The Grape-Vine 229 



In Hah-cou yellow and bright white grapes were styled Zu-tse & •? 

 ("beads, pearls"); another kind, styled "rock-crystal" {swi-tsin), ex- 

 :elled in sweetness; those of purple and agate color ripened at a little 

 ater date. 1 



To Turkistan a special variety is attributed under the name so-so 

 85 3§t grape, as large as wu-wei-tse 3l B£ J- ("five flavors," Schizandra 

 :hinensis) and without kernels M$%. A lengthy dissertation on this 

 xuit is inserted in the Pen ts'ao kan mu Si i* The essential points are 

 she following. It is produced in Turf an and traded to Peking; in appear- 

 ance it is like a pepper-corn, and represents a distinct variety of grape, 

 [ts color is purple. According to the Wu tsa tsu 3l jJS fi, written in 

 16 10, when eaten by infants, it is capable of neutralizing the poison of 

 ;mall-pox. The name so-so is not the reproduction of a foreign word, 

 Dut simply means "small." This is expressly stated in the Pen kin fun 

 Viian ^ $£ %. W> , which says that the so-so grapes resemble ordinary 

 grapes, but are smaller and finer, and hence are so called (U0 W. &H 

 §fc &). The Pi e'en ¥ M of Yu-wen Tin ^ 3C % annotates, however, 

 that so-so is an error for sa-so IS^, without giving reasons for this 

 opinion. Sa-so was the name of a palace of the Han emperors, and this 

 substitution is surely fantastic. Whether so-so really is a vine-grape 

 seems doubtful. It is said that so-so are planted everywhere in China 

 to be dried and marketed, being called in Kiah-nan/aw p'u-Vao ("foreign 

 *rape"). 8 



The Emperor K'an-hi (1662-1722), who knew very well that grapes 

 bad come to China from the west, tells that he caused three new varie- 

 ties to be introduced into his country from Hami and adjoining terri- 

 tories, — one red or greenish, and long like mare-nipples; one not very 

 large, but of agreeable taste and aroma; and another not larger than a 

 pea, the most delicate, aromatic, and sweetest kind. These three varie- 

 ties of grape degenerate in the southern provinces, where they lose 

 their aroma. They persist fairly well in the north, provided they are 

 planted in a dry and stony soil. "I would procure for my subjects," 

 the Emperor concludes, "a novel kind of fruit or grain, rather than 

 build a hundred porcelain kilns." 4 



Turkistan is well known to the Chinese as producing many varieties 



1 Mon lian /« |£ He £&> by WuTse-mu ^ g $ of the Sung (Ch. 18, p. 5 b; 

 id. of Ci pu tsu lai ts'un Su). 



1 Ch. 7, p. 69. This valuable supplement to the Pen ts'ao kan mu was first 

 published in 1650 (reprinted 1765 and appended to several modern editions of the 

 Pen ts'ao) by Cao Hio-min |§ ^ fffc (hao §u-hien $3 $f ) of Hah-cou. 



8 Mun ts'iian tsa yen ^| ^. f§ H\ cited in T'u Su tsi I'en, XX, Ch. 130. 



4 Memoires concernant les Chinois, Vol. IV, 1779, pp. 471-472. 



