placed on the altar of a nearby branch temple (Fen miao). A number of branch temples dedicated to Su as a Wang Yeh, a Ch'ien Sui and as a General or Marshal (Chiangchun and Yuanshuai é) are to be found in many places in central and northern Taiwan. His image on the main altar of his temple in Lukang portrays him as black faced and black bearded, a standard carving of a seated dignitary wearing a scholar's gilded cap. Before him are seated five other images, one is the portable image of him in the centre, flanked by the four minor Ch'ien Sui, Chiu, Liang, Chin and Ts'ai, It is interesting to note that the deities in the temple at Lukang are colloquially referred to as Su Fu San Wang Yeh, The Three Su Wang Yeh. This despite them being but one person, and there being only two images in the main temple whilst the third is in a temple nearby. Finally, some dozen or so small images of standing soldiers in a V formation together with their commander crowd a secondary altar in the temple. They represent the army of General Su. These four are examples of non-pestilence protective deities referred to as Wang Yeh; there are a few other deities, not protective deities as such, who are also referred to as Wang Yeh in Taiwan. A good example is the T'ang emperor Ming Huang, patron of actors and actresses, known also as the Prince of the Western Ch'in (Hsi Ch'in Wang Yeh Еƒ). He fled to Szechuan province in the far west of China after he abdicated which led to him being given this title. T'ang Ming Huang is probably best known to foreigners for his infatuation with the concubine Yang Kuei-fei which nearly lost him his throne. To conclude, the large cult of Pestilence Wang Yeh, almost exclusively worshipped nowadays by the Fukienese and referred to simply as Wang Yeh has been confused over the years with other cults whose individual deities have borne the same honorific which, despite being protective ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 59 deities are not pestilence deities. The confusion has been compounded by the Fukienese themselves when over the years they unconsciously accepted all deities bearing the honorific Wang Yeh as protectors from epidemics. NOTES The term Wang Yeh is best translated perhaps as 'The Excellencies'. It was a title given to imperial princes or lords, and interestingly it was also a term used by robbers for their brigand chief. See Plates 9-14 for illustrations to this article. 2 There has long been controversy whether the Pestilence Wang Yeh are shen (Supernatural beings, spirits or deities) or kuei (shades of the human dead and pejoratively used for ghosts, spectres and demons). One god carver in Singapore explained that Pestilence Wang Yeh are "half-deities", (pan shen) that is half-shen and half-kuei. However, whilst a number of Pestilence Wang Yeh have ferocious faces, the great majority are portrayed as standard deities with no indication of demonic characteristics. An elderly and authoritative Fukienese god carver in Singapore explained in hushed tones that the Pestilence Wang Yeh are neither gods nor demons, are feared but not revered, and not only protect against plague but also cause it. They are, he repeated, semi-deities from the lower echelons of the bureaucracy of the Afterworld who do not like the human world and therefore cause trouble and bring calamity and misfortune. However, if prayed to they are quite prepared to care for devotees who seek protection. For this reason, more often than not the scale of devotion and offerings to the Pestilence Wang Yeh is greater than that provided to more powerful but orthodox gods. E Doolittle J. Social Life of the Chinese 2 Vols: New York: (1865). A god carver in Singapore suggested that Pestilence Wang Yeh have been given surnames so that no particular surname group is left without a specific deity to worship. The only time that all images can be guaranteed to be on their altar in their temple is during the temple's annual festival. The altar of Chu Wang Yeh in a temple in Lukang, Taiwan was destroyed by a flood some fifteen years ago. Of the three Wang Yeh images in the temple at that time (Chu, Ting and Nieh) only one image, that of Chu, was recovered. Although a new temple has been built for the three but only containing one image, the one of Chu recovered from the flood, devotees have largely stopped away. They seem to have lost confidence in deities who were unable to protect themselves against disaster. 