July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 49 



Central Asia, also into China. A curious docuinent allows us to estab- 

 lish the fact that it was representatives of these religions, in all likelihood 

 Manicheans, who brought these jewels to China. This text occurs in 

 the Shu tien, a collection of interesting notes on the province of Sze- 

 ch'uan, compiled in 1818 by Chang Chu-pien (4 vols., reprinted in 1876). 

 The passage (in Ch. 8, p. 5) ^ is derived from the Hua yang ki, a work 

 containing records relative to Sze-ch'uan, whose time and authorship 

 is not known to me.^ The text runs as follows : "The family K'ai ming ' 

 erected a several-storied building of seven precious objects; there were 

 screens composed of connected genuine pearls. At the time of 

 Emperor Wu (b. c. 140-87) of the Han dynasty, a conflagration in the 

 district of Shu (Sze-ch'uan) destroyed several thousand houses, and 

 even several -storied houses were consumed by the flames. At the 

 present time people constantly find genuine pearls preserved in the 

 sandy soil. — Chao Pien,^ in his work Shu tu ku shi ("Ancient Affairs 

 of the Capital of Sze-ch'uan"), says: ''The Monoliths are outside of the 

 west gate of the Yamen, two shafts being extant. This is the site of the 

 building of the genuine pearls. Formerly people of Central Asia 

 {Hu Jen) erected at this spot a Temple of Ta Ts'in (Ta Ts'in sze) with 

 gates and storeys consisting of ten rooms. By means of genuine pearls 

 and bluish jade {ts'ui pi) which were strung, they made screens. Later 

 on, this building was destroyed and fell into ruins. Even now whenever 

 a big rain has fallen, people pick up at this place genuine pearls, se-s^, 

 gold, blue jade, and strange things. The poet Tu Fu (712-770), in his 

 'Poem on -the Monoliths' has the verse: 'During a rainfall, they 

 constantly obtain se-se,^ which is an allusion to this affair." ^ 



1 It is quoted with exactly the same readings also in Ko cht king yuan, Ch. 32, 

 p. 7. The same story is narrated in the Ning kai chat man lu (edited- in Shou shan ko 

 ts'ung shu, Vols. 70, 71 ; Ch. 7, p. 22 b) by Wu TsSng of the twelfth century (Wyhe, 

 Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 160), which goes to prove that the story was known 

 in the Sung period. Also Wu Tseng connects this tradition with the verse of Tu Fu 

 (712-770) relative to the finds of se-se at a rainfall; this is the heading of his essay, 

 and the story is given in explanation of the poem which in our text, as translated 

 above, follows at the end. If this interpretation is correct, the event of the destruc- 

 tion of the temple of Ta Ts'in must have happened contemporaneously with, or 

 prior to the age of, Tu Fu. Thus, the Ta Ts'in temple here in question may have 

 been founded toward the end of the seventh or in the beginning of the eighth century. 



- It is not identical with the Hua yang kuo chi, ancient records of Sze-ch"uan 

 by Ch'ang K'li of the Tsin dynasty. 



' According to an information received by M. Pelliot, K^ai ming is the name 

 of the later Emperor Ts'ung; he is identical with the personage called Pie Ling in 

 Giles (Biographical Dictionary, No. 2071). His record is contained m Hua yang 

 kuo chi (ch. 3, p. 2). 



•• An official of the Sung period (994-1070), celebrated for his integrity and benev- 

 olence, popularly known as "the Censor with the Iron Face," acted as governor of 

 Sze-ch'uan (Giles, Biographical Dictionary, p. 73). The Neng kai chai man lu 

 designates him by his posthumous name Chao Ts'ing-hien. 



* Wu Tseng, after giving the text of this tradition as above, winds up with a 

 comment on the precious stones and pearls of the country of Ta Ts'in (the Roman 



