Did an Obscure Asian Democratic Republic Precede the American Republic?

January 13, 2011 at 12:00 am (Chinese Culture, History)

This article is dedicated to my son, CT Lam, for alerting me to the fascinating life and extraordinary achievements of Low Lan Pak and for urging me to share it with readers in my blog; and also to my good friend, Yuan Jian, for spontaneously and painstakingly providing me with Chinese sources of material on the unusual founding of the Lanfang Republic of Borneo.

The Lanfang Republic was established as early as 1777, 12 years before George Washington’s United States of America officially became a republic, followed by the Republic of France three years later, 135 years before the Chinese Republic and 140 years prior to Lenin overthrowing the Russian monarchy and set up the world’s first communist republic of Soviet Russia.

If you pose this question to any reasonably well-informed person in the West, in Asia and in anywhere else, it is most likely that the overwhelming majority of them would immediately pick the American Republic as having been founded earlier than any Asian republic. This is because we have been taught to believe that the American people were the first outside of Europe to opt for the democratic republic form of government, elected by the people, after this concept was first introduced by the ancient Greeks in Athens more than 25 centuries ago and was later spread to the ancient Roman Empire and then to some European countries before making its transatlantic journey to the British colonies in America before they became the American Republic. Most people in both East and West would be surprised, if not astounded, to learn that  an Asian republic, the Lanfang Republic, situated in underdeveloped Borneo island in the present day West Kalimantan of the Republic of Indonesia, preceded the American one. They would be even more amazed to learn that this obscure Asian republic, with a government duly elected by the people, was not founded by the natives there but by a poor migrant worker from a remote village in far away China who settled there in search of a better life. The Lanfang Republic was established as early as 1777, 12 years before George Washington’s United States of America officially became a republic, followed by the Republic of France three years later, 135 years before the Chinese Republic and 140 years prior to Lenin overthrowing the Russian monarchy and set up the world’s first communist republic of Soviet Russia. However, whereas these bigger countries’ republic births came about only after heavy loss of lives and blood-letting, not so with the much smoother and more peaceful birth of the tiny Lanfang Republic of Borneo, the third largest island in the world.This epic saga of the circumstances culminating in the founding of this Borneo republic by a Chinese migrant miner bears telling and should be made known to a wider public, as the likes of which are not likely to ever happen again.

The would-be founder of the Lanfang Republic was one Low Lan Pak, also known as Low Lanfang, hailed from a village in Meixian County of Guangdong Province in South China. This county was inhabited by Hakka dialect-speaking people, known throughout the country for their sturdiness, industry, adventurous trait and leadership qualities. But, unlike most Chinese villagers of that time, Low was both an educated man and also skilled in martial arts. His fellow villagers greatly admired him for his brain and brawn. Low was aiming to be a Confucian scholar and a career in the nation’s coveted civil service, for which he must pass three different levels of highly competitive Imperial Examinations before he could secure a suitable job in the civil service. He tried very hard to pass the lowest level of county examination which would then make him a Xuicai (a cultivated talent, like a holder of a Bachelor’s degree). Sadly, he failed repeatedly. Frustrated and despondent, he decided to forego this ambition and seek a worthwhile alternative mode of living. He came to know that far away Nanyang, Chinese term for Southeast Asia, was rich in natural resources and business opportunities for hardworking and enterprising people to accumulate wealth. He was determined to find his pot of gold there and dreamt of ultimately returning to his ancestral village in a blaze of glory. He managed to borrow enough money for his arduous and long journey to Nanyang and also succeeded in convincing a small group of ambitious fellow villagers to accompany him to this distant land to jointly seek a better life and potential riches. They chose to go to Borneo’s vast West Kalimantan with its newly discovered gold and tin mines and abundance of other relatively untapped mineral wealth as well as fertile agricultural lands awaiting exploitation by the adventurous and resourceful people with business acumen and determination to succeed.

Upon their arrival at their promised land in the coastal region of West Kalimantan around the middle of 18th century, Low and his followers found that their new home was situated in a huge and mostly underdeveloped landmass of wilderness but at its fringe there was already an established township with a sizable native population and there were also some 30 Chinese residents among them. The natives there were mainly farmers and the Chinese worked in tin and gold mines, and they warmly welcomed these new Chinese settlers. This region of Borneo was then under the jurisdictions of three sultans, not on very friendly terms with each other and their boundary lines were ill-defined and giving rise to frictions, while the vast interior was inhabited mainly by the  aborigines called the Dyaks. Sultan Abdul Rahman was based in his capital in Kuntian in Pontianak, already a thriving commercial centre because of the newly discovered gold and tin mines there, and it was closer to the land where Low and his followers had made their homes, near Kuntian, while Sultan Omar was in Menpawah some distance away and further apart from these two sultans was the remaining Sultan Pemenbahan who held sway in the Singkawang area. These three sultans were well aware of the industry and pioneering spirit of the Chinese migrants and were competing to offer them incentives by leasing them lands at attractive terms in order for them to explore and work the mines, mainly comprising gold or tin, which were much sought after in international markets. Thus, Low and his friends became miners and formed a kongsi (both as a business cooperative venture and for mutual protection against hostile outside forces including other rival Chinese kongsis in that area and in the surrounding districts) and operated a mining enterprise in Kuntian to exploit tin and gold mines with the help of their native workforce and other Chinese settlers. They all worked extremely hard to open up these mines and, under Low’s farsighted leadership,  the Lanfang Kongsi gradually became extremely prosperous, the Kuntan Sultan had become richer through concessions granted them and the Chinese and native employees too enjoyed a much better standard of living than ever before. Low then built a new township, near Kuntian, to facilitate commercial dealings with others and for the benefit of his employees and their families too. In less than two decades of Low’s arrival there, more and more Chinese migrants, both from his native Hakka Meixian area and elsewhere as well as from other parts of Nanyang, had come and settled in West Kalimantan and they swelled the ranks of the Chinese population there to more than 20,000. Many of these new Chinese arrivals were recruited into Low’s Lanfang kongsi, while others banded together to from their own kongsis as this vast territory offered enough mineral and agricultural wealth for all, migrants and natives, to have a share in this expanding pie, as it were.

With growing wealth filling his coffers through land concessions granted to the miners, the Mempawah Sultan decided to build a new grand palace in the interior so as to enhance his standing in relation to his fellow sultans. This greatly offended the Kuntian Sultan and fierce fighting between the armed forces of both sides ensued. The Kuntian Sultan then decided to seek the help of Low to defeat his rival. As the palace was being built nearer to Low’s Lanfang Kongsi, he agreed to be on the side of the Kuntian Sultan and declared war on the Mempawah Sultan. The combined forces of Low and the Kuntian Sultan easily defeated their joint enemy. Unhappy with this outcome, the Mempawah Sultan then joined forces with the Dyaks to launch a counter attack but they were again trounced by their opponents. As a result of this resounding victory, Low’s reputation and prestige grew by leaps and bounds and numerous natives in the neighbouring districts and the Chinese from other rival kongsis too decided to come under Low’s protection. At the same time the defeated sultan and the Singkawang Sultan agreed to sign a peace treaty on terms favourable to Low’s Kongsi. Low’s ally, the Kuntian Sultan also deemed it in his best interest to place his sultanate under the former’s protection. More lands and generous mining concessions, together with a vastly increased population, then came under the control of Low as a result  of the peace treaties and gratitude shown by the Kuntian Sultan to Low for defeating his rival sultan. In absolute terms, Low and his Kongsi now had an extensive territory and a population close to one million people within their jurisdiction. Hence, Low’s Lanfang Kongsi had, in reality, become a government unto itself providing and looking after the livelihood, welfare and the security of this significant population, as well as the well-being of the three sultanates under its protection too against the possible encroachments of their territorial integrity by Western colonial powers, like the Dutch, who had already colonised much of present day Indonesia and who would sooner or later cast their greedy eyes on the rich resources of West Kalimantan.

In the circumstances, the need to transform Lanfang Kongsi into an effective government body began to be felt acutely and urgently by Low and the community leaders within his jurisdiction. What form should such a government take – a sultanate like the other three there or a more democratic regime elected by the people? Low, through his wide reading and contacts with some knowledgeable Westerners, was already familiar with the concept of a democratic government chosen by the people and answerable to them as an alternative to a monarchy and this had already gained growing support with thinkers and other intellectuals in Europe. He held serious discussions with these community leaders on the need to form a government to administer their newly gained expanded territory and they unanimously urged Low to run Lanfang Kongsi as a state with himself crowned as its sultan. Low rejected their suggestion outright and decided that the new government should be a democratic republic and that he would deem it a great honour if the community leaders and other elites would elect him as its founding president and help him to form his administration. They had no choice but to accept his proposal and Low was subsequently elected to be the first president of the Lanfang Republic by popular votes. This new republic’s constitution states that, as the majority of the community leaders and Chinese there were Hakkas from the Meixian and Dabu counties in China, the incumbent president and vice president must be of such Hakka descent.