7 **At Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong in the afternoon of the third day (of the chiao festival of ritual purification held every ten years) a ('paper boat') ritual to chase away the Demon of Pestilence is performed. A Taoist issues orders to a Heavenly Envoy to carry off the boat and puts the Demon of Plague on a boat and leaves it in the outer seas. The Heavenly Envoy, like the King of Ghosts (Yenlo Wang), has a fierce-looking face. It is an image of about one metre high and the boat is a small one of about one and a half metres long. A Taoist lifts the Heavenly Envoy to a stage in the matshed theatre and chants a question-and-answer song which instructs the Heavenly Envoy. Having finished that, the villagers then put the Heavenly Envoy into the boat loaded with offerings. The boat is taken to the sea shore and left on the waters." Tanaka Issei: "The Jiao festival in Hong Kong and the New Territories", The Turning of the Tide Religion in China Today: Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, and Oxford University Press (Hong Kong); (1989), p. 287. 8 There is a K'ang Yuanshuai, ie Marshal K'ang, on several Taiwanese altars where he ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 23 Cloth Mill in 1879. They were regarded as merchants willing to take risks in adventurous undertakings, however, some of them lost money from pouring capital in modern enterprises and some even went bankrupt by speculating. Xu Run (1838-1911) Xu was the earliest, before Tang and Zheng, to come to Shanghai for business and trade as a comprador. In 1852, at the age of 15 Xu left his hometown Zhongshan, trade as a comprador. In 1852, at the age of 15 Xu left his hometown Zhongshan, transited through Macau and Hong Kong to Shanghai where he lived with his uncle Xu Yuting who was working at the Dent & Company in Shanghai (the first Western firm to open a branch in Shanghai) as a comprador. Xu entered Dent & Co. through his uncle's connection. Four years later Xu was promoted from a trainee (as Xu himself stated, he first learnt the tea and silk trade when entering the Company) to an assistant comprador and finally in 1861, he succeeded his uncle as the comprador. His diligent performance was greatly admired by the manager of Dent & Co., E. Webb. From Xu's autobiography, we are able to assess the wealth of a Cantonese comprador in Shanghai accumulated during his compradorial years and also as an independent merchant in which his business investment included various modern enterprises. Furthermore, his autobiography also tells of his complicated relations with Sheng Xuanhuai and Yuan Shikai as well as a part of his personal family history. 30 In 1868, Xu Run left Dent & Co. and started his own business. He opened the Baoyuanxiang Tea House. The name itself manifested a tea trade business. By 1883, Xu had accumulated a personal wealth of 3,409,423.3 taels. Item Table 4 Assets Owned by Xu Run in 1883 Item Amount (taels) % Landed property in Shanghai 2,236,940.0 65.61 Miscellaneous stocks 426,912.0 12.52 Capital in pawnshops 348,571.3 10.22 Shares in custody 397,000.0 11.64 Total 3,409,423.3 99.90 Source: Ku Run, Qing Xu Yuzhi Kiansheng Run Zixu Nianpu, pp 67-8 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 28 missionary named John Fryer. Though he studied only in evening class, he learned to speak English as well as his uncle. In 1859, through his personal ties with Xu Run, he was introduced to Dent & Co. to work as an assistant in freighting and warehousing until 1868 when the firm was dissolved. Zheng then turned to a foreign tea company Heshengxiang as a comprador and later became a manager, and eventually the owner. In 1874, Zheng joined the Butterfield & Swire Co. as a comprador to its affiliate China Navigation Co. until 1881. He then turned to assist Sheng Xuanhuai in managing the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Co. thus terminating his compradorial career. 34 From Table 6 we can see Zheng was interested in a lot of modern enterprises. In absence of sources, we are unable to know the exact amount of his investment. A preliminary estimate as shown in the table was about thirty thousand taels. This is near Yenping Hao's assessment of forty thousand taels. Modern enterprises in which Zheng invested varied from commercial and financial to industrial and mining; they were scattered over Shanghai, Tianjin, Canton and other Chinese cities as well as Southeast Asia. As previously discussed, Zheng favoured joint-stock companies. He thought it was a powerful business organization and he considered it reasonable to have opened company accounts as a way to solicit support of shareholders. Zheng was quite conservative in starting a new undertaking. He had objected to Tang Tingshu's plan to establishing the Hongyuan Co. in London in 1881.35 Instead he had shown his genius in solving technical problems occurring in some guandu shangban enterprises