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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
182
BOOK H.
MARCO POLO
I
trading cities under its rule. The name of the city, Suju,
signifies in our tongue, " Earth," and that of another
near it, of which we shall speak presently, called Kinsay,
signifies " Heaven ; " and these names are given because
of the great splendour of the two cities.'
Now let us quit Suju, and go on to another which is
called Vuju, one day's journey distant ; it is a great and
fine city, rife with trade and manufactures. But as there
is nothing more to say of it we shall go on and I will tell
you of another great and noble city called VUGHIN. The
people are Idolaters, &c., and possess much silk and
other merchandize, and they are expert traders and crafts-
men. Let us now quit Vughin and tell you of another
city called CIIANGAN, a great and rich place. The people
are Idolaters, &c., and they live by trade and manu-
factures. They make great quantities of sendal of
different kinds, and they have much game in the neigh-
bourhood. There is however nothing more to say about
the place, so we shall now proceed.'
NOTE i.-Sulu is of course the celebrated city of Su-cIIAU in Kiang-nan-before the rebellion brought ruin on it, the Paris of China. " Everything remarkable was alleged to come from it ; fine pictures, fine carved-work, fine silks, and fine ladies ! " (Fortune, I. 186.) When the Emperor K'ang-hi visited Su-chau, the citizens laid the streets with carpets and silk stuffs, but the Emperor dismounted and made his train do the like. (Davis, I. i86.)
[Su-chau is situated 8o miles west of Shang-hai, 12 miles east of the Great Lake, and 4o miles south of the Kiang, in the plain between this river and Hang-chau Bay. It was the capital of the old kingdom of Wu which was independent from the 12th to the 4th centuries (B. c.) inclusive ; it was founded by Wu Tzil-sii, prime minister of King Hoh Lii (514-496 B.c. ), who removed the capital of Wu from Mei-li (near the modern Ch'ang-chau) to the new site now occupied by the city of Su-chau. " Suchau is built in the form of a rectangle, and is about three and a half miles from North to South, by two and a half in breadth, the wall being twelve or thirteen miles in length. There are six gates." (Rev. H. C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec., xix. p. 205.) It has greatly recovered since the T'ai-P'ing rebellion, and its recapture by General (then Major) Gordon on the 27th November 1863 ; Su-chau has been declared open to foreign trade on the 26th September 1896, under the provisions of the Japanese Treaty of 1895.
" The great trade of Soochow is silk. In the silk stores are found about 1o0 varieties of satin, and 200 kinds of silks and gauzes. . . . The weavers are divided into two guilds, the Nankin and Suchau, and have together about 7000 looms. Thousands of men and women are engaged in reeling the thread." (Rev. H. C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec., xix. pp. 275-276.)—H. C.]
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