It remains to this day an unresolved historical puzzle why Low did not accede to the popular wish of his people that he should rightfully and deservedly accept their request that he should assume the title of sultan, instead of an elected president, which would have been the crowning glory of his glorious career. The jury is still out on this question. Nonetheless, according to the Chinese experts, there are two explanations for Low’s choice, which seemed plausible, but are not supported by official records. The first version is that, under the then Chinese laws, Low would still be a Chinese subject even though he was residing abroad. If he were to assume the tittle of sultan without the prior sanction of the Chinese Emperor, he would have committed treason, which was a capital offense. His crime would be visited on his family members and other relatives in China who would vicariously pay for his crime with their lives. This consideration alone would have prevented him from accepting the title of sultan even if he had wanted to. The second version claims that Low did send a special envoy to the Chinese Court to seek the Emperor’s consent to receive his new state as a subordinate state of the Chinese Empire and, in return, the Emperor might wish to graciously bestow a kingship on Low. His petition was rejected by the Emperor outright as he had no desire to create an outpost in far away Borneo as part of his already extensive empire, much less would he confer a kingship on Low in return. Be that as it may, neither the Chinese nor the republic official records made any mention on this matter. On the other hand, there are records on both sides that regular commercial dealings existed between China’s southern ports and the Republic until it was conquered by the Dutch.

My own view is that there are other factors why Low opted for a republic. The Chinese experts appeared to have overlooked the fact that Low could have genuinely believed that a democratic form of government would suit his new state better, with its multi-racial population. Furthermore, to make himself a sultan would certainly have resulted in serious frictions between him and the three sultans and this would have adverse ramifications for both sides. Being a realist and a dynamic leader, Low would have concluded that the best way forward for his people and for himself would be the formation of a republic for his new state.

The Lanfang Republic, named after Low’s Kongsi, came into being in 1777 and the town where the Kongsi was sited, Ceh-Wan-Li, became its official capital. In keeping with the essence and practice of democracy, the state was divided into provinces, counties and towns and villages. They local residents would elect their own local governments or councils, depending on their size and population, and they had autonomy in running their own local affairs subject only to the observance of the overall policies laid down by the central government headed by the President and his government colleagues. At the state level, Low’s government also set up judiciary and legislative bodies as well as departments in charge of finance, defence and education among others. In education, the Chinese system was favoured in order to inculcate Chinese culture in the young. However, non-Chinese pupils could choose to attend their own language schools as before. There was no standing army and in the event of armed conflicts with hostile outside forces, all able-bodied men would be expected to defend their Republic. From all accounts, the Republic managed its affairs efficiently and treated all its citizens fairly and squarely and that Low and his government colleagues were well respected and highly popular with the citizenry as well as with the sultanates. The Lanfang Republic had attracted the attention of the elites of Europe. In 1793, during the 16th year of the founding of this Asian Republic, several western international affairs experts made a special visit to West Kalimantan to see for themselves what made the Lanfang Republic tick in a relatively underdeveloped part of Asia. One of them wrote a front page article about his favourable impressions of it in the authoritative Times of London, founded in 1785, which all decision makers in Britain would read. The writer heaped lavish praises upon its founding father Low’s remarkable contributions to this fledgling republic. In particular, he singled out his harmonious relationships with the sultans for mutual benefit, uniting the different races there into a cohesive group and, above all, in successfully implementing the original Athenian style of a democratic republic and for his able leadership abilities in bringing his people to economic prosperity. The writer further observed that while the republic’s economic and military prowess were behind that of the Western countries, the essence and integrity that Low had brought to his administration was comparable to what Washington had propounded and  accomplished for his beloved United States.

President Low was in office for 18 years and died in 1795 at the age of 57. It was a blow to his people. Low’s successors continued his splendid work and the firm foundation laid for the Republic and it continued to prosper. In the latter half of the 19th century, the Dutch began to conquer many parts of West Kalimantan and threatened the republic’s own territories and that of the sultanates. The invaders’ initial military adventures against the Republic and its allies were successfully repulsed by the defending forces. Undaunted by these initial setbacks, the Dutch increased the strength of their military in West Kalimantan and four years of fierce fighting followed between the two sides. Sadly, despite having a numerically bigger army than that of the invading Dutch, Lanfang Republic was finally destroyed by their enemy in 1884, after having existed for 107 years and had 10 presidents, because they were vastly superior in their fire-power and battle techniques. Many of the community leaders of the defeated republic and their ardent followers managed to flee to Medan in Sumatra and from there some moved to Malaya and Singapore. It is said that among them was an ancestor of Lee Kuan Yew, the world famous founding father of Singapore and its first Prime Minister, who, like Low Lan Pak, is also of Hakka descent.

In commemoration of Low’s significant contributions to the developement of West Kalimantan, the Indonesian Government and the people there had named a high school in Kuntian after him. At his park-like cemetary site, a memorial hall was built to showcase his life and achievements in this part of the Indonesian Republic. In Low’s hometown in Meixian County in China too, a high school and a memorial hall bear his name in remembrance of one of this county’s most illustrious sons.

Lam Pin Foo

6 Comments

The Mesmerizing Grandeur of China’s Great Wall and Forbidden City

November 20, 2010 at 12:00 am (Chinese Culture, History, Travel)

“Ye Ye, don’t forget you promise to take us to climb the Great Wall of China and to see the Forbidden City in Beijing. Shall we go during this May-June school holidays?”. Our eight-year old grandson, CE, reminded me at the beginning of this year. This was immediately echoed by his four-year old sister LT. The two kids looked at me intently and expectantly for a favourable response. After consulting my wife and their parents, I said “Yes, we shall all go to Beijing during the May-June school vacation.” You could well imagine the unconcealed delight on their faces and they spontaneously hugged me lovingly and thanked me for keeping my promise. My honour stayed intact with them! From then on, our grandchildren began to take a keener interest in China and the world-renowned historic monuments in Beijing where we will spend an entire week sightseeing.This would enable us to cover the best known of these sights leisurely, among them are several coveted World Heritage Sites awarded by UNESCO, the cultural and educational arm of the United Nations. After many a weekend family lunch or dinner at our house, during which CE and LT were completely captivated listening to my stories about the legends of the Great Wall and the other famous sights of Beijing which will soon become very real and palpable to them. After what seemed to them a long wait, 29th May 2010 finally arrived and the six of us embarked on this Beijing discovery tour to educate our grandchildren on the history of their ancestral land.

Beijing, the capital of the Peoples’ Republic of China since its founding in 1949, has had a glorious but turbulent history. It was successively the capital of Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, spanning the 13th to the early 20th centuries. It is a relatively well-preserved ancient city with a population of 15-million. It is also a very modern metropolis with high-rise buildings and mega shopping malls sprouting out in all directions both within and outside the inner city. Those who had seen Beijing prior to the 1990s would now find it difficult to recognise the modern city of today. Fortunately for all who love Beijing, despite extensive demolitions of the centuries-old hallmark quadrangle-shaped hutong dwellings in the narrow lanes and alleys of the old city to make way for development, some parts of the old Beijing have been skilfully preserved for posterity to remind visitors of the original face of this colourful and fascinating ancient capital of China.

On our first day in Beijing, CE astutely remarked that the Mandarin spoken by the locals seemed different from that he was accustomed to back home in Singapore but was nevertheless quite intelligible to him. As our eldest grandchild, his parents had assigned my wife and I the unenviable task of giving him a reasonable foundation in Chinese, which would give him a good start when he enters the Nanyang Primary School, noted for its tradition of bilingual education, which his father and his two elder brothers attended in their younger days. Our joys and frustrations teaching him Chinese and Mandarin from the age of two-plus to four-plus can be gleaned from my earlier postings in August ’03 and May ’07. As our hard-earned reward, it has given us much satisfaction that, now in Primary 3, his attainment in Chinese is comparable to the level of his brighter classmates. He and his sister are growing up in an overwhelmingly English-speaking environment as this universal language is commonly spoken by many Singaporeans both at home and at work and it is increasingly the vehicle of communication among the multiethnic population that resides in this cosmopolitan city-state, just as in the United States. My wife and I later also taught LT the rudiments of Chinese language until she attended kindergarten last year. Even now, we have continued to speak to them only in Mandarin in the hope that they will become bilingual by choice later in life. To my delight, they immediately took to Beijing like fish to water and they were proud to show off their limited vocabulary in Mandarin whenever the opportunity presented itself.