such as China Merchants' Steam Navigation Co., Kaiping Coal Mines, Imperial Telegraph Administration, Hanyang Iron Works, Shanghai Cotton Mill and Canton-Hankow Railway Co., for which he had won appreciation from his patrons including Li Hongzhang and Sheng Xuanhuai. He had helped Sheng Xuanhuai in reorganizing the Hanyang Iron Works, Daye Iron Mines with Pingxiang Coal Mines into one limited liability company under the name of Hanyeping. It was incorporated at the Ministry of Commerce in 1908. One year later, he also reorganized the China Merchants Steam Navigation Co. into a public company. Moreover, he was a pioneer in introducing the latest methods in organising joint-stock companies, as he had translated the company laws of Hong Kong promulgated in 1865 from English to Chinese. As a Cantonese comprador, merchant and so-called comprador-merchant as mentioned before, Xu, Tang and Zheng were all regarded as outstanding in performing entrepreneurial activities, particularly in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 34 Chan Kin Tong 陳健堂 Cheang Hoong WA Chen Xuyuan 陳照元 Ding Richang TRS Guo Piao 郭標 Ho Kai 何啟 Ho Tung 何東 Huang Huan'nan # Jian Dongfu 簡東甫 Glossary Wu Jianzhang f Xu Rongcun 徐榮村 Xu Run 徐潤 Xu Yuting 徐鈺亭 Yuan Shikai 袁世凱 Zheng Guanying Zheng Tingjiang Baoyuanxiang 寶源祥 Zuo Zongtang E Law Pak Sheung A Bendi 本地 Law Sai Nam 劉世南 Lee Chak 李澤 guandu-shangban Leung Xiu 梁喬 Li Hing 李慶 Li Hongzhang 李鴻章 Lo Hok Pang #09 Ng A Cheong AS O Kee Cheung 柯其祥 Sheng Xuanhuai 盛宣懷 Soong Xe 宋琪 Sung Chin Tseung Tong Mow Chee # Tong Ying Shu (Xing Sing) 唐廷樞(景星) Wei Kwong #* Wei Yuk 韋玉 Danjia 晉家 # Guang Yang Xing 廣陽興 Guang Zhao Gongsuo 廣肇公所 Heshengxiang # huashang fugu huodong HÆ! Kejia 客家 lianhao 聯號 O Chin Sin Tong Qing Xu Yuzhi Xiansheng Run Zixu Nianpu 清徐雨之先生潤自序年譜 Sanyi 三邑 Shiyi 四邑 tongxiang hui 同鄉會 Zongban 總辦 Wong Kong 黄亞廣 References Cheng, T C. 1969 Chinese Unofficial Members of the Legislative and Executive Councils in Hong Kong In Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 9: 1-30 Choi, Chi-cheung 1991 Cong difangzhi kan Xiangshan xian difang shili de zhuanbian (The influence of migration in Xiangshan county as viewed from local gazetteers) In Zhongguo Shehui Jingjishi Yanjiu 1991/1: 60-8 1993. Competition among Brothers: the Kun Tye Lung Company and its Associate Companies, Unpublished paper presented at the Workshop on Chinese Business Houses in Southeast Asia since 1870 School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 121 Hong Kong having agreed that each of the sixty is a stellar deity in his own right with a title, formerly a human deified after his or her death; one temple keeper then gave as an example the Taisui of 1980 [EM KM] being Luo Dashou a legendary individual who at the age of eleven had obtained his degree and then lived for more than one hundred years. Others must have been similarly identified with legendary and mythical individuals, not only in Hong Kong but throughout China. The question remains, do they vary from place to place? or are they universal throughout China? An image of Yin Jiao and known only as that and not as Taisui, is prayed to individually in a small private temple in Taipei, where he is portrayed as the fierce six-armed general, sitting, with a black beard, a third eye and ear-pressing tufts. Lone images of a fierce Taisui portrayed with six arms have been seen in a few temples apart from the one in Taipei including one in Penang. More commonly seen are lone images with the usual pair of arms, depicting him holding a bell in his left hand and a spear or long-handled sword in his right. One such image, in Tungkang in southern Taiwan, is identical with a gilded image on a rural temple altar in northern Malaysia. The hand-bell is claimed by god carvers to be an important attribute indicating as it does the passage of time. A further image, known only as Marshal Yin, stands at ground level in a rural temple at Mong Tsung Wai on the coast of the New Territories of Hong Kong at Deep Bay. He is portrayed as a martial figure holding a magic sword which at first glance looks like a truncheon, but without any unique characteristics. The temple keeper had no idea who he might be but as he is collocated with Hua Guang, Kang Wang and Zhao Yuanshuai, all characters from the Fengshen Yanyi, it is almost certain that he is Yin Jiao. Images of what in Cantonese and Fukienese community temples is often regarded as the typical Taisui of the group of sixty, but standing alone on altars nearly always portray him as a seated clean-shaven youth holding a bell12 or a scroll in his right hand. He is usually dressed in a green or gilt apron covering his chest and just below his waist only being