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Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
CHAP. LXXVI. p. 194. KINSAY.
97
has come to the conclusion that the Atlas is no more nor less
than the Kuang yü t'u, and that it seems that Camse stands
neither for Ching-shih, as Yule thought, nor for Hang chau as
he, Moule, suggested in 1917, but simply for the province of
Kiangsi. (A Note on the Chinese Atlas in the Magliabecchian
Library, with reference to Kinsay in Marco Polo.)
Mr. P. von Tanner, Commissioner of Customs at Hang chau,
wrote in 1901 in the Decennial Reports, 1892-1901, of the
Customs, p. 4: " While Hangchow owes its fame to the lake on
the west, it certainly owes its existence towards the south-west
to the construction of the sea wall, called by the Chinese by the
appropriate name of bore wall. The erection of this sea wall
was commenced about the year A.D. 915, by Prince Ts'ien Wu-
su ; it extends from Hang Chau to Chuan sha, near the opening
of the Hwang pu. . . . The present sea wall, in its length of 180
miles, was built. The wall is a stupendous piece of work, and
should take an equal share of fame with the Grand Canal and
the Great Wall of China, as its engineering difficulties were
certainly infinitely greater. . . . The fact that Marco Polo does
not mention it shows almost conclusively that he never visited
Hang Chau, but got his account from a Native poet. He must
have taken it, besides, without the proverbial grain of salt,
and without eliminating the over-numerous ` thousands ' and
myriads ' prompted less by facts than by patriotic enthusiasm
and poetical licence."
LXXVI., p. 194 n.
BRIDGES OF KINSAY.
In the heart of Hang-chau, one of the bridges spanning the
canal which divides into two parts the walled city from north to
south is called Hwei Hwei k'iao (Bridge of the Mohamedans)
or Hwei Hwei Sin k'iao (New Bridge of the Mohamedans),
while its literary name is Tsi Shan k'iao (Bridge of Accumulated
Wealth) ; it is situated between the Tsien k'iao on the south and
the Fung lo k'iao on the north. Near the Tsi Shan k'iao was
a mosk, and near the Tsien k'iao, at the time of the Yuen, there
existed Eight Pavilions (Pa kien lew) inhabited by wealthy
Mussulmans. Mohamedans from Arabia and Turkestan were
sent by the Yuen to Hang-chau ; they had prominent noses,
did not eat pork, and were called So mu chung (Coloured-eye
race). VISSIÈRE, Rev. du Monde Musulman, March, 1913.
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