The Popular Romance of the History of the Qing Dynasty - Popular Romances of the Dynasties of China

Author: Cai Dongfan / Country:
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-05-01
Features: "The emperor's virtue is vast as the heavens, and the imperial grace is deep as the rain." (The opening line is both solemn and playful, full of profound meaning—readers, don’t be fooled.) This couplet was written by officials and commoners during the late Qing Dynasty as New Year’s greetings. From a young age, I had it memorized. I remember my birthday fell during the early years of the Guangxu reign in the Qing Dynasty. Although the Qing Dynasty was gradually declining, the twenty or so provinces still submitted to the Qing court, refusing to rebel. Scholars studied in the cities, farmers worked in the fields, artisans labored in shops, and merchants traded in markets, each pursuing their livelihoods in peace, as if under the vast virtue of the emperor and the deep grace of the imperial court. (How does it compare to today?) When I was about five or six years old, my father and elder brothers told me, "Our country is the Qing Dynasty, and we are its subjects." Thus, the word "Qing" was imprinted in my mind. Later, my father and brothers sent me to school, where I learned the names Zhao, Qian, Sun, and Li, and recited the principles of the heavens, earth, the first, and the yellow. Gradually, I learned to recognize the word "Qing." By the time I had studied the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects, and the Mencius, I had learned nearly three to five thousand characters. My teacher told me, "Numbers in books must be avoided in writing!" I didn’t understand and asked my teacher what words should be avoided. He wrote down characters like Xu, Ye, Yin, Hong, Yi, and Xu, instructing me to omit the last stroke of these characters. Then he wrote down characters like Cuo, Ning, and Chun, and added the characters Li, Ning, and Chun next to them, explaining that the character Cuo should be replaced with Li, Ning with Ning, and Chun with Chun. I still didn’t understand until my teacher explained it in detail. I learned that Xu and Ye were the names of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Yin was the name of the Yongzheng Emperor, Hong and Cuo were the names of the Qianlong Emperor, Yi was the name of the Jiaqing Emperor, and Ning and Chun were the names of the Daoguang, Xianfeng, and Tongzhi Emperors. The people were not allowed to write these characters arbitrarily, hence the need for avoidance. (Such a teacher was truly remarkable.) Later, when I took the imperial examinations, I found the rules even stricter, not daring to write even the substituted characters. I then thought that the Great Qing had unified the Central Plains, its remaining prestige was awe-inspiring, and it would last for a thousand autumns, never ending, able to stand side by side with the heavens. (How skillfully it was written.) But who knew that the world’s fortunes were fickle, and rise and fall were uncertain. While the interior remained quiet, the turmoil overseas grew day by day. Annam and Burma, though vassal states of China, were taken by Britain and France—needless to say, (the Qing Dynasty had been very generous.) Suddenly, Japan launched an invasion, and the Qing Dynasty sent troops to resist but suffered repeated defeats. With no choice, it had to bow its head and seek peace, paying Japan 240 million taels of silver and handing over Taiwan Province and the Penghu Islands in the southeast—only then did Japan agree to stop. Two or three years later, Port Arthur and Dalian Bay in Fengtian Province were leased by Russia, Jiaozhou Bay in Shandong Province by Germany, Weihaiwei in the northeast of Jiaozhou Bay by Britain, and Guangzhou Bay in Guangdong Province by France. Moreover, many mines and railways in the interior were also taken by foreign powers. (This is what is called national humiliation.) From then on, the Qing Dynasty lost all its prestige, external threats remained unresolved, and internal troubles arose. The revolutionaries in the east and the revolutionaries in the west stirred up trouble for over a decade, and the Qing court was unable to defend itself. Later, when Wuchang rebelled, the provinces responded one after another, overthrowing the 268-year-old Qing Dynasty and restoring the sovereignty of the 22 provinces. Afterward, everyone criticized the Qing Dynasty’s poor governance, insulting it in every way; some even called it a lowly and shameless race with the hearts of wolves and tigers, attaching imaginary tales to it, as if every Qing emperor was ignorant and cruel, and every Qing official was base and corrupt. This, however, was far from the truth. (A fair assessment.) I think the people of China are truly unreliable. When the Qing Dynasty existed, everyone flattered it, praising its vast virtue and deep grace. But after the Qing Dynasty fell, everyone condemned it as worthless. Why must it be like this? (The end of emperors is often like this.) When I had nothing to do, I studied the history of the Qing Dynasty in broad strokes and found both faults and virtues; both cruelty and benevolence. If it were as the people of the time said, how could it have lasted for over 260 years if it couldn’t even hold onto its throne for two or three years? (Truly, truly.) However, by the end of the dynasty, the emperor was weak and the officials were incompetent, the court was corrupt and chaotic. Thus, when the revolutionaries rose, the entire system collapsed. Now, the word "Qing" has become history, and the land and