We planned our tour programmes carefully in order to maximise our enjoyment of the capital’s renowned landmarks and not cramming too much into a day’s itinerary. As May and June are the start of the peak tourist season in Beijing, we decided not to go to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, the two most popular sights there, on our first weekend as tens of thousands of domestic and international tourists would descend on them and we would have to jostle with the throngs to have a close-up look at these two man-made wonders. This would have decidedly spoiled our appreciation of them and greatly disappointed the two kids. To experience and savour these places at our own pace on a weekday with much smaller crowds would therefore be a prudent and preferred option. To enhance one’s sightseeing pleasures, a comfortable and good pair of walking shoes is indispensable so as to withstand hours of standing and walking as nearly all the popular spots there are invariably vast in space. After a tasty dumplings and noodles lunch, we were ready to begin our Beijing adventure by going to the world-renowned Temple of Heaven, a world Heritage Site, which we the adults believed would be a good introduction to Beijing for the two youngsters.

Temple of Heaven

Completed in 1420 after 14 years of construction work, and later renovated and expanded during the 16th and 18th centuries, the Temple of Heaven complex occupies 2.7 million sq m of parkland and is twice the size of the Forbidden City complex, the seat of imperial power and the residence of the reigning monarch, which was also completed at the same time. This is so because the formidable Ming Emperor Yongle, who had this temple complex built humbly and piously, directed that his own royal palace must be much smaller in size than the abode of Heaven itself. The Chinese Emperor adopted the title “Son of Heaven” to emphasize his authority was conferred by heaven. The temple complex comprises three core structures, as well as several shrines and monuments, which collectively are called the Temple of Heaven. It is an architectural marvel worthy of the conferment of World Heritage Site status by UNESCO whose citation reads “A masterpiece of architecture and landscape design which simply and graphically illustrates a cosmogony of great importance for the evolution of one of the world’s great civilisations …”. It is the most holy and revered of temples in China and a must-see when visiting Beijing.

Perfect in architectural proportions and craftsmanship and built with the finest quality wood throughout without using nails, the three core components  of the Temple of Heaven, comprising the Hall of Prayer For Bountiful Harvests, the Imperial Vault Of Heaven  and the Altar of Heaven are all circular in shape because the ancient Chinese believed that heaven was round and they sat on square-shaped areas below representing the earth. These temple buildings have roofs that are tiled blue in colour, reflecting the colour of heaven and sky. Separate ancient temples for sun, moon and earth were also constructed elsewhere in the capital.

Hall Of Prayer For Bountiful Harvests

This is a three-gabled structure measuring 38m in height. It is complimented by a circular three-tiered terraces of white marble base, with steps connecting one level to another. The Hall’s interior is wholly adorned with exquisite and colourful decorations and supported by 28 huge ornate columns representing the twelve months of the year, the twelve shicheng (hours) of the day by Chinese computation and the four seasons of the year. There is a ceremonial throne strategically placed in this vast hall. It is in this hall that the Emperor would pray to heaven annually to bestow good harvests in the year ahead. This is by far the most imposing and magnificent building of all within the complex and stands proudly visible from all directions. Visitors are not allowed in this hall and in the Imperial Vault of Heaven for preservation reasons. Our grandson was completely captivated by it, and took a long final look at it before leaving it.

Imperial Vault Of Heaven

This is a single-gabled building sitting on a white marble ground and it is smaller in dimension than the Hall of Prayer for Bountiful Harvests but no less elegant and alluring. It is encircled by the famed long Echo Wall, well-known for its acoustical qualities. If one whispers something at one end of the wall another person can hear it at the other end and vice versa. Much to my grandchildren’s dismay a barrier was put up to prevent access to the wall itself in order to prevent vandalism or other forms of abuse of it as had happened before the barrier was erected.

Altar of Heaven

This is a circular mound altar which stands on an empty triple-level white marble platform, also with steps connecting one level to another. This was where the Emperor would pray to heaven for good weather throughout his domains in the year ahead.

Before China became a republic in 1911, the Emperor, accompanied by his large entourage of officials, eunuchs and other palace servants (no females allowed) would make his twice yearly journey to the Temple of Heaven from his royal residence at the Forbidden City to pay homage to his heavenly father. Beijing residents en route must stay indoors as they were not allowed to watch the royal procession. Before embarking on this spiritual mission, he must abstain from any sexual activities for a prescribed period in order to cleanse his body and soul. After the Emperor’s arrival at the temple complex, he would stay in the royal quarters for an obligatory period and partake of only austere vegetarian meals during his pilgrimage there to demonstrate his sincerity and piety. At the auspicious time and date carefully chosen by the royal astrologer, the Son of Heaven would then beseech heaven for good harvests at the Hall of Prayer For Bountiful Harvests and for favourable weather at the Altar Of Heaven. Whether his heavenly father would grant the Emperor his petitions would be eagerly awaited not only by the Emperor and his court officials but also by his millions of subjects spread all over his extensive empire. As an agriculture based economy, weather conditions would determine whether the country was going to have a good or bad year. If a bad year ensued this would be perceived by the populace that the Emperor and his officials had failed to rule the land justly and effectively and therefore heaven had shown its anger by not answering the Emperor’s prayers in the way he and his subjects had yearned for. Worse still, if a bad year was followed by famines or other natural calamities like devastating earthquakes or widespread flooding, this could well be seen as a clear sign that the Emperor’s mandate from heaven to rule his country  had been forfeited  because he had shown himself to be unjust and incompetent and therefore an unworthy ruler. Such a situation could lead to popular uprisings to overthrow his dynasty and replace it with a more just and benign one. This had happened time and again in the course of Chinese history to even those once might dynasties like Tang, Yuan and Ming.

After having spent more than three hours at this complex, our grandchildren had truly enjoyed their first excursion immensely. They were most impressed with the grand structures and monuments there, but was sorely disappointed that they were not allowed inside the Temple of Heaven buildings and also they did not get to test the magic of the Echo Wall. They hoped that they would have an even more enjoyable adventure the next day at the Great Wall, which had already captured their curiosity and interest for almost a year as the highlight of their forthcoming vacation in Beijing.

Great Wall

We rose early the next morning in order to get to the Badaling sector of the Great Wall before the large crowds of other tourists get there. This is the most popular, best preserved and most accessible portion of the Great Wall from Beijing, about 90 minutes drive from the city centre. On the return journey we would see the Ming Tombs. We hired a 7-seater mini van and a bilingual tour guide from our hotel so as to make this memorable trip more interesting and informative for the two excited kids. The genial guide, Xiao Li, and our grandchildren hit it off immediately and they could converse with him in a mixture of Mandarin and English. Xiao Li had no problems answering all sorts of questions my grandson put to him about China. It was a misty day and traffic along the superb expressway was light and we arrived at our destination in good time. Thankfully, the mist suddenly lifted and the day brightened up. There are a number of entrances to the Great Wall, the most commercial one has a cable car network taking less energetic tourists to and from the wall with less walking. The experienced Xiao Li chose an entrance that was less used by the large tour groups so that we could have a more relaxed time to savour the wall and its scenic splendour. My wife and I had been to Badaling twice before in the past decades, once with our three boys when they were teenagers. The Great Wall was commissioned by the cruel but dynamic First Emperor more than 2200 years ago and was built on the hilly region of Northern China to safeguard the Chinese borders against the invading  Mongol, Manchu and other nomadic tribes. Hardly any part of the original wall remains today. Hundreds of thousands of conscripted labourers from all over the country were forced into constructing this gigantic wall in record time at the expense of thousands of lives. A popular legend is that a persistent and loving wife made arduous journeys to one of the sites where her husband was stationed only to be told that he had died of sickness there. Distressed beyond words she broke down and wept uncontrollably and the wall where he was buried beneath suddenly collapsed revealing the body of her late husband. She buried him properly and then committed suicide to join him in the afterlife. She became a household name in China and a shrine was later built in her memory at her hometown.  The Great Wall underwent very extensive revamp and reinforcement with bricks and stones to replace the original rammed earth and wood work structure during the 15th century and so the Badaling wall that we see today is essentially a Ming wall. The Great Wall had proved effective to keep off invaders until the 17th century when a disloyal Chinese general opened one of the wall gates to the invading Manchu armies and they managed to overthrow the fast declining Ming dynasty and founded the Qing dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 to 1911 when China became a republic. The Great Wall had numerous signal watch towers at different sectors to warn Chinese commanders and soldiers stationed there of any approaching invaders.

