Adrift in the Middle Kingdom by J Slauerhoff

Author:J Slauerhoff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Handheld Press
Published: 2019-05-23T00:00:00+00:00

Part Two

Chapter 9

Chungking, built before the Han Dynasty51 came to rule the empire, had for centuries led an independent existence on the margins, its fate almost never bound up or aligned with that of the other cities in the sublime Celestial Empire52. Every time the fickle, bad-natured Yellow River53 had changed its course spontaneously, or to punish a dynasty for misrule, swallowing up regions and churning over cities, Chungking had remained outside the boundaries of the flood. The river, which spread two arms through the city, had crept as far as the walls, carrying away bridges, but had always retreated before the city itself was harmed. In the middle of Ch’in Shih Huang’s54 reign, the Great Wall was built, rising over mountains and valleys, ravines and rivers, twelve fathoms tall and the span of eight guardsmen wide, with watchtowers two li55 apart, to prevent the barbarians and nomads from setting foot on the soil of the empire. Many outlying cities paid rich tributes for the privilege of lying inside that wall, so it curved outward in many places. But Chungking, trusting in its own walls and guardsmen, had no interest in giving up its profitable trade with the barbarians. Choosing to remain the stopping place for caravans that arrived exhausted from the months-long journey across the steppes and through the Gobi, it paid just as high a tribute for the privilege of remaining outside the wall. That was why, to the east of Chungking, the wall was indented twenty li inward.

As the empire became ever more closed off and the fruits of its once-flourishing civilization ever scantier, as arid tradition and intensive inbreeding drained away its force, as its wise men no longer made the effort to use their will for their country’s good, as misrule, revolt, and poor harvests came in turn, Chungking remained outside, savage in the external forms of culture, exposed to influences from Mongolia, Turkestan and the countries beyond. And like a raw but purgative mountain wind from the high peaks of Tibet and the Mongolian steppe, the rivers of nomads and pilgrims came rushing in, camping along the riverbanks in the open, uncultivated areas outside the city walls, bringing their wares to market and spreading their ideas among the people and the priests.

But not only the nomads of Central Asia but also those driven by wanderlust from the plains of Cimmeria56 and Persia and countries still more distant were drawn to Chungking, the only free city in the great, fossilised empire, and all of them, even those who came empty-handed without beasts of burden, brought the products and customs of their remote western lands. Some settled there, while others merely passed through but later returned, because the cities of Kublai Khan57 and the Manchus, which drew in Westerners with dreams of greatness, splendour, and religious scholarship, were a disappointment to foreigners who had spent time there. What good was there in walking the perimeter of the high palace walls around the Forbidden City58 and seeing,

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