174 A CHINESE LIFE OF MOHAMMED 



these countries, when they heard that the Prophet had 

 received his commission, sent messengers with congratula- 

 tions and presents. It is said that there were in all 94 

 countries in subjection to "T'ien Fang," being four empires 

 and ninety kingdoms, not less than 10,000 cities and towns. 

 We may here note that "T'ien Fang" = "Heavenly square" 

 or "cube," is one of the names used for the Kaaba; it is 

 commonly used by Moslems for Arabia, more especially the 

 part known as the Hejaz. Liu Chih says : "T'ien Fang is the 

 kingdom of Mecca;" elsewhere he says: "Asia is a general 

 term for T'ien Fang," which, taken with the preceeding 

 paragraph, would seem to imply that the term is also used 

 of the Moslem empire. 



The story of the first entry of Moslems into China is 

 told as follows. In the Far Eastern empire was the country, 

 named Ch'ih Ni % fS, which is one of the names for the 

 Middle Kingdom (China). In the sixth year of K'ai Hwang 

 $J ik of the Sui PS dynasty, (A.D. 586) which was also the 

 first year of the prophetship of Mohammed, there was seen 

 in the sky a strange star; the Chinese emperor Wen Ti 3C^, 

 (the dynastic title, while K'ai Hwang was the title of the 

 reign), commanded the Chief Astronomer to divine its mean- 

 ing and he said that an extraordinary person was appearing 

 in the West. The emperor sent an envoy to investigate if 

 this was really so, and after about a year he arrived at 

 Mecca : he desired the Prophet to proceed to the east, but 

 he declined. The envoy secretly had a portrait of the Prophet 

 made to take back with him. The Prophet sent his maternal 

 uncle Saad Wakkas, and three others, to go with the envoy 

 and enter Ch'ih Ni. The emperor Wen Ti hung up the 

 portrait of the Prophet and worshipped it, and when he arose, 

 the scroll was there but the picture had vanished, at which 

 he was alarmed and told Wakkas, who said to him that the 

 Prophet had forbidden the worship of images and of knocking 

 the head on the ground to other men. The disappearing of 

 the picture was due to the influence of the Prophet. The 

 emperor then said: "This must surely be the Pure Emperor 

 and the True Prince." Whereupon he built the "Prophet 

 Eemembrance" mosque at Canton. Saad Wakkas returned 

 to the West. 



Broomhall in his Islam in China quotes, that Moham- 

 med "sent his portrait to the Emperor, but so painted that 

 the colours faded." This differs from Liu Chih's version. 

 Broomhall says further, after carefully sifting the evidence 

 for this tradition of early entry into China, that he concludes 

 that "the story cannot be accepted as trustworthy;" a 

 conclusion in which I feel bound to concur. Liu Chih having" 



