Fusang

Fusang
The fusang tree as depicted in a rubbing from theWu Liang Shrinereliefs, mid-2nd cent.
Chinese	Phù Tang
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fúsāng Wade–Giles Fu-sang

Fusangis anatonalromanizationof aChinesename referring to various entities in ancientChinese literature,chiefly amythicaltree or location far east of China.

In theClassic of Mountains and Seasand several contemporary texts,the term refers to a mythologicaltree of life,alternatively identified as amulberryor ahibiscus,allegedly growing far to the east of China, and perhaps to various more concrete territories which are located to the east of the mainland.

A country which was named Fusang was described by the native Buddhist missionary Huishen (Tuệ thâm,Huìshēn), also variously romanized as Hui Shen, Hoei-sin, and Hwai Shan. In his record dated to AD 499 during China'sNorthern and Southern dynastic period,he describes Fusang as a place which is located 20,000 Chineselito the east of Dahan, and it is also located to the east of China (according toJoseph Needham,Dahan corresponds to theBuriatregion of Siberia).Huishen arrived in China fromKabulin 450 AD and went by ship to Fusang in 458 AD,and upon his return in 499 reported his findings to theLiangemperor. His descriptions are recorded in the 7th-century textBook of LiangbyYao Silian,and they describe a civilization which inhabits the Fusang country. The Fusang which is described by Huishen has variously been posited to be theAmericas,SakhalinIsland, theKamchatka Peninsulaor theKuril Islands.The American hypothesis was the most hotly debated one during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, after the 18th-century writings ofJoseph de Guigneswere republished and disseminated byCharles Godfrey Lelandin 1875.Sinologists,includingEmil Bretschneider,Berthold Laufer,andHenri Cordier,refuted this hypothesis, however, and according to Needham, the American hypothesis was all but refuted by the time of theFirst World War.

In later Chinese accounts, other, even less well-identified places were given the name Fusang.

Mythological accounts

An earlier account claims that in 219 BC, emperorShi Huangsent an expedition of some 3,000 convicts to a place which was located far off to the east, across the ocean, a place which was called Fusang, where they were required to make a sacrifice to a volcano god who held theelixir of life.Apparently, two expeditions were undertaken byXu Fu,the court sorcerer, in order to seek the elixir of life. The first expedition returned c. 210 BC because Xu Fu claimed that a giant sea creature was blocking his men's path. Archers were then sent to kill this monster when the expedition set out a second time, but it was never heard from again. However, "... asides in theRecord of the Historianimply that its leader Xu Fu had returned to China long ago and was lurking somewhere nearLangya,frittering away the expedition's impressive budget. "

InChinese mythology,Fusang refers to a divine tree and an island which are both located in the East, from where the sun rises. A similar tree, known as the Ruomu (Nếu mộc) exists in the west, and each morning, the sun was said to rise in Fusang and fall on Ruomu. According to Chinese legends, ten birds (typically ravens) lived in the tree, and because nine of the birds rested, the tenth bird would carry the Sun on its journey. This legend has similarities with the Chinese tale of the fictional heroHouyi,sometimes referred to as the Archer, who is credited with saving the world by shooting down nine of the suns when all ten suns simultaneously took to the air one day. Some scholars have identified the bronze trees which were found at the archaeological siteSan xing duias these Fusang trees.

Interpretations of Huishen's account

Eastern Japan

Japanwas one of the interpretation place forFusang.However, Huishen's report differentiates Fusang from the ancient Japanese kingdom ofWo,which has been tentatively located in theKinki,Kyūshū,or it has been located on theRyukyu Islands.

The term Fusang would later be used as a designation for 'Japan' inChinese poetry.Since Japanese nameNihon(Nhật Bản,lit. 'Root [i.e.source, birthplace, origin] of the Sun') or the Chinese nameRibenwas aname of Japan,someTang dynastypoets believed that Fusang "lay between the mainland and Japan." For instance,Wang Weiwrote a 753 farewell poem whenAbe no Nakamaro(Chinese Zhao HengTiều hành) returned to Japan, "The trees of your home are beyond Fu-sang."

Fusang is pronouncedFusōinJapanese,from classicalFusau,and it is one of the names which is used as a designation forancient Japan.Several warships of theImperial Japanese Navywere namedFusō(theJapanese ironclad warshipFusō,or the World War II battleshipFusō). Several companies, such asFuso,also bear the name.

Gustaaf Schlegelbelieved that Fusang was most probably "the long island ofKarafutoor it wasSakhalin".Joseph Needhamadded that "ifKamchatkaand theKurilesmay also be considered, there is no better means of identifying it at the present day. "

Note that there was an ancient province of Japan which was named theFusa-no kuni(the 'Country of Fusa') in eastern Honshū, which encompassed all of the modern-dayChiba Prefectureas well as the southwestern part of the modern-dayIbaraki Prefecture.

The Americas

This 1753 map by the French cartographerPhilippe Buachelocates Fusang ( "Fou-sang des Chinois",'Fusang of the Chinese') north ofCalifornia,in the area ofBritish Columbia.

