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

> > > >
Color New!IIIF Color HighRes Gray HighRes PDF   Japanese English
0187 Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1
Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 / Page 187 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

New!Citation Information

doi: 10.20676/00000246
Citation Format: Chicago | APA | Harvard | IEEE

OCR Text

 

119. CARAGIAN   171

Kuei-kuo, the Kingdom of Devils, of the Chinese (see « Cogacin »); the Chin-ch'ih are the Zardandân (see « Çardandan »). On the Ch'a-han-chang, Cayân-Jang, more will be said below. Two names remain, Qara-Jang and Yaci. There can be no doubt that the two names correspond to the two halves of the Ta-li kingdom; and since Yaci is acknowledged to designate Yün-nan-fu,

the capital of the eastern half, the conclusion is unavoidable that Qara-Jang was used among the Mongols as the name of the main capital, situated in the western half, i. e. Ta-li. The text concerning the sending out of Sayyid Ajall in 1273 retains in Chinese the greater part of the Mongolian names used in the original Mongol document. A few years earlier, in 1267, a strictly parallel text speaks of the mission of the prince Hügäci (see « Cogacin ») to Yün-nan and says that he was « to control the various regions called Ta-li, Shan-shan, Ch'a-han-chang, Ch'ih-t'u-ko-

êrh, and Chin-ch'ih » (YS, 6, 5 b : ;it J   4($ la),^   _q   •   Cayân-

Jang, itkör, and Chin-ch'ih are common to both lists. Shan-shan was then the Chinese name of Yün-nan-fu, called Yaci by the Mongols. The only remaining name is Ha-la-chang in one case, Ta-li in the other; it is evident that the text of 1267 has given the Chinese name of the place, while the text of 1273 retains the Mongol designation. Consequently Polo was amply justified when he gave « Caragian » as being at the same time the name of the « kingdom » of Yün-nan and of the city of Ta-li.

But what is this « Caragian », Qara-Jang? Qara, « black », is both Turkish and Mongolian, but

the Mongol origin of the designation is established by the parallel name Cayân-Jang, « White Jang », since cayman does not exist in Turkish. Both appellations may be descriptive, and may have been suggested to the Mongols, as they were earlier to the Chinese, by the colour of the tribal dress, just as other Yünnanese tribes were then called Chin-ch'ih, « Gold-Teeth », and Ikibüsä (Yäkä-büsä), « Big-Belts ». It seems doubtful, however, that such an explanation may account for the various classes of « white » and « black » tribes among the various races of Yün-nan. The

Cayàn-Jang are named more than once in YS, in the forms   ?r =r : Ch'a-han-chang ( YS, 6, 5 b [in

1267] ; 8, 2 b [in 1273] ; 61, 4 a and b) and tg4.'1   Ch'a-han-chang ( YS, 13, 2 b [in 1284] ; 15,

3 b [in 1288]; 61, 4 b; 121, 2 b). Rasidu-'d-Din also speaks of the L,- ,; - Cagan-Jang (BI, II,

374, 376). There is no doubt now that the name refers to the Mosso region of    Li-chiang,
in north-western Yün-nan; the administrative title of the « official in charge of the people of Cayân-

Jang » (   -_ter ~,- l~, IN) was created for a local chieftain in 1254, at the time of Qubilai's
campaign, and after the fall of Ta-li (cf. YS, 61, 4 a and b; CHAVANNES, in TP, 1912, 603, 608, 615). To Qara-Jang and Gayân-Jang I think we must add a third name. In the biography of a man of Uighur origin who served in the reign of Qubilai on the borders of Ssû-ch'uan and Yunnan, we read ( YS, 133, 3 a) that, on one occasion, the « moving Grand Secretariat » of Yün-nan was ordered to detail under that man's command « four hundred men of the Mongol troops

[stationed] in the Lo-lo-ssû district and six hundred Lo-lo-chang » (,g   Itfr A A v. [114   A

. It stands to T'u Chi's credit (47, 4 b) that he has drawn attention to this passage and has connected Lo-lo-chang with Qara-Jang and Cagan-Jang. Lo-lo-chang can only be explained as Lolo-Jang. The name of the Lolo tribes occurs many times in YS, either written Lo-lo (YS, 61, 7 b), or g g lift Lo-lo-ssû (YS, 9, 7 a; 61, 8 a; 99, 12 a; 100, 12 a; 133, 3 a, etc.), sometimes Et g , Lo-lo-ssû (WANG Hui-tsu2, 49, 5 a), once . fiSkJ Lu-lu-ssù (YS,