mountains of China remain unchanged. To transform chaos into order, one must carefully examine the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty, learn from the good and correct the bad, as the ancients said, "The lessons of Yin are not far away." (Revealing the grand and righteous purpose of the entire book, unlike the reckless and baseless nonsense of ordinary novelists.) Let’s skip the (brief digressions) and focus on the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, which was in Shenyang to the east of Shanhai Pass. In its early days, it was just a small village where people gathered and built a city by piling up earth, named Eudali, inhabited by the Tungusic people. Their ancestors were said to have lived there since before the Tang and Yu dynasties, known as the state of Susen. In the 25th year of Emperor Shun’s reign, the state of Susen presented bows and arrows to the court, which are recorded in history. Over time, the population grew, and they branched into various tribes, each led by a chief who was tall, strong, and skilled in horseback riding and archery. During the Zhao Song Dynasty, Aiguda, the founder of the Jin Dynasty, was an outstanding figure among them, expanding his territory until the banks of the Yellow River. The Song Dynasty was greatly troubled by him. Later, when the Mongols rose, the Jin Dynasty declined, and the Mongols allied with the Southern Song Dynasty to conquer it. Some remnants of the Jin Dynasty fled to the northeast, hiding by the coast. After two hundred years, another great figure emerged; it was said he was born of a heavenly maiden—a truly extraordinary tale! (How the heavenly maiden descended and what name she was called—unknown, perhaps similar to the goddess Zhinü or the weaver girl?) I dare not invent this out of thin air; it is what I found in historical records: The heavenly maiden was born on the coast of the northeast, at the foot of Changbai Mountain. She had three sisters: the eldest was Engulen, the second Zhengulen, and the youngest Fulongulen. They were siblings, deeply affectionate, but the customs of the frontier were different from those of the interior. Men roamed and herded, migrating constantly; women were also lively and loved to play. One day, the three sisters went for a walk in the countryside and reached Bokulishan at the east end of Changbai Mountain. The cave and ravine were tranquil, with a charming scenery. It was spring, with gentle breezes and hazy days, yellow birds flying in pairs, green branches intertwined. Delighted, they walked forward from the foot of the mountain. About a mile ahead, they saw a clear pool like a mirror, with lush grass on both banks, covering the ground like a carpet. Fulongulen, innocent and lively, with spring in her heart, invited her sisters to take off their clothes and bathe. Before they finished bathing, they heard the chirping of birds coming from afar. Looking up, they saw two or three spiritual magpies, like flowers in sisterhood. (A perfect parallel.) One magpie spat out something, which fell right onto Fulongulen’s clothes. Quick and nimble, she immediately picked it up. It looked like a delicious fruit. Without knowing its name, she put it in her mouth. Her sisters asked what she had picked up, but she had already swallowed it whole, vaguely answering, "It was a red fruit." Not having time to ask further, they climbed out, dressed, and walked back slowly. But Fulongulen, after eating the fruit, found her stomach swelling. She didn’t know why. Ten months later, she gave birth to a son who was not only extraordinary in appearance but also spoke clearly. Unwilling to abandon him, she raised him at home. Time passed quickly, and the infant grew into a young boy, but Fulongulen’s pregnancy out of wedlock drew some gossip. Fortunately, the wilderness was sparsely populated, allowing her to raise him to adulthood. (This shows that the story of the heavenly maiden was originally absurd.) The boy’s name was Bukurinongshun, chosen by Fulongulen because she had eaten a red fruit at Bokulishan and thus conceived him. She specially included the word "Bukuri" in his name as a ( means "commemoration"). Bukurinongshun, at the age of ten, was exceptionally intelligent. Realizing he had a mother but no father, he asked her, "To which clan do I belong?" Fulongulen told him the four characters "Aisin Gioro." Aisin Gioro was the local dialect of the people living at the foot of Changbai Mountain. Later, the descendants of Bukurinongshun established the Manchu Empire, and the term was passed down as the Manchu language. In Chinese, "Aisin" is phonetically similar to the character for gold, and "Goro" means surname. Thus, the lineage of Bukurinongshun can be clearly understood. Whether Fulongulen was a heavenly maiden or not, I won’t delve into. (Let’s leave it unexplained.) Now, let’s say Bukurinongshun grew up, learning the skills of horseback riding and archery, and in his free time, he would cut willow branches by the river to make rafts. You ask, what was the meaning of making rafts? He had great ambitions, thinking that living in the wilderness was ultimately unremarkable. If he made a raft from willow branches, he could travel. Indeed, nothing is too difficult for those with determination. The more willow branches he added, the larger the raft became, eventually turning into a small boat. Bukurinongshun was overjoyed and sat lightly on the raft, drifting down the river. A hero’s boldness and daring, as if guided by the spirits of the wind and the river, carried him to a peaceful place. (This is like riding the waves.)