secured by a cord around the back of his neck, and with a girdle around his waist. Those with scrolls are regarded as holding an administrative appointment and those with bells, silken shoes, fans, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 162 the altar and the altar table is a typical temple offertory box into which devotees have thrust cash offerings [Photograph 3], Both the sad emperor Tang Ming Huang and his putative doctor, Lei Haijing, are both popular religion cult deities revered particularly in Fujian communities. Images vary from temple to temple, all being standard scholar-official figures with none having any special attribute or feature Some believe that Lei Haijing, commonly referred to as Marshal Tian Dou, (Tian Dou Yuanshuai), when his image is on an altar, was a doctor who accompanied 'the Emperor in the West' during his flight. After Lei died during the emperor's escape to Sichuan province his spirit remained on, guarding and protecting the emperor who Saw and recognised the two characters 'Tian Dou' of his protector floating in the air. And once he had arrived in the relative safety of Sichuan the emperor created Lei Haijing - Marshal Tian Dou. Others claim that Lei was a musician popularly referred to a thousand or more years ago in Fujian as the 'Marshal'. Lei Haijing is another patron of actors, but predominantly from southern Fukienese communities. There are two Marshals Tian Dou revered on altars within Fukienese communities, with their legends so enmeshed that they virtually become one and the same deity. In the most commonly repeated legend Tian Dou was a young prince named Lei Haijing, whose age has varied from ten to his mid-twenties. He lived in Fujian province where he was obsessively keen on practical jokes and opera. As a twenty-year old he lived for pleasure and one day having used his position and rank to force a married woman spend the night with him woke to find that she had painted a crab around his mouth in indelible ink, some say to punish him, others to ensure that his lasciviousness received wide publicity. The prince got away with it the first time by telling his friends that he had painted the crab on his mouth for amateur theatricals; however, when he forced her yet again to spend the night with him she painted another crab on his forehead which this time he was unable to explain away. Another version claims that he slept with a young girl who as a joke painted the crab around his mouth whilst he slept and again, several nights later, as he had been so annoyed at the first joke she drew one on his forehead ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 168 their aid.12 Thus it was that although neither of the two deities had ever set foot in the Chaozhou area during their human existence, yet their divine spirits helped the native Chaozhou people and became their patrons. Chaozhou emigrants to Taiwan bore their cult from their local cult centre at Chaoyang, together with images, over to the new lands where at present there are some ten or so temples dedicated to the pair. Several versions of the tales of their heroism during the siege of Suiyang are related by temple keepers and devotees. Individual stories about Zhang and Xu are well known to Chaozhou devotees, describing how they dug holes to catch rats during the siege, and about Zhang slaughtering his beloved concubine, either to spare her being taken by the enemy or, more morbidly, to be eaten by the starving defenders. Each of the stories highlights their heroism in the face of starvation with no hope of relief from the siege, and their choice of death rather than surrender. The two deities are revered together on the main altar in at least five temples in Taiwan. Zhang has some eight temples dedicated to him alone in Taiwan, whilst Xu has a further nine. A further fifteen temples contain one of these two deities under their other titles, with both deities, again under their true names of Xu and Zhang, being noted as the main deity on secondary altars. A Chuanzhou immigrant named Chen brought an incense pot with him from the cult centre of Baoyi Dafu [Zhang Xun] in Fujian and set it up as a branch temple in Shen Keng village near Taipei. According to temple lore, the deified Zhang Xun proved very efficacious in helping villagers with both good fortune and excellent harvests. Later, as the cult developed, it emerged from dream messages that Baoyi Dafu was also very effective in coping with the ravages of insect pests and, moreover, had won local renown by helping Chinese immigrants overcome the original hill tribesmen. However, in the centre and south of the Taipei Basin, Xu and Zhang together were known by Chuanzhou