The first sight of the Great Wall almost took our breaths away. Our two grandchildren simply stared at the majestic wall in front of them silently for a while before CE said to me, “Ye Ye, what a big and beautiful wall this is! I can’t believe we are here at last. Shall we start climbing it right away?” Xiao Li then suggested that we would all climb up the wall leisurely until we reached the first watch tower at a hilltop, covering a distance of close to 1.5 km. After we had rested and seen enough of the scenery, we would start descending carefully as this would be more difficult than going up. The well-paved brick walkway was almost 10 m wide, with steps and railings on both sides for ease of walking and for safety. The kids were enjoying themselves being held by the hands by Xiao Li for the climb up and listening to his stories of the Great Wall and asking him questions every now and again whenever something interested them. The first 20 minutes walk up was quite easy and fun, as we chatted, stopped to admire the scenic beauty around us or to rest for a while or to pose for photographs. From then on the ascent became more demanding and steep .My wife and I then began to pant a bit shortly after passing the halfway mark. We decided not to go any further up as our tired bodies seemed to be warning us. Twenty years ago, to get to the top would have been a breeze for us. Xiao Li turned round and remarked sympathetically, “Uncle and aunty, you can’t fight against your venerable age, you know. You have already done better than many of your age”. With a tinge of envy, we watched the five of them quickening their pace up the wall without us and, before long, the two competitive youngsters were waving at us vigorously and triumphantly from the watch tower just ahead of their parents who had lovingly let them forge ahead of them to make them feel good! Walking on the steps going downhill, while easy for the rest, was even more challenging for my wife and I than ascending the wall and we had to hold on to the railings firmly until we were nearing the bottom of the entrance to the wall. As soon as we had completed the Great Wall climb, CE declared proudly, “Having gone up to the watch tower, Xiao Li said I am now a real man, no longer a boy. I can’t wait to tell all my friends and classmates of LT’s and my achievements.”  I patted my grandchildren on their shoulders and flashed a “V” sign at them, and that was reward enough for them. Our more than two hours at Badaling was an exhilarating experience for both our grandchildren and it will remain firmly etched in their memories for a long time to come.

Ming Tombs

On the return journey, we dropped in at the Ming Tombs, another World Heritage Site, to complete our sightseeing programme for the day. This is where 13 of the 17 Ming dynasty monarchs were buried in a huge expanse of premium land with a commanding landscape. It is the largest of all royal burial grounds in China. The site was personally chosen by the third Ming Emperor Yongle, who ruled China from 1403 to 1428, based on auspicious fengshui (art of geomancy) guidelines. All the 13 tombs are identical in plan, design and layout, but that of Emperor Yongle’s is the largest and the grandest of them all. His mausoleum complex took more than five years to complete under his watchful supervision. Of all the tombs  there, only that of emperor Wanli’s (Dingling) had been excavated but the artifacts found had been removed to a museum nearby and elsewhere for safekeeping. The empty tomb was closed to the public when we were there. Only Changling, the tomb complex of Yongle Emperor, and Zhaoling were opened to the public. To get to the Changling mausoleum, one must pass through an impressive seven-kilometer long Spirit Way, which is lined with life-sized stone statues of court officials, eunuchs and guardian animals of superb craftsmanship fit for an emperor. It immediately fascinated our grandchildren and we stopped to admire them closely. At the complex proper, we strolled through a series of imposing gates, pavilions, a tower and halls spread over three courtyards before, finally, reaching the round burial mound itself. This permanent resting place of the Emperor and his two empresses is one km in circumference and enclosed within a circular wall. Within the complex are 22 other tombs belonging to Emperor Yongle’s secondary consorts.

This Emperor is best remembered by posterity  for making China the most powerful maritime nation in the word during his reign and for spreading the fame and power of his country throughout South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and as far as East Africa. He did this by appointing the capable and trusted Admiral Zhenghe to command six epoch-making voyages between 1405 and 1428 to these countries to spread goodwill and power of China and to promote two-way trade between his country and theirs. These voyages were a resounding success and many of these far away countries started to send regular envoys to China bearing tributes and had continued to do so long after Emperor Yongle and Zhenghe had passed away. As a result of these maritime expeditions, more Chinese began to emigrate overseas, especially to Southeast Asia, and they were welcomed and well treated by the natives of these lands because of China’s prestige. The Admiral’s fleets had between 200 and 250 ships and a naval personnel of between 25,000 and 27,000, the like of which had not been seen before or since until the advent of World War I in 1914. The Chinese fleets, which predated the Westerners’ Voyages of Discovery by almost 90 years, completely outshone their small fleets and tiny crews of that period.

The top attraction of Changling is the Hall of Eminent Favours, which will bedazzle even the most discriminating visitors. It has two major claims to fame. It is the largest hall of wood structure in China, and was wholly constructed of the rarest of nanmu (camphor wood). Its gargantuan dimension exceeds the largest hall at the Forbidden City, the Hall of Supreme Harmony. On entering this Changling hall, I was immediately struck by its intimidating size and the numerous fine columns, beams and brackets which firmly support the edifice. Its floor tiles are made of expensive gold-plated bricks which only royalty could afford and it still gives a glittering effect after a time lapse of 600 years. It is now a museum. Among the exhibits there are those that record Emperor Yongle’s illustrious life and significant achievements. Prominent among the many other exhibits are those depicting Admiral Zhenghe’s historic overseas voyages referred to earlier and their significance in Chinese history.  Others include the treasures and artifacts of the Yongle reign, some of the treasures found in the royal tomb of Dingling as well as rare objects brought back by the Admiral from his epic sea voyages.

On our journey back to our hotel, Xiao Li and our grandchildren had already established a bond between them. Our grandson then spontaneously started to recite popular Chinese proverbs and poems that he had learnt from me and from his teachers to the guide who was not only familiar with them but could also regale my grandson with the stories behind them. He graciously complimented my grandson for his ability to cite them fluently, just like young school children in China. I told CE half in jest that I would reward him with ten RMB if he could recite a less popular proverb that would stump Xiao Li. After repeated failures to do so, Xiao Li, in order to spur him on, then pretended that the last proverb cited had finally defeated him in order that CE could proudly claim the monetary incentive from me! This made CE feel really on top of the world and Xiao Li’s sporting gesture had succeeded in stimulating my grandson’s interest in Chinese proverbs and poems. At the hotel, the two kids reluctantly said their fond farewell to a tour guide they really liked as a friend and who returned their sentiments.

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City complex was the former royal palace of the Ming and Qing emperors and the seat of government of Imperial China. It is so called because it was a royal preserve and out of bounds to the residents of Beijing without the emperor’s authorisation. Today, it is a museum complex, the largest and grandest in the world, and both Chinese and other visitors from the world over can now traverse its extensive grounds and see for themselves the pomp and the extravagant lifestyle of Chinese emperors . It has 9999 buildings and rooms of varying sizes, both for work, leisure and as royal living quarters. it is enclosed by high red-coloured  walls on all sides, with watch towers at the four corners. At the rear of the complex is a man-made hill to provide the best fengshui (art of geomancy) for the emperor and his family  To have a good look at the Forbidden City, one would need to make at least two separate visits. Construction for this mammoth project began in 1406 and was completed in a record time of 14 years. Its buildings were the tallest in Beijing at that time, and no other structure could exceed their height. It is the second most visited tourist spot in Beijing, after the Great Wall, but has a lot more to see there than at its rival wall. Its architecture style is elegant and majestic and had influenced the imperial palaces in Korea and Vietnam. The Great Wall and the Forbidden City were the two places that my grandchildren had dreamed about seeing long before our trip  In this article. I would share with you  some of the principal sights at the Forbidden City that we had seen and our impressions of them. We arrived there as soon as it was opened and there was already a 15-minute queue at the ticket booths. We entered by the main entrance, the imposing Meridian Gate, and what greeted us was an exceptionally large square of 30,000 sq m in area and behind it on an elevated ground are three great halls that would impress even the most discriminating visitors. To reach them, one has to walk up  a long flight of stone steps onto a three-tiered terrace of white marble with magnificently carved railings and other stone artifacts adorning it. I turned to look at my grandchildren and they were spell-bound by what they saw ahead of them. So were us adults too. CE then remarked, “Why would the emperor need to live in such a big place, would he not be lonely and feel lost  here?”. I told him that he wanted to show his power and wealth. “Where would he get so much money from?” was his quick retort. The two kids were really eager to start exploring the Forbidden City as a dream come true for them.

