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

IO   INTRODUCTORY NOTICES.

follows : Of the idols of the five hundred disciples of Buddha,

which, in this hall, are contained, there is one, which, in dress

and configuration of countenance, is said to resemble a foreigner.

With regard to this image, one writer, if we mistake not, has

stated that it is a statue of the celebrated traveller Marco Polo,

who, in the thirteenth century, visited, and, for some time, resided

in the flowery land of China. This statement, on the part of the

writer to whom we refer, is altogether untenable. Moreover, it

is an error so glaring as to cast, in the estimation of all careful

readers of his work, no ordinary degree of discredit upon many

of his most positive assertions. The person, whose idol is so

rashly described as being that of Marco Polo, was named Shien-

Tchu. He was a native of one of the northern provinces of

India, and, for his zeal as an apostle in the service of Buddha,

was highly renowned."

Everard Cotes closes the final chapter of his book, The A rising

East (New York, 1907), as follows : " In the heart of Canton,

within easy reach of mob violence at any time, may be seen

to-day the life-size statue of an elderly European, in gilt clothes

and black hat, which the Chinese have cared for and preserved

from generation to generation because the original, Marco Polo,

was a friend to their race. The thirteenth-century European had

no monopoly of ability to make himself loved and reverenced. A

position similar to that which he won as an individual is open

to-day to the Anglo-Saxon as a race. But the Mongolian was not

afraid of Marco Polo, and he is afraid of us. It can be attained,

therefore, only by fair dealing and sympathy, supported by an

overwhelming preponderance of fighting strength."

[Dr. Laufer reproduces here the note in Mal-co Polo, I., p. 76,

I may remark that I never said nor believed that the statue was

Polo's. The mosaic at Genoa is a fancy portrait.]

The question may be raised, however, Are there any traces of

foreign influence displayed in this statue ? The only way of

solving this problem seemed to me the following : First to

determine the number and the name of the alleged Marco Polo

Lo-han at Canton, and then by means of this number to trace

him in the series of pictures of the traditional 500 Lo-han (the

so-called Lo han t'u).

The alleged Marco Polo Lo-han bears the number I oo, and

his name is Shan-chu tsun-che (tsun-c/ze being a translation of

Sanskrit ārya, " holy, reverend "). The name Shan-chu evi-

dently represents the rendering of a Sanskrit name, and does not

suggest a European name. The illustration here reproduced is

,