JEHOL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 74, 9 March 1933, Page 10

JEHOL

Cin OF ROMANTIC MEMORIES

WHEN THE MANCHUS RULED CHINA. MANY IMPOSING TEMPLES. Jehol (or Chengteh), formerly the summer residence of the great Manc.hu Emperors, would long since have been forgotten by the outside world but for its richness in historic memories. Gone are the days when Jehol was at regular intervals the seat of Government. For more than 100 years it flourished, then it declined, and finally was abandoned by its rulers. Now it is a town, consisting principally of one street, two miles long, possessing a few substantial shops and carrying on a fairly extensive trade. But its inhabitants number little more than 10,000, whereas in the day’s of the Alanchu emperors more than 100,000 troops were quartered in the city. CITY IN A WILDERNESS. The word Jehol means “hot stream.” The site of the city was, until the reign of the Emperor K’anghsi, an unknown part of Tartary, and was a veritable wilderness. It lies .140 miles north-east of Pekin, and is situated in a valley that winds among fairly high mountains, and is watered by a fairly large river. It was renowned throughout the Chinese Empire for more than a century —during the reigns of three emperors—K’ang-hsi (1662-1722), Yung-cheng (1723-35), and Ch’icn-lung (1736-96), who gave to China a period of prosperity such as it had seldom experienced. K’ang-hsi is described as among the noblest figures of the dynasty. The second of his line, he took over the reins of State at the age of 14 years, and for more than half a century carried out a policy of enlightened government. He was a remarkable figure, for he was equally gifted in the military art as he was in the arts of peace. He led a simple life, yet when the occasion demanded, could splendidly uphold glittering pomp and circumstance. WHY' JEHOL WAS FOUNDED. In his recent work, “Jehol, City of Emperors,” Sven Hodin, the famous Swedish traveller, tells how Jehol, with its splendid buildings, Imperial pomp and almost incredible riches, was intended by its founder to impress the half-wild descendants of Jenghiz Khan with the power and majesty of the Manchus. From the city which he built in the Mongolian wilderness, outside the Great Wall, K 'ang-hsi believed he could keep the Mongo] princes under his eye, and by splendid audiences, and awe-inspiring military manoeuvres, give them ample demons tration of his might and authority.

“Jehol, where Chin-Shan (the Gold Mountain) rises,” wrote the emperoi in his records, “where the warm spring runs, where the clouds spread out over valleys through which trickle brooks of clear water, where rocky pools and verdure abound, where the breeze is clear and the- summer cool, suited to rest and relaxation.—Jehol is indeed a spot created by nature for her children. Jehol is near the Celestial City. To reach it takes no more than two days. It is a wide expanse ot lonely country. In harmony with the natural contours of the country, J have built pavilions in the pine groves, thereby enhancing the natural beauty of the hills. I have made the water flow- past the summer-houses as if leading the mountain mists out of the valleys. To create such beauty is beyond the power of human skill, it is the gift of nature itself, and causes no expense of carving beams or painting pictures.” THE ROAD TO PEKIN. It was to Jehol that Lord Macartney went on his famous visit to the Emperor Ch’ion-lung in 1793, and it was to Jehol that the Emperor Hienfcng retired in 1860 when the allied forces of Britain and France occupied Pekin. Now the road, which connects it with Pekin, is one of the worst imaginable, and it is hard to reconcile it with the description given by Huttner, a member of Lord Macartney’s mission, who wrote:—-“The road is 10 feet broad, a foot high, and made of a mixture of sand and clay, so evenly damped and so well packed that it becomes as hard as cemeiit. It is constantly swept, not only to remove fallen leaves, but the smallest grain of dust. Ou either side there are reservoirs, every 200 paces, from whence water is carried for dampening the road. Probably in the whole world there is not a more beautiful road than this one, when it has been cleaned in readiness for the Emperor's journey to Tartary. Watchposts are set up along the road, and no one is allowed to step on it until the Emperor has passed.” Many of the buildings in Jehol that were used by the court of the Manthus are stilj in a tine state of preservation. The palace, called Pi-shu-shan-chuang, or “mountain lodge for avoiding heat,” was built in J 703. A substantial wall, six miles in circuit, encloses several well-wooded heights, and extensive rockcries, gardens, pavilions, and temples. AN EPIC MIGRATION. Nearby are numerous Lama monasteries, the most famous being Potalasu, built on the model of the palace of the Grand Lanin ot Tibet at Potala. Once 600 Lamas served Potala-su, now there are only 100 monks there. Concerning this building, the Emperor Ch’icn-luidg’s letter, which has been preserved in the archives, states that it was erected us a sign of encouragement and fricndlincsH Io subject tribes beyond the Great Wall, r Jehol, he states, was Hie spot where his grandfather, the Emperor I\ ’ang-hsi, pacified and appeased his vassals from over tne border, and there ho grunted them audiences. The temple also commemorated the return to China of Hie Torgot, or K'abnuks as they were called in u’lissia. Al the beginning of the scvi-ni-.-iilh eenlury, these people, iii-nib-- in-- ’ e(hi I,:-.-. lioen driven ; i-i-in i' ■ : .I! . I. V I lasi ern , ihe I'znrs I 1 hey si-, 11< 0 i .>-1 .. ecu ihe 1i a I anil

Emba rivers, and acknowledged Russian suzerainty. J n .1770 the head Lama of the Torgot prevailed upon his followers to flee from the power of the Christian Empress back to a Lamaist land, a plan that was resisted by Russia to the utmost. The journey across the desert Wastes of Asia occupied seven months, and during that great migration two-thirds died of privation or perished by the sword. There are many other imposing temples, pavilions, and pagodas in both Chinese and Tibetan style, sonic surrounded by balustrades of fretted white marble in lovely patterns, and all providing most beautiful architectural perspectives. The passage of time has robbed their exteriors of little of their original beauty and the visitor requires little imagination to conjure up the fairy-like, beauty of the valley as it was in the days of K’ang-hsi, and of the 72 pavilions, temples, and other places which he and his equally famous ■_;i :i ml- mi < 'll ’ion bum. <-iiilt there.-- I ■ ■.t• -y >l. ■■ - 11- :ild.'' I