According to some historians such asCharles Godfrey LelandandJoseph de Guignes(Le Fou-Sang des Chinois est-il l'Amérique?Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, tome 28, Paris, 1761), the distances which are given by Huishen (20,000 Chineseli) would mean that Fusang is located on the west coast of the American continent, when the ancient Han-period definition of the Chineseliis taken into account. Some 18th-century European maps locate Fusang north ofCalifornia,in the area ofBritish Columbia.An American location does not match with the claim that horses were sighted (because horses did not exist in either North or South America at that time) nor does it match with the claim that deer were domesticated and milked.

Fusang was mentioned in a map ofMarco Polo's voyages to the Far East which was supposedly made (or copied) by his family, the map includes theKamchatka PeninsulaandAlaska.The map has been dated to the 15th or 16th century, which means that at best, it is a copy of the original map. However, the ink wasn't dated, so it's also possible that Alaska could've been added later on when the existence of it became known.

Descriptions of Fusang

See also:Silk Road transmission of Buddhism

Mention of Fusang ( "Fousang des Chinois") on a 1792 French world map, in the area of modern-day British Columbia.

According to the report of Huishen to the Chinese during his visit to China, which is described in theBook of Liang:

Fusang is 20,000 li to the East of the country ofDàhàn(lit. 'Great Han'), and located to the east of China (lit. the 'Middle Kingdom').

On that land, there are many Fusang plants that produce oval-shaped leaves which are similar to paulownia and edible purplish-red fruits which are like pears. The place was rich in copper deposits and it also contained traces of gold and silver but it did not contain iron. The native tribes in Fusang were civilized, living in well-organized communities. They produced paper from the bark of the Fusang plants for writing and they also produced cloth from the fibers of the bark, which they used for robes or wadding. Their houses or cabins were constructed with red mulberry wood. The fruits and young shoots of the plants were one of their food sources. They raised deer for meat and milk, just as the Chinese raised cattle at home, and they also produced cheese with deer's milk. They traveled on horseback and transported their goods with carts or sledges which were pulled by horses, buffalo, or deer.

On the organization of the country:

An emperor, or a main chief, with the help of several officials, governed the country. The majority of the people were law-abiding citizens. The country had no army or military defense but it did have two jails, one jail was located in the north and the other jail was located in the south of the country. Those people who had committed serious crimes were sent to the north and they stayed there for their entire lives. However, these inmates could get married. If they got married and produced children, their sons became slaves and their daughters became maids.

On the social practices:

The marriage arrangement was relatively simple. If a boy wanted to marry a girl, he had to build a cabin next to the home of the girl and stay in it for a year. If the girl liked him, they would get married; otherwise he would be asked to go away... When a person died in the community, his or her body would be cremated. The mourning period varied from seven days for a dead parent to five days for a dead grandparent and three days for a dead brother or sister. During their mourning periods, the people were not supposed to consume food, they could only drink water. They had noBuddhism.

TheBook of Liangalso describes the conversion of Fusang to the Buddhist faith by five Buddhist monks who were fromGandhara:

In former times, the people of Fusang knew nothing of the Buddhist religion, but in the second year ofDa Mingof theLiu Song dynasty(485 AD), five monks who were from the Kipin (Kabulregion of Gandhara) traveled to that country by ship. They propagated the Buddhist doctrine, circulated scriptures and drawings, and advised the people to relinquish their worldly attachments. As a result, the customs of the people of Fusang changed.

It is also reported that 1,000 li (415 km, 258 miles) beyond of Fusang, there was a Land of Women, where "its female inhabitants were completely covered with hair, walked erect, and chattered a lot among themselves but were shy when they saw ordinary human beings. They gave birth to their young after six or seven months of pregnancy and nursed them on their backs. The babies were able to walk within 100 days and were fully grown in three or four years."

See also

• Xu Fu
• Chinese mythology
• Zhou Man
• Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories

References

Bibliography

• Leyland, Charles Godfrey (1875)Fusang; Or, The Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century,New York: Barnes & Noble, 1973. Reprint: Forgotten Books (2010),ISBN978-1-4400-7044-0.
• Vining, Edward P. (1885)Inglorious Columbus; or, Evidence that Hwui Shan and a Party of Buddhist Monks from Afghanistan Discovered America in the Fifth Century, A.D..New York: D. Appleton and Company,ISBN978-0-217-68056-1
• Williams, S. Wells (1881):Notices of Fu-sang, and Other Countries Lying East of China, in the Pacific Ocean. Translated from the Antiquarian Researches of Ma Twan-Lin, with Notes.Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, New Haven. Downloaded fromhttps://archive.org/details/noticesoffusanga00willrichon 5 June 2011.

External links

• uh.edu/
• Description of Fusang in ancient Chinese literature 《 Lương Thư • 54 • liệt truyện 48 》(in Chinese)
• Article at CRIENGLISH on Xu Fu's expedition to Japan
• Stan Steiner (1979) (1979).Fusang: The Chinese Who Built America.Harper & Row.ISBN0060140879.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• Charles Godfrey Leland (1875).Fusang: The Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Monks in the Fifth Century.Alsofull viewat Google Books.
• A full translation in French of the account in theBook of Liangwas given by Schlegel (1892)JSTOR4524934