Hall of Supreme Harmony

The largest and grandest of the three halls, it was here that the emperor exercised his absolute power and would hold court regularly to discuss affairs of state with his officials, to receive foreign envoys bearing tributes or to preside over special ceremonies or celebrations of  significant importance. It is the largest structure there. Inside the hall are 72 huge pillars in six rows supporting the gigantic gabled roof. Its decorations are dominated by painted dragons in clouds, dragon being the symbol of the emperor. It was the practice for the officials to gather at dawn at the large square below this hall according to their ranks, even during winter, to await the emperor’s arrival and to be summoned into the august presence at the hall. By the time they were called in, most, except the most loyal and outspoken among them, would have been completely awed by the imperial authority and would be in no mood to disagree with the wishes of the Son of Heaven. The emperor would sit on an elevated throne with elaborate royal trappings and officials must keep a safe distance in order to thwart any possible attempt to assassinate him. All petitions from his officials would be handed to the emperor’s most trusted eunuch who would then present it to his royal master for his decision. On the whole, the Qing emperors were more diligent than their Ming counterparts in holding regular morning court audiences with his officials. One ineffectual Ming emperor was known to have abstained from holding court for years as he found it too burdensome to do so!

Hall of Central Harmony

A short distance behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the smallest of the three halls by comparison, the Hall of Central Harmony. It serves as the private retreat for the emperor prior to presiding at the morning sessions at the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The Hall for Preserving Harmony

Behind the second  hall mentioned above, this hall was used for formal rehearsals of important state ceremonies as well as serving as a venue for the final imperial examination held once every three years to select the top three scholars for the whole nation. The emperor would personally preside over this examination to emphasize its importance. Successful candidates would be earmarked for the top appointments in the imperial civil service and would bring reflected glory to their family, clan and  home town.  (For more details of this examination, please refer to my posting of April this year.)

After spending five delightful hours taking in the above and many other sights but skipping the priceless imperial art collections at the museum as this would bore the kids, we had reached our saturation point and all we wanted was to find a quiet eatery to rest our tired feet and body and to fortify our stomachs.

For the record, the Forbidden City luckily had survived the large-scale senseless destruction of China’s national heritages by the fanatical Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), one of the darkest periods in Chinese history. We owe this to the decisive timely intervention by Zhou Enlai, the then Prime Minister, who personally ordered troops loyal to him to be posted in and around the Forbidden City, thus defeating the mobs’ diabolical plans to set it on fire. Beijing would never be the same again without this timeless and monumental national treasure which must be preserved at all times for the benefit of mankind.

The next day’s two destinations suited CE and LT to the hilt and delighted the adults no less. We spent a relaxing day exploring the internationally renowned Beihai Park and Summer Palace, which no visitors should miss.

Beihai Park

This park is about a 15-minute walk from the Forbidden City and originally part of it. It was then an exclusive imperial park for the enjoyment of China’s royal family and their privileged guests. It now serves as a much needed green-lung for this increasingly fast-paced and high-rise city of 15-million people. After entering the ornately decorated main entrance gateway, one is greeted with the serenely beautiful lake, which takes up half the park’s land, and the imposing white Tibetan-style pagoda on a hilltop, the twin dominant landmarks there. The lake was active with boating activities and other water sports and the lakeside was full of picnicking families as the sun shone brilliantly and a gentle breeze made their enjoyment more complete. Our two grandchildren were delighted with the surroundings and were keen to go boating but were discouraged by the two-hour waiting time. The Chinese did not seem to mind waiting in long queues, whether it’s at popular attractions as this or at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, the largest in its long history. After walking around the attractively landscaped park, admiring many of its historic halls, temples, pavilions and other significant structures, we rounded up our relaxing sightseeing by climbing a winding stone-paved path of more than a hundred steps to reach the summit of a hill with the white pagoda standing proudly at its summit. After catching our breadths, our tiring ascent was amply rewarded with a 360-degree panoramic view of this historic city, its outskirts  and with the Summer Palace vaguely discernible at the distant horizon. After a pleasant rest stop there, descending was even more difficult than ascending it  because of the uneven steps but the two kids seemed to be more nimble than the adults in doing so! We were famished when we reached the ground level again and were more than ready to lunch at the famed Fangshan Restaurant right at the park. It was founded by a former chef of the Qing royal household in 1925 and is famed for its royal cuisine favoured by the Chinese royalties. The restaurant is housed in a commodious historic 19th century building, which was once shared between Prime Minister Zhou Enlai and the infamous Mdm Jiang Qing, the widow of Chairman Mao and the notorious leader of the Gang of Four, who nearly destroyed China during the Cultural Revolution era, when they attended meetings there. The meal was unusual and most delicious and we felt like the decadent Qing royalty if only while the lunch lasted. It was a shade cheaper than a comparable meal in a reputable Singapore Chinese restaurant. Our grandchildren were thrilled to sit on a fake dragon throne there for a memorable photograph which they looked forward to showing off to their school mates and teachers!

Summer Palace

As its name implies, the Summer Palace is regal in appearance and scope and is four times the size of the Forbidden City complex . It is in the outskirts of the city. A World Heritage Site, the UNESCO citation describes it as “a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value.” In the traditional Chinese reckoning, its location offers the best fengshui for a royal retreat, with the hills behind it and a vast lake fronting it. In such an idyllic setting, the Emperor, his family and retinue of eunuchs and servants would spend the entire summer there. However, it was not just rest and no work for the Emperor. He would continue to summon his officials there whenever important affairs of state had to be discussed and his final decisions given. The resort is almost three sq km in area, three-quarters of which is covered by the man-made Kunming Lake and the excavated soil from it  was ingeniously employed to construct the Longevity Hill, topped by a magnificent pagoda.

This 18th century royal resort was twice attacked by foreign troops led by Britain and France in 1860 and again in 1900 and some of the buildings still bear the bullet marks. Much of the palace treasures were looted by the commanders and other ranks as war booties and taken to their home countries. Some of these ill-gotten gains had been auctioned in recent years and fetched millions of US dollars. The resort had to be substantially rebuilt in 1886 and again in 1902. With the help of an experienced tour guide, we explored the main buildings and structures and the surroundings of this park, admiring their different architectural styles of palaces taken from other parts of the country and were enthralled by the sublime beauty of this immense lake, which was so constructed in order to remind the commissioning emperor of a portion of the famed West Lake in Hangzhou, with the gracefully swaying willow trees and elegant pavilions lining its banks, which he loved so much. The landscaping too combined the best features of the landscaping arts in classical gardens elsewhere. The result is an incomparably uplifting park and a continuing feast for the eyes whichever direction you turn your head to. A unique feature of the Summer Palace is the covered Long Gallery, which measures about 800 m long, painted with themes and scenes from well-known episodes in Chinese folklores and history. This resort finally became the retirement home of China’s all-powerful Empress-Dowager CiXi, who virtually ruled the nation in the name of the puppet emperor appointed by her during the final years of the Qing Dynasty. She arbitrarily allocated the state fund for the rearming of the Chinese navy to face the growing Japanese naval might to rebuild this complex after the  second foreign invasion there.

CE and LT enjoyed our half a day outing there tremendously but was somewhat frustrated that they were not allowed to go boating on this historic lake on the advice of the guide as it was a very windy day and therefore unsafe to do so. At the conclusion of the tour, CE suddenly shot an unexpected question at the guide. “Why did these horrible foreign soldiers attack and steal so much treasures from this palace?”, he asked. The guide took his question seriously and said, “This was because China was weak and defenceless against these greedy foreigners who were after our treasures and resources. This will not happen again as China is strong now.”

