sieh. "No, he is not", said Ta-yiu, Pi Shê-sieh is as black as pitch and his language is unintelligible. This is not the mau, liberate him and let him go". He was a man of great independance of character. The king of Sarbeza, the present Palembang, sent to China for 30.000 copper tiles, which the Emperor ordered the authorities of Canton and Chuan-chow to procure for him. Ta-yiu remonstrated with the Emperor, and told him that by law copper was not allowed to leave the country, and would not carry out the order. In Mongol times Chüan-chow shared with Fuh-chow and Changchow the honour of being the seat of the government of the Province; and among its governors was Sotu (), mentioned by Marco Polo under the name of Sagut, who was sent by Kublai to conquer Champa. It was from Chüan-chow harbour that a part of the unsuccessful expedition against Java set sail; it is however most probable that the contingent supplied by Chang-chow and Ting-chow sailed from Amoy harbour (Zaitun). In Kublai's reign, the governor of Fuh-kien sent an envoy to the Southern ocean to invite the sovereigns of Lambri, Ceylon and other places to send tribute to China, to which they all responded. Chüan-chow is not wanting in Buddhist Temples. Among the most celebrated of these is the Kai-yuan temple, which dates as far back as the end of the seventh century as the following legend will show. In the 2nd year of Chui-kung, 687, a man, named Hwang, had a dream, in which a Buddhist priest asked him to give him his house for a Temple. He refused and said, when the mulberrytree shall bear Lotus-flowers you shall have it. A few days after, the whole of his mulberry-trees were covered with Lotus-flowers. Hwang Thui-kung accordingly gave up his house and grounds for a Temple, which was first called the Lotus-flower temple. In the 26th year of Kai-yuan, the name was changed to the Kai-yuan temple, the Emperor having issued a decree that all Buddhist temples throughout the Empire should bear his name. During the Sung dynasty considerable additions were made to the temple, and at the commencement of the Mongol dynasty all the buildings were enclosed by a wall. At the end of the Mongol dynasty it was destroyed by fire, but it was rebuilt during the reigns of the Emperors Hung-wu and Yung-lo. It fell into great disrepair during the Ming dynasty; and Koxinga's Father Cheng-chi-lung put it into a thorough state of repair. There are in the grounds of this temple two large Pagodas called the Eastern and the Western Pagoda. They were formerly built of wood; but about 1247 they were constructed of stone. The Eastern one is about 193 feet high and the Western about 178 feet. In 1605 the top of the Eastern Pagoda was damaged by an Earthquake, and the Western one was in 1607 greatly injured by a Typhoon, but they were at once repaired. This Temple did not escape the notice of Martini, who, speaking of it, says: "The Temple of Cai-yuen deserves mention, on account of its two 7 storey pagodas, each 127 perches in height, for there are 19 perches between the two storeys". "They have balustrading and galleries at every storey which so project that you can walk round them outside. They are made of stone and marble. In every storey they have placed an image of Buddha cut out of stone or cast in copper. These images are so wonderfully made that the Chinese are quite right when they boast that they are the works of the Gods and not of men". I was chiefly attracted by figures hanging from the ceiling representing angels blowing trumpets, which I have never seen anywhere else in China; they struck me very much when I first saw them, but on examination they appeared very badly carved. 240 GEO. PHILLIPS, TWO MEDIEVAL FUH-KIEN TRADING PORTS. In bringing this paper to a close, I venture to hope, that my endeavours to solve the question, as to which cities in Fuh-kien mediæval and other writers intended to refer when speaking of them under their own peculiar orthography, may meet with due consideration. I am fully aware that my views on this subject differ widely from these of most other writers, such as Klaproth and Pauthier, in the identification of cities described by mediaval travellers in the Fuh-kien Province. I have however no desire to impose my theories on those equally interested in these matters, nor do I say they are infallibly correct; all I ask is, that those who think differently, will bring forward evidence to show, that Fuh-chow in early times and in the middle ages traded with foreigners and was frequented by ships and merchants from countries beyond the seas, in as great a measure as the neighbouring cities of Chang-chow and Ch'üan-chow. MÉLANGES. Die sinologischen Studien und Professor Hirth VON A. Franke. Bereits zu wiederholten Malen hat Professor Hirth darauf hingewiesen, wie die sinologischen Studien in Europa, und in Deutschland insbesondere, einer Reform bedürfen und vor allem auch eine grössere Berücksichtigung beauspruchen können als ihnen bislang auf den Universitäten zu Theil geworden ist. Die Sinologie, so führt er aus, darf nicht länger das bleiben, was sie heute vielen zu sein scheint unter den orientalischen Studien une quantité négligeable. Weder das zu behandelnde Material, noch die von ihm zu erwartenden Resultate rechtfertigen eine solche Stellung; dem Chinesischen gebührt vielmehr als selbständige Disciplin ein gleicher Rang wie den übrigen wichtigen orientalischen Sprachen. Was die Sinologie in Misscredit gebracht hat, das ist nicht die Werthlosigkeit des Materials, sondern die Methode der Bearbeitung, oder, mit anderen Worten, nicht die Wissenschaft, sondern ihre zu wenig fachmännischen Vertreter. Was wir brauchen, sind daher Gelehrte, die ihre gesammle Kraft den sinologischen Studien widmen, und nicht das Chinesische mit verschiedenen anderen Sprachen als blosses Hülfsmittel für andere Zwecke ansehen. Dann, und nur dann, werden Resultate erzielt werden, die der Sinologie Ehre machen und ihr den ihr zukommenden Platz in der Universitas litterarnm zu sichern geeignet sind. Soweit können wir die Ausführungen Prof. Hirth's, wie er sie kürzlich mit besonderem Nachdruck in der Vorrede zu seinem Aufsatz: > Die Länder des Islâm nach chinesischen Quellen" (Supplement zu dem 5. Bande der Toung-pao) und in dem Artikel » Über sinologische Studien" (Toung-pao, Vol. VI, N° 4) dargelegt hat, nur unterschreiben. China wird bis heute trotz seiner ungeheuren Litteratur, von der bislang nur ein kleiner Theil genauer bekannt ist, von der europäischen Gelehrtenwelt mit hartnäckiger Gleichgültigkeit behandelt. Während man die semitischen Sprachen, das Sanskrit mit seinen späteren Dialektbildungen, ja selbst das Aegyptische seit vielen Jahrzehnten mit allem Eifer durchforscht und sich dabei einer reichen Unterstützung seitens der europäischen Regierungen erfreut, geschieht für das Chinesische wenig oder nichts, und unter den grossen deutschen Universitäten, die allen möglichen Dingen Förderung angedeihen lassen, scheinen die wenigen, welche überhaupt einen Lehrstuhl für Chinesisch besitzen, es für zweckmässiger zu halten, denselben wieder zu beseitigen. Und doch verdient dieses Schicksal wahrlich keine Wissenschaft weniger als die Sinologie. Wer einmal Gelegenheit gehabt hat, in die seit Jahrtausenden wohl versorgten litterarischen Schatzkammern des Mittelreichs einen Blick zu werfen, der wird die Überzeugung gewonnen haben, dass hier noch ungeahnte Reichtümer schlummern müssen. Von den unzähligen geschichtlichen und geographischen Werken werden sich die wichtigsten Aufschlüsse über andere asiatische Länder und Völker, wie die Araber, die Bewohner von Tibet, Nord-Indien, Birma und Siam, sowie über die zahlreichen, einst so kriegerischen |