At the very beginning of the VI century. at the court of the Chinese Tang dynasty, famous for its power and wealth, an amazing wandering Buddhist monk Huishan appeared in the chambers of the emperor Wu-di. Emperor Wu, like most other rulers of the Tang dynasty, favored Buddhism, with his assistance many new monasteries were rebuilt, numerous sutras were rewritten, and alms were generously distributed to monks. And now rumors reached Wu-di that a mendicant monk (bhikshu) Huishan surprises the public with stories about a certain country from which he returned several years ago. Huishan was invited to the court to once again tell his funny story, which reminded more of the ancient Chinese myths about "extraordinary lands" than the memories of a traveler.
One of the provincial governors named Yu Jie, who was present at the monk's story, recorded in detail his exposition entitled "Liang si gong ji" ("Notes of the four rulers of the Liang dynasty"), which has come down to us.
And this story turned out to be truly amazing, it is no coincidence that most of the listeners reacted to the monk with great distrust. It was enough to listen attentively to some passages of the monk's story, sustained in the traditional style of mythical stories about distant lands, where "celestials and immortals live", to understand the brightness of Huishan's fantasy. Basically, his story was devoted to a certain mysterious land of Fusan and adjacent territories, full of unusual phenomena, where, moreover, people of strange appearance live.
Huishan said that several years ago he went to some country lying more than 20 thousand li (approximately 10 thousand km) east of China, met there a people who were at a relatively high level of civilization, although this level was was lower than the development of Chinese culture at that time. We have not received any mention of how Huishan got to this distant country and how he came back, as well as how long he was away.
Only the date of his return is known - 499. He visited Huishan some territories, which he called with strange names: "Fusan country", "State of Women", "Yujie lands".
Many, many were unusual in his narration. At the end of the 18th century, the famous French Sinologist de Guigne discovered a record of the monk's stories in ancient Chinese chronicles and was himself to a large extent amazed by this story: “In the year 499, a Buddhist monk named Huishan came to China and talked about a certain country called Fusan. Fusan is located 20 thousand li (i.e., about 10 thousand km) east of the Great Han country. It is also located east of the Middle Kingdom (i.e., China). A large number of Fusan trees grow in it, from where this country got its name. The leaves of these trees are the color of oak. In their early stages, these trees look like bamboo shoots. Edible pear-shaped fruits, reddish in color, grow on them. The bark of trees can be used to make fabric, from which local people make clothes. They make boards to build their houses … Their cities have no walls.
They have a writing system and they make paper from the bark of the Fusan tree. They do not wage wars, and therefore they have no weapons in this country. This state has prisons - one in the south and one in the north. For minor offenses, criminals are placed in the southern prison, and for more serious ones - in the northern one. If the criminal is forgiven, he is transferred to the southern prison, but if he fails to obtain a pardon, he remains in the northern prison. These people, who are imprisoned in the northern prison, men and women, can marry each other, and, having lost their sister, they grieve for three days without eating. Here, images of spirits are hung on the walls, which are worshiped in the morning and in the evening. People do not wear mourning clothes or other signs of mourning.
During his first three years of accession to the throne, the local ruler does not deal with state affairs. Previously, there was no knowledge of Buddhism in this country, but during the Song dynasty in 458, five monks (that is, the Huishan expedition - A. M.), leaving from Kipin (Kabul), reached this country. Bringing Buddhist scriptures and images with them, telling the locals about Buddhist teachings and rejecting their crude customs, they changed them …
Promotional video:
Huishan also said that the state of Women is located a thousand li to the east of Fusan. By their appearance, the people of this country are clean and neat, and their color is white. Hair grows on their bodies, and the hair on their heads is very long and reaches the ground. They enter the water and become pregnant. They give birth to children after five to six months. Women have almost no breasts. They are hairy on the back of the head, and milk is in their hair. After a hundred days, the child can walk, and after three or four years he grows up. And all this is true. Seeing a man, women get scared and hide. They have great respect for their husbands. This people eat the leaves of salted plants, which resemble some Chinese herbs and have a pleasant smell. In 507, several people from Jinan who managed to cross the ocean were nailed to an unknown shore by a strong hurricane. Having landed on the shorethey found a people who are very similar to the Chinese, but the men have human bodies and the heads are dogs. And they even make sounds similar to the barking of dogs.
The people eat something like little beans or grains. They wear clothes made of matter. They hammer in the ground and make fired clay bricks for the walls of their house, round in shape, and the door or entrance is like a hole."
Huishan also said that this people has its own emperor - the "Ruler of the multitude", who changes the color of his attire every two years. Local residents actively breed cattle, make kumis from milk and grow grapes. In this country, gold and silver are widely used, which are not considered a special value, but the locals do not know iron.
