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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
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CHAP. L. "GOLD-TEETH" TRIBE
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[Baker writes (p. 159) : " In Western Yiinnan the betel-nut is chewed withprepared lime, colouring the teeth red, and causing a profuse expectoration. We first met with the practice near Tali-fu.
" Is it not possible that the red colour imparted to the teeth by the practice of chewing betel with lime may go some way to account for the ancient name of this region, ` Zar - dandan,' ` Chin - Ch'ih,' or ` Golden-Teeth ' ? Betel - chewing is, of course, common all over China ; but the use of lime is almost unknown and the teeth are not necessarily discoloured.
" In the neighbourhood of Tali, one comes suddenly upon a lime-chewing people, and is at once struck with the strange red hue of their teeth and gums. That some of the natives used formerly to cover their teeth with plates of gold (from which practice, mentioned by Marco Polo, and confirmed elsewhere, the name is generally derived) can scarcely be considered a myth ; but the peculiarity remarked by ourselves would have been equally noticeable by the early Chinese invaders, and seems not
altogether unworthy of consideration. It is interesting to find the name ` Chin-
Ch'ih ' still in use.
When Tu Wén-hsiu sent his ` Panthay ' mission to England with tributary boxes of rock from the Tali Mountains, he described himself in his letter ` as a humble native of the golden-teeth country.' "—H. C.]
Vochan seems undoubtedly to be, as Martini pointed out, the city called by the Chinese YUNG-CI-PANG-FU. Some of the old printed editions read Uncianz, i.e. Unchain or Unchan, and it is probable that either this or Vőcian, i.e. VONCHAN, was the true reading, coming very close to the proper name, which is WUNCHEN. (See J A. S. B. VI. 547.) [In an itinerary from Ava to Peking, we read on the loth September, 1833 : " Slept at the city Wun-tsheng (Chinese Yongtchang fú and Burmese Wun-zen)." (Chin. Rep. IX. p. 474) :—Mr. F. W. K. 1`Tiiller in a study on the Pa-yi language from a Chinese manuscript entitled Hwa-i yi yzi found by Dr. F. Hirth in China, and belonging now to the Berlin Royal Library, says the proper orthography of the word is Wan-chang- in Pa-yi. (T'oung Pao, III. p. 2o.) This helps to find the origin of the name Vochan.—I-I. C.] This city has been a Chinese one for several centuries, and previous to the late Mahomedan revolt its population was almost exclusively Chinese, with only a small mixture of Shans. It is now noted for the remarkable beauty and fairness of the women. But it is mentioned by Chinese authors as having been in the Middle Ages the capital of the Gold-Teeth. These people, according to Martini, dwelt chiefly to the north of the city. They used to go to worship a huge stone, ioo feet high, at Nan-ngan, and cover it annually with gold-leaf. Some additional particulars about the Kin-Chi, in the time of the Mongols, will be found in Pauthier's notes (p. 398).
[In 1274, the Burmese attacked Yung ch'ang, whose inhabitants were known under the name of Kin-Chi (Golden-Teeth). (E. Rocher, Princes du Yun-nan, p. 71.) From the Annals of Momein, translated by Mr. E. H. Parker (China Review, XX. p. 345), we learn that : " In the year 1271, the General of Ta-li was sent on a mission to procure the submission of the Burmese, and managed to bring a Burmese envoy named Kiai-poh back with him. Four years later Fu A-pih, Chief of the Golden-Teeth, was utilised as a guide, which so angered the Burmese that they detained Fu A-pih and attacked Golden-Teeth : but he managed to bribe himself free. A-ho, Governor of the Golden-Teeth, was now sent as a spy, which caused the Burmese to advance to the attack once more, but they were driven back by Tvvan Sin-cha-jih. These events led to the Burmese war," which lasted till 1301.
According to the Hwan; -tsing Chi-kung t'u (quoted by Devéria, Front. p. 13o), the Pei-jen were Kin-chi, of Pa-y race, and were surnamed Min-kia-tzú ; the Min-kia, according to P. Garnier, say that they come from Nan-king, but this is certainly an
error for the Pei-jen. From another Chinese work, Devéria (p. 169) gives this information : The Piao are the Kin-Chi ; they submitted to the Mongols in the 13th century ; they are descended from the people of. Chu-po or Piao Kwo (Kingdom of Piao), ancient Pegu ; P'u-p'iao, in a little valley between the Mekong and the
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