National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Kucha for its girls » says a Chinese proverb in Sinkiang. And truly, the town of Hami is surrounded by an oasis of fields and fine gardens, where all sorts of fruits are cultivated. The irrigation-water comes from the Qarliq-tagh in the north. The great and ancient caravan road that on many maps is called »The Imperial Highway », and that is the main route between China proper and Sinkiang, goes through Hami.

TSO TSUNG-T'ANG's TEMPLE

There is in Hami a temple erected to the memory of Tso TSUNG-T'ANG. This general was instrumental in putting down the T'ai-p'ing revolt in the interior of China. After restoring order in Shansi he marched in 1877 to Sinkiang, that I,t HUNG-CHANG wished to sacrifice, put down the Mohammedan revolt that was raging there, and saved this vast territory for China. For this reason a temple has been erected in Hami to his honour. One goes through gates between red-lacquered columns and under curved roofs, to stop, after crossing two courtyards, before the façade of the temple, the middle part of which is taken up by a room resembling a miniature stage. In the middle of this room stands a kind of box with a picture, scarcely more than a foot in height, of the general clad in a yellow robe and mandarin-cap. He wears black moustaches and has a determined look. In front is an incense-burner. A tablet bears all his titles of honour, while at the sides there are other tablets on which are inscribed the names of his army leaders.

The name »Sinkiang » (properly Hsin-chiang) or »The New Dominion » was introduced after Tso TsUNG-T'ANG'S pacification of the country. Formerly, these tracts were called Hsi-yü or The Western Region, and were divided into T'ienshan Pei-lu and T'ien-shan Nan-lu, corresponding to Dzungaria and Kashgaria.

Another temple in Hami is erected to the god of the province of Hunan, for Tso TSUNG-T'ANG and most of his generals were from Hunan.

ALTUNLUQ-MAZAR

On the outskirts of the oasis is the burial-mosque under the cupola of which rest SHAH MAQSUD's grandfather and several other members of the dynasty.' It

1 Field Marshal MANNERHEIM, who visited Hami in 1907, relates a fact about SHAH MAQsUD's ancestry of which we heard nothing. (He refers, by the way, to the prince as SHAG MAKHMUT; but this must be due to a mishearing of the name, or is perhaps a misprint). Of the burial mosque he says that the last Mohammedan prince in the direct line rests there with his wives and children. But that the present prince has risen by the caprices of fate from a poor shepherd boy to a princely throne and wealth that should by rights not be his. He was brought up by the last ruler of the district, married his daughter and succeeded by means of bribes and intrigues in Peking in being recognized as the heir to the small principality. (Across Asia, p. 388). DOUGLAS CARRUTHERS, who was very kindly received by SHAH MAQSUD (MAHSUD SHAH) in 1911, says that this ruler was the eighth of his line (Unknown Mongolia, p. 487). F. B.

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