Fukienese by the single title of Wang Gong 尪公, Wang Yuanshuai 尪元帥 or Wang Wang 王王. Their local legend claims that Wang Gong appeared to a temple keeper in a dream, warning him and the local inhabitants of the San Hsia, Mucha, and Hsintien areas of an intended raid by head-hunting tribesmen from ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 173 characteristics. Plopper in his Chinese Religion seen Through the Proverb : Shanghai : 1935 claimed that Lao Lang was also the patron of prostitutes. Meng Fu Langjun f. otherwise known as Langjun Ye, NB whose {1 24 0 image has been noted in Lukang in western Taiwan, is the patron of the southern school of woodwinds. He is known by this title which describes his position once he fled to the West from Chang'an ahead of the pursuing rebel forces. This lengthy legend basically tells of the emperor's challenge to Zhang Tianshi to use his magic to stop the noise of heavenly music which, unbeknownst to Zhang was being performed by 360 musicians concealed in a cellar. Zhang stopped the music by killing the lot in one swoop with his magic. The emperor, horrified at what he had done, had them all deified as Plague Gods. Zhi Nú is the Weaving Girl in the legend of the Weaving Girl and the Cowherd. Mesny Wm. Mesny's Chinese Miscellany: Shanghai : 1899 Richard T : The Secret Sects of China : The Chinese Inland Mission Handbook : 1896 Chaozhou is a city in eastern Guangdong province where their minority language is spoken. Chuanzhou is a city in southern Fujian province and emigrants from both Chuanzhou and Chaozhou have settled in both Taiwan and South-east Asia. "The discrepancies in dates is due to the varying versions provided by temple 12 attendants. A similar claim was made in Central China where the rain and crop deity, Doutian Yuanshuai BÆ, was believed to be an incarnation of Zhang Xun who, it was said, had intervened to assist the imperial forces during the Taiping wars ca. 1855 and had been awarded the title of Zhangwei 13 Goodrich, A. S. : The Peking Temple of the Eastern Peak : Monumenta Serica : Nagoya : 1964 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 263 after a siege of 49 days. Most accounts claim that they died by their own hands rather than fall into those of the enemy. Our interest lies in Zhang. He was born in Henan in AD 709 and died with Xu on either the 15th of the second or the 9th of the tenth lunar months in 757. Zhang was the military mandarin in Suiyang and is occasionally referred to in temple records as Zhang Suiyang. Before being posted to Suiyang he had been employed in military operations in Central Asia where his discipline was legendary. In 756 during the rebellion of An Lushan he fought many battles, was wounded on a number of occasions and performed prodigies of valour. The climax was reached by his heroic defence of the Henan provincial city of Suiyang against the rebel army commanded by An Lushan's son. Zhang refused to yield and even sacrificed his favourite concubine to no avail. The enemy broke in and as he scorned to owe allegiance to his conqueror was immediately put to death. It is said that during the siege his patriotic rage caused him to grind his teeth so that after his death it was found that all but three or four had been worn down to the very gums. In central China the rain and crop deity, the Bodhisattva of the Whole of Heaven, Doutian Pusa or the Marshal of the Whole of Heaven, Doutian Yuanshuai, was believed to be an incarnation of Zhang who, it was said, had intervened to assist the imperial forces during the Taiping wars ca. 1855 and had been awarded the title of Zhangwei. His major local shrine is some distance outside the southern gate of Zhenjiang, a little beyond the shell of a Ming pagoda. There was also a shrine to him in the city's new main street, Ma Lu; another in a village on the road to the Bamboo Grove, and yet another in the village of Doutian Miao where the Imperial battery had been located on the north shore of the Yangzi abreast of Jiao Shan. Annually, during the Fourth lunar month, Zhenjiang was crowded with country folk who came to enjoy the procession of gods being borne through the streets of the city, including the image of Doutian Pusa. When the Tang dynasty collapsed China fell back into feudal kingdoms, one of which was the Xiu dynasty of Nantang. Under their rule the walls of Zhenjiang were repaired. Xiu Lijing succeeded his father in 946 and during his reign he annexed what today is Fujian province and added it to his dominion of Jiangxi, most of Anhui and Jiangsu, thus becoming one of the largest states in China at the time. ================================================================================