Tiananmen Square and its vicinity

Half a day was set aside to tour this world-renowned landmark of Beijing and the several important attractions surrounding it. Many world shattering events in both Chinese and world history had taken place here, especially in the past six decades. On the way there, I told my grandchildren the places we would see so that they had some idea about them. When Tiananmen Square appeared in front of them, they were amazed by its sheer size and exclaimed, “It’s so big, much bigger than our Padang” where Singapore’s National Day parade is held annually. Indeed, it is the largest square in the world, exceeding Moscow’s famed Red Square in area, and can comfortably accommodate up to one million people for special celebrations or important gatherings. The jewel of the crown there is the majestic Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen Tower). This grand and elegant three-storey 15th century Ming building stands proudly overlooking the Forbidden City and where the Emperor himself would traditionally preside over special ceremonies such as announcing to his subjects his enthronement and that of his empress. In more recent times, it was here on 1 October 1949 that Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed to the jubilant crowd below the official founding of the People’s Republic of China with the famous words “The people of China have stood up”. Again, It was here in 1966 that Chairman Mao launched his disastrous Cultural revolution with a million fanatical Red Guards waving their idol’s little Red Books and pledged to bring about a spiritually renewed China. The Tiananmen incident of 1989 also took place here with tens of thousands of determined youthful protesters encamping there to seek democracy for China. This unprecedented campaign was ruthlessly crushed by Chinese troops and many protesters were killed or injured as a result. This event had shocked the world  and damaged China’s international reputation.

We walked around this historic square and I tried to visualise those momentous happenings that had been so vividly captured in photographs and television programmes throughout the world as they occurred. In the centre of it is the prominent mausoleum of Chairman Mao, the man who made China great again despite his other failings and whose embalmed body now lies therein for the permanent remembrance of his countless admirers and followers the world over. As always, a long queue was forming in the hot sun and we decided to give it a miss  because of the waiting time and the very stringent security check we would be subjected to. It was also not an interesting sight for CE and LT. When we came to the finely sculpted Monument to the Heroes depicting the various heroic deeds of China’s revolutionaries, these caught the interest of our grandson and I had to explain to him some of the scenes depicted on the columns. We then headed for the Great Hall of the People, China’s version of a Western parliament, which I had promised to show our grandchildren and they had looked forward to seeing it.

Standing some distance from Tiananmen Tower is the mammoth Great Hall of the People, whose imposing and functional Soviet-influenced architecture stands in stark contrast with the classical elegance that the former exudes and instantly captivates its onlookers. This hall was hurriedly completed in a record time of ten months in 1959, just in time for China’s supreme legislative body, the National People’s’ Congress, to hold its annual sessions in this new permanent home. To give some idea of this enormous structure, it is 172,000 sq m in area, 320 m long, 267 m wide and 41 m high. After a tight security clearance, we entered an immensely large ground floor lobby and was immediately awed by its dimension which fully reflects the appropriate naming of this building. At the higher levels are numerous halls, reception rooms, meeting rooms, exhibition rooms, dining rooms and a concert hall and their walls are adorned with paintings, arts and crafts and other ornaments from different regions of China to reflect its 5000-year old culture. The 32 larger provinces and autonomous regions have their own meeting, reception and exhibition rooms to impress the visitors of their  own identity and development. After walking through numerous corridors and climbing lots of steps we finally found the three most important and interesting components that all visitors have come to see when no official sessions or events are being held there. We were lucky that day. The first is a tastefully furnished state VIP reception room in which the top Chinese leaders would receive foreign heads of state or government before serious discussions take place. We next entered the stupendously grand legislative assembly hall where 10,000 delegates representing 56 ethnic groups that make up China, with different languages or dialects of their own, would meet at least once a year to transact matters of both national and regional importance. We all gazed at the row upon row of seats and numerous isles separating them in total disbelief that such a huge hall exists in any public building! This was a revelation and a first hand lesson in Chinese history and culture for CE. I explained to him that the diversity of China meant that Mandarin, which all educated Chinese speak, is the common language of communication among them. China is also fortunate to have a common written script which is familiar to all literate Chinese too. Without these two vital language elements the various Chinese groups would cease to communicate with each other and the country would break up. The mega-sized dinning hall where state banquets and other significant functions are held also stunned our grandchildren as more than 5000 guests could partake of a multi-course feast together, with tons of food  coming out of the kitchens of this great hall. CE lamented that we were not allowed to view these kitchens. As a result of this visit, CE would like me to show him the Singapore Parliament Building in his next school vacation. On leaving this hall and coming down its concrete steps, I am reminded of the occasion in early 1990s when the ten British Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, fell from these steps after a tough and fruitless negotiation session with the Chinese supremo, Deng Xiaoping, on the future of Hong Kong. True to her reputation as “Iron Lady”, she quickly regained her composure and managed to flash a smile at the scores of reporters and cameramen who captured vividly her less edifying moment. The western media viewed this humiliating episode as a bad omen for her.

Although we were all quite tired by then, we decided to walk to the other end of the square in order to ascend the three-storey Qianmen Tower which would give us a bird’s eye view of the Qianmen quarter, where parts of old Beijing way of life have been carefully and artfully preserved in its traditional shops, streets, theatres, alleyways and old dwelling houses  to remind residents and visitors of the original facade of this city. Thank goodness, it is without yet another collection of high rise buildings that have mushroomed up in other parts of Beijing to propel it into the front ranks of a modern city. In such a process, it has also destroyed its original character in the name of progress. Having completed our sightseeing of this world famous Tiananmen landmark, our grandchildren were more than happy to sample the famed Peking duck for a late lunch and afterwards to have a leisurely rest and swim at the inviting indoor pool at our hotel.

Yonghe Lamasary

All too soon, the final day of our exciting holiday in Beijing arrived. I decided to bring them to see the renowned Yonghe Lamasery, the largest and  best preserved Tibetan Lama temple outside of Tibet, a self-governing region of China. Built in 1694, it was originally the official residence of a favoured son of Emperor Kangxi who later succeeded his father as Emperor Yungzheng. It was later converted into the present lamasery. Lama Buddhism is a sub branch of Mahayana Buddhism, which is popular in China, Japan and Korea. The Qing Dynasty royal house was enthusiastic supporters of this Tibetan form of Buddhism and many Lama temples were established in different parts of China in its 270-year reign. Its spiritual heads are Dali Lama and Panchen Lama. Beijing’s Yonghe Lamasery is the national centre for Lama Buddhism Administration in China, outside of Tibet itself.

This colourfully adorned Lama temple is divided into several sections, with striking architectures and forms of worship that reflect the culture and fervent faith of the Tibetan people. Today, it still functions as an active place of worship and devotion, with many devotees participating in the daily chanting of the Buddhist sutras and rituals, led by monks in their traditional saffron robes and head wears. The temple  exudes an air of spirituality and I felt at peace with myself in its tranquil surroundings. There is an interesting and informative museum, with rare Buddhist treasures and artifacts on display. It is a good place for a discerning visitor to gain an insight into the history and practices of Tibetan Buddhism. On the whole this temple was of greater interest to us adults than to our two young grandchildren. Nonetheless, the visit was quite educational for them and a novel experience.

To complete our educational and cultural journey to introduce China to our grandchildren, I asked our friendly taxi driver to drive slowly through some of the historic districts of this great city. These included Ox Street, with its Islamic residents, an ancient Chinese-style mosque, shops and eateries and its distinctive ambiance, the old legation quarter, the scenes of fierce and bloody fighting between the Chinese Boxer warriors and the Western allied troops in 1900, as well as the former hutong residences of some of the famous personalities who had made Beijing their homes and who had left their indelible marks there.

In the afternoon, we spent our time at the bookshops in the Wangfujing area, the Orchard Road of Beijing. Our son and daughter-in-law purchased many books on Chinese literature, proverbs, poems and folklores suitable for our grandchildren to digest. Hopefully, these will help increase their knowledge and deepen their interest in China and its culture.

On the homeward journey, I asked CE and LT to rank the places they had visited that they had both enjoyed most. After conferring with each other, here are their unanimous choices. Great Wall first, then Forbidden City, followed by Temple of Heaven, Beijhai Park, Summer Palace and the Great Hall of the People. Their least favoured sights were Ming Tombs and Yonghe Lamasery.