There were also quite unusual passages in the monk's story. “At a great distance to the south of this country lie the Yanshan Mountains (“smoking mountains”), whose inhabitants eat lobsters, crabs and hairy snakes in order to protect themselves from the heat. On the top of this mountain live fire rats - ferrets or squirrels, whose fur is used to make non-combustible material and which is purified by fire instead of being purified by water. To the north, at a great distance from the State of Women, is the Black Throat or Plain, and to the north of the Black Throat are mountains so high that they reach the sky and are covered with snow all year round. The sun is not showing here at all. It is said that Glowing Dragons live here. A great distance to the west of the State of Women, there are fountains that taste like wine. In the same area you can also find the Sea of Laca,whose waves are painted in the color of black feathers and fur, which are immersed in it, and a little nearby there is another sea of milk color. The area surrounded by these natural wonders is very extensive and fertile. Large dogs, ducks and horses live here, and finally there are even birds that give birth to human babies. Male babies born from these birds do not survive. And only daughters are raised with great care by their fathers, who carry them in their beaks or on their wings. Once they start walking, they become their own masters. All of them are of remarkable beauty and very hospitable, but they all die before they reach even thirty. Rats in this country are white and huge, like horses, and their hair is several centimeters long. "which are immersed in it, and a little nearby there is another sea of milk color. The area surrounded by these natural wonders is very extensive and fertile. Large dogs, ducks and horses live here, and finally there are even birds that give birth to human babies. Male babies born from these birds do not survive. And only daughters are raised with great care by their fathers, who carry them in their beaks or on their wings. Once they start walking, they become their own masters. All of them are of remarkable beauty and very hospitable, but they all die before reaching thirty. Rats in this country are white and huge, like horses, and their hair is several centimeters long. "which are immersed in it, and a little nearby is another sea of milk color The area surrounded by these natural wonders is very extensive and fertile. Large dogs, ducks and horses live here, and finally there are even birds that give birth to human babies. Male babies born from these birds do not survive. And only daughters are raised with great care by their fathers, who carry them in their beaks or on their wings. Once they start walking, they become their own masters. All of them are of remarkable beauty and very hospitable, but they all die before they reach even thirty. Rats in this country are white and huge, like horses, and their hair is several centimeters long. "very long and fertile. Large dogs, ducks and horses live here, and finally there are even birds that give birth to human babies. Male babies born from these birds do not survive. And only daughters are raised with great care by their fathers, who carry them in their beaks or on their wings. Once they start walking, they become their own masters. All of them are of remarkable beauty and very hospitable, but they all die before reaching thirty. Rats in this country are white and huge, like horses, and their hair is several centimeters long. "very long and fertile. Large dogs, ducks and horses live here, and finally there are even birds that give birth to human babies. Male babies born from these birds do not survive. And only daughters are raised with great care by their fathers, who carry them in their beaks or on their wings. Once they start walking, they become their own masters. All of them are of remarkable beauty and very hospitable, but they all die before reaching thirty. Rats in this country are white and huge, like horses, and their hair is several centimeters long. "And only daughters are raised with great care by their fathers, who carry them in their beaks or on their wings. Once they start walking, they become their own masters. All of them are of remarkable beauty and very hospitable, but they all die before reaching thirty. Rats in this country are white and huge, like horses, and their hair is several centimeters long. "And only daughters are raised with great care by their fathers, who carry them in their beaks or on their wings. Once they start walking, they become their own masters. All of them are of remarkable beauty and very hospitable, but they all die before reaching thirty. Rats in this country are white and huge, like horses, and their hair is several centimeters long."
How did the audience react to such a strange story? Even the Chinese consciousness, which usually favorably perceived such stories about unusual phenomena and was prone to all kinds of hoaxes, was not able to take it all seriously, and the chronicle thus conveys the reaction of the imperial court to us: “The audience at the court amused this story very much. They laughed and clapped their hands, telling each other that they had never heard a better story. In short, no one could take Huishan's story seriously.
In general, all this was perceived as a traditional Chinese fable. And even Western researchers found in this confirmation of the “progressiveness” of the Chinese perception of the external world in those distant times - it turns out that even they could distinguish truth from fiction! The French Sinologist Marquis d'Herve, commenting on this passage, remarked: “This amusing event shows us that the Chinese were not as gullible as they often seem to us during the Six Dynasties. They knew how to distinguish the truth from the incredible, and the extravagance of the storytellers, over which they made fun of, in no way diminishes the merit of the recorders, whom they respected so much."
Alexey Maslov