Chapter 104 China in "The Arabian Nights"

China in "The Arabian Nights" The famous "Arabian Nights" is a great treasure house of ancient Arabian stories.since the thirteenth century From the very beginning, the stories from different sources have