Lam Pin Foo

2 Comments

Preservation of China’s National Treasures Gathering Momentum

June 15, 2010 at 12:00 am (Chinese Culture, Current Affairs, History, Travel)

With a recorded history dating back 5000 years and having one of the largest land masses in the world, it is not surprising that China is well-endowed with varied scenic wonders and a great variety of cultural relics and antiquities that will delight and overawe discerning visitors on a discovery tour of mankind’s longest continuous civilisation. This is despite the fact that  a large number of these man-created cultural and historical relics had already been destroyed in the course of time due to ravages of nature, human conflicts and past failures to maintain some of these as national treasures for the benefit of posterity. Fortunately for China and the world, the saving grace is the abundance of accumulated cultural properties that  are safely buried beneath the ground awaiting discovery to see the light of day again. Although some of these artifacts have already been dug up, much more still remain unknown and undiscovered. In addition to these, a considerable amount of other valuable and rare cultural legacies can still be found in shipwrecks lying below the nation’s territorial waters. All these hidden reservoirs of buried treasures, if and when eventually excavated, will further boost China’s already rich national heritage and cultural standing among nations. Time is on China’s side.

As China becomes increasingly more prosperous since the 1980s, greater national financial resources have been allocated to the preservation and discovery of important historic and cultural relics, both on land and off shore. The resultant successes are evident for all to see. As time goes by, other lesser national monuments and historic relics spread across its vast landscape will also be carefully preserved and restored to their former glory and this will make the country even more alluring to both foreign and domestic tourists. Ever since this country became more tourism-oriented more than three decades ago, foreigners from all over the globe have been flocking there to savour the manifold attractions that this ancient , and seemingly mysterious, land has to offer. Within a relatively short time, China’s tourism and its amenities and facilities have grown tremendously to cater to differing tastes and preferences of their disparate visitors, both from within and overseas. China is now the third most visited country in the world, after France and United States, and is expected to top the list by around 2020.

Another remarkable achievement of China is that, after replacing Taiwan in the United Nations in 1971, it now has 38 World Heritage Sites (WHS) conferred on it by Unesco, a cultural agency of the United Nations. This coveted award covers both natural and man-created attractions which are of unique and universal value to all mankind. They must be preserved and maintained in accordance with the exacting criteria and strict conditions laid down by Unesco and subject to its periodic inspections to ensure their due compliance. Failure of a nation to do so will result in a particular WHS status being forfeited. To date, China‘s 38 WHS are behind only Spain’s 41 and Italy’s 44. However, China also has 30 other sites under consideration by Unesco, more than the number of applications already submitted by any other country. As the third largest country in the world and being an older civilisation than most other countries, my view is that it is only a matter of time before China will earn the accolade of becoming the nation with the highest number of WHS in the world.

In my post of May on the relatively remote Anhui 安 徽 Province in China, I praise this province for winning three WHS, one for scenic beauty and the other two for being well-preserved ancient folk villages surpassing numerous others there and elsewhere in China. They were the reason my family and I spent a delightfully captivating and eye-opening holiday there recently. In this article I will share with you four of these historic villages and unusual monuments, with the hope that you, too, will be inspired to visit these gems of Anhui. Two of these Ming and Qing villages, Xidi 西 递 and Hongcun 红 村, are WHS, the third is a superb collection of rich and famous people’s mansions and the remaining one is celebrated for its unique commemorative archways (pailou 牌楼), unmatched anywhere else in China.

The first sight of Xidi, with its more than 125 well-preserved folk dwellings, clan halls and ancestral shrines, was a feast on my eyes. It was as though I was immediately transported back to the old China of several hundred years ago. All the houses have the distinctive white walls and black roof tiles which enhance their charm and architectural appeal. These houses were built almost back to back to each other, separated by very narrow lanes that sunlight could hardly penetrate. Sewage drains with unpolluted mountain water still run through these back lanes to add to the village’s medieval ambiance. It is a thriving and busy village, with many older folks seated on low stools eating and gossiping, seemingly unperturbed by the throngs of camera-carrying tourists of various nationalities staring at them. Some houses were built as dwellings cum shops, and some of the villagers were still selling traditional hand-made foods, snacks, arts and crafts and souvenirs which are peculiar to this region. Xidi was originally a clan village, with everyone sharing the surname Wang. They still dominate the village today. We spent several hours traversing this stone-paved village, imbibing the ancient feel of the residences of both the humble and the more exalted among them. The mansions of the rich merchants and the retired mandarins are large and elaborately appointed, divided into several sections with open-air courtyards and gardens. They were adorned with exquisitely decorated stone carvings on the exteriors and intricate gold-leaf wood carvings on the doors, columns, beams and wood beds inside, with scenes from historical novels like the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the West Chamber, Journey to the West or with flowers and birds motifs. The rich and famous of old China certainly knew how to live well! The spacious Clan and ancestral halls were the most important landmarks in the village, and important events like weddings, New Year celebrations, funerals, ancestral veneration ceremonies took place here. Xidi truly deserves to be a WHS as it is one of the best preserved ancient villages in China.

Some 10 km away is the other WHS, Hongcun, which has more than 137 old folk residences and communal buildings. For reasons which I failed to fathom, it attracted less tourists than its rival Xidi. It is the more laid-back and less noisy of the two. Its houses and other significant buildings are more neatly laid out and there is a more refined appearance about it. Situated on an elevated altitude, the whole village resembles a pretty picture postcard, with its ancient arched bridges, lotus-filled ponds with gently flowing water, and surrounded by verdant greenery and low-lying hills at the rear. It strikes me as the ideal place for dreamy poets and scholars  to contemplate the meaning of life and to be inspired to compose their best intellectual outpourings! With such a natural and idyllic backdrop, it is no wonder that several of the famed Chinese period films, such as “Crouching tiger, hidden dragon”, were shot on location here. Another interesting aspect of this village is that it is shaped like an ox. The residents liken the hills as its “head”, the two tallest trees on the hill top as its “horns”, the village dwellings as its “body”, the meandering stream that runs through the entire village as its “intestines”, the crescent-shaped ponds at its centre as its “stomach” and, finally, its four arched bridges as its “four feet”. My family and I were completely mesmerised by Hongcun, and we rounded up our memorable visit there by dinning in an 18th century inn that reminded me of the ones I had seen in many a Chinese period films. This village is undoubtedly the most pristinely serene of all the ancient villages that I had so far set foot on in Anhui and elsewhere in China.

The specially created Qian Kou 潜 口 Museum of Ming and Qing residences of well-known Anhui merchants, noted scholars and high-ranking mandarins are both unique in concept and a miniature display of representative architectural styles of houses found in this province. The twenty properties from several counties of Anhui were purchased by the local government from private owners with public funds. They were then physically removed and reassembled in their original structure and appearance at their elevated new home in Qian Kou village. These disparate properties span 15th to 19th centuries. Situated on a hillside and dotting all over the hill slopes, it was a wonderful sight to behold. They give one a good opportunity to compare Ming and Qing architectural styles and building art and the special distinguishing features about them. Just like their counterparts in Xidi and Hongcun, these houses were well built and differently adorned to reflect  the differences in tastes and preferences of the house owners of these two dynasties. Those belonging to the rich merchants tended to be more opulent and loud, with more visible symbols of wealth and somewhat lacking in classical charm, while those of the scholars and mandarins projected classical simplicity and understated elegance. I hope this  successful and innovative initiative of the Anhui government will inspire other provincial governments to set up similar projects in their own provinces to benefit those interested in the history and culture of different parts of this large country.

Tangyue 棠 樾 Village was the country estate of the illustrious Bao family spanning 15th to 19th centuries. Over these centuries, some of its outstanding family members had excelled in public services, scholarship, business and in upholding the Confucian concepts of filial piety, moral rectitude and female chastity. This village is unique in two ways. First, It has the only female ancestral hall in the country to honour one of the family’s female forebears for her exemplary virtue of female chastity. Secondly, the august Baos were conferred an unprecedented seven commemorative archways by the reigning Emperors for their exceptional achievements in the fields of human endeavour mentioned above over an extended period of 500 years.

These two attractions are sufficient magnets that draw numerous Chinese and foreign visitors to this otherwise quiet Anhui village. The female ancestral hall has interesting and moving wall paintings depicting the long years of widowhood of this virtuous lady who bore her fate with fortitude and self-sacrifice and painstakingly bringing up her children successfully to add lustre to the Bao family. Be that as it may, the main reason visitors flock to Tangyue Village is to gaze and marvel at the seven commemorative archways, spread neatly and majestically along a winding path. Measuring about 7 or 8 m high, these richly adorned stone archways have inscriptions reciting the life and achievements of the personage so honored and the year in which it was erected by royal command. These were conferred upon the Bao family members in recognition of their loyal and significant services to the state, high scholarly attainments, moral rectitude and integrity, filial piety, female chastity and for supporting charitable and other public causes generously. In practice, only the Emperor himself can sanction the erection of a commemorative archway, usually on the petition of the local government where the recipient of the honour resided. Once the petition is granted, the recipient would, at his own expense and in compliance with the format approved by the local authority, erect the archway. In exceptional cases, which applied to one of the seven Bao family archways, the Emperor would personally approve the allocation of  public fund for this purpose. As a further royal favour and esteem for this family, the Emperor had commanded that Court officials of all ranks must dismount from their horses before proceeding to view these Tangyue archways. The Bao family’s record of attaining seven commemorative archways had never been equalled or surpassed by any other family in Chinese history.

Besides these four contrasting historic landmarks I have mentioned above, there are many other ancient villages and towns in Anhui province that will also be of interest to visitors, not forgetting the world-famous Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), one of China’s foremost tourist spots, which is only about one hour by road from these places covered in my article. I hope you will find time to visit them like my family and I did. It was a delightful experience which I will remember for many years to come.

Lam Pin Foo

6 Comments

Which Chinese County Had the Most Zhuangyuan (Premier Scholar) During the Imperial Examinations Era?

May 1, 2010 at 12:00 am (Chinese Culture, History)

If you pose this question to people who are familiar with Chinese culture, including many Chinese themselves, chances are they would spontaneously name various culturally developed counties in Jiansu or Zhejiang province, where the sophisticated cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou are situated. Others might point to Henan or Shaanxi province, which are the cradles of Chinese civilisation and both have had a long tradition of learning and scholarship, while some might favour parts of Hebei province, whose leading city, Beijing, was not only the capital of the powerful and prosperous Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties but also reputed for its reservoir of literary talents as its inhabitants. These answers, although consistent with logic or common sense, would nonetheless be off the mark.

Besides these highly cultured and accomplished regions of China, where else could possibly lay claim to such an outstanding literary feat in this land of Laozi, Confucius and Mencius? The correct answer is tiny Xiuning County, in the seemingly insignificant and obscure Anhui Province, a relatively poor and economically backward part of East China, both in history and even in the prospering China of today. Nowadays, Anhui’s main sources of income are derived primarily from tourism, agricultural produces and some light industries. What it lacks in economic and technological resources, mother nature has endowed it with scenic wonders, such as the world-renowned Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) and Jiuhua Mountain, one of the five sacred Buddhist highlands of China, as well as scores of well-preserved ancient towns and villages, with their numerous Yuan, Ming and Qing folk-dwellings, rich and influential people’s mansions, clan halls and artistically decorated commemorative ancient archways. Three of these rare Anhui landmarks, namely Huangshan, Xidi Village and Hongcun Village have all been conferred the coveted World Heritage Sites status by UNESCO, a cultural offshoot of the United Nations. They were the reason my family and I spent a memorable and eye-opening holiday there recently.

To put it in perspective, Xuining County has chalked up a formidable 19 Zhuangyuans in all, a record unmatched by any other Chinese county, big or small. It took them almost 700 years to attain this well-earned accolade, starting from the 13th century Song Dynasty right up to the close of this unique and much emulated examination system in 1905, 6 years before the demise of the Qing Dynasty and the birth of China’s Republic era. To gauge how incredibly difficult it is to attain the title of Zhuangyuan, a candidate must pass the highest of the three levels of triennial Imperial Examinations to become a Jinshi (Finished Scholar, equivalent to present day PhD degree). All successful Jinshis would then be invited to sit the final examination, which would be conducted at the Imperial Palace, presided by the Emperor himself. The candidate who topped this examination would be conferred the title of Zhuangyuan (Premier Scholar). In every century, no more than 33 of them would be created, one in every 3 years. The new Zhuangyuan would forthwith be given a respectable official rank in the Imperial Civil Service, and would be groomed to reach the top civil rank unless he later committed serious blunders or misconduct incompatible with his standing as a gentleman and a Confucian scholar. In rare cases, when the Emperor was so impressed with the learning and talent of the bachelor Zhuangyuan that he would invite him to be one of his sons-in-law, which the overjoyed Premier Scholar would be obliged to accept with deep gratitude and honour. A Zhuanyuan would bring glory not only to his own family, but also reflected honour to all his clansmen.

In selecting a Premier Scholar in the Jinshi and in the ultimate palace examination, the candidates would, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, be tested on “Five Studies”, namely, military strategy, civil law, revenue and taxation, agriculture and geography and, finally, the Confucian classics. The subjects would undergo changes in the subsequent dynasties and a permanent format finally emerged during the Qing Dynasty. The candidates’ names and antecedents would not be known to the board of examiners so as to ensure fairness and to eliminate possibilities of partiality or bias towards any of them.

What are the major factors that had enabled a relatively unknown and insignificant county like Xiuning to achieve the singular honour of having produced the highest number of Zhuangyuans in the country? Chinese historians and cultural experts have pinpointed three contributory factors:

  • First, during the turbulent eras of the Western Jin and Tang dynasties, many Northern Chinese, among them were Court officials, scholars, artisans, farmers and merchants, fled their homes and moved southwards to seek a safe haven to start a new life there. Many found the rural and mountainous setting of the remote Anhui province an ideal place for a more peaceful living and were determined to make a success of it in their adopted land. They brought with them the more advanced Central Plains culture, productivity and business acumen. These planted the seeds of their future success not only in the field of education but also in producing enterprising and legendary Anhui merchants, many of whom made their enormous fortunes in the rich cities elsewhere in China but spent their retirement in the grand mansions of their adopted land. Prior to the arrival of these new immigrants, some tenured Northern government officials had, on retirement, opted to make Anhui and Xiuning their permanent homes and had brought with them Confucianism and incorporated it as an integral part of the mountain culture.
  • Secondly, the non-Han minority Jin State had conquered all the territories of Song Dynasty in Northern China, and the Song Court and its loyal supporters were compelled to move South and founded its new capital in the culturally vibrant and prosperous Hangzhou, which was then one of the foremost cities and places of learning in the country. Hangzhou, being only 200-odd km from Anhui and Xiuning itself, had also benefitted the latter because of regular exchanges of visits and knowledge between the elites of both territories. Furthermore, not a few retired Hangzhou government officials and scholars, both during the Song and Yuan reigns, were motivated to retire to Anhui, and Xiuning, because of their more tranquil and peaceful environments which were more suited to a quiet life of a retired gentleman and Confucian scholar.
  • Finally, many successful Anhui merchants had made excellence in education an overriding goal for their sons to achieve in life and hoped that they would ultimately shine in the Imperial Examinations and bring glory to their families and clans. To this end, they would spare no efforts and financial resources to employ well-known teachers locally and from Hangzhou to come to Xiuning as resident tutors to their own sons and sons of their extended families too. In addition, these generous merchants would also invite promising sons of their village clansmen to enjoy the privilege of such an exclusive education at no cost to their parents, thus spreading opportunities for learning more widely. This mode of education would enable the pupils to imbibe the essence of Confucian education, a prelude to officialdom, and help inculcate their life-long love and affinity for learning and education. It is therefore not surprising that the Xiuning Zhuangyuans comprised a good mixture of the children of both prominent and poor families.

To commemorate and publicise Xiuning’s praiseworthy record of becoming the champion county of Zhuangyuans in China, it has in its Haiyang Town set up an interesting and informative Chinese Zhuangyuan Museum. It gives a very comprehensive history of the centuries old Chinese Imperial Examination System and its evolution over a long period of time. There is also a list of the names and brief biographies of the most prominent as well as the less edifying Premier Scholars among them over different periods of time. This Chinese system, the first in the world, had been copied by several Asian and Western countries when formulating their own public service examination systems, with necessary modifications to suit their particular needs and requirements. This museum is well worth a visit if you are planning a trip to the Yellow Mountain and to the historic towns and villages in Anhui province.

Xiuning County’s abiding love affair with education and learning has continued into the present time. Its students still excel themselves in nationwide school examinations and for admissions into nationally important universities and other tertiary institutions. Their achievements have caught overseas attentions. In early 2008, Britain’s world-famous British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) produced five documentaries on its television network on the life of pupils of schools in China. The three top schools featured were all located within Xiuning County! This county, which has a relatively small population of about 270,000 and a total land area of 2,125 sq km, has consistently punched above its size and weight in vast China, as far as education and scholarship are concerned.

The above article brings to mind another article on the Chinese Imperial Examination system, which I wrote in 1996, and was published in Singapore’s Straits Times, a leading English language national daily. I would like to share it with my readers by reproducing it immediately after this posting.

Lam Pin Foo

9 Comments

« Older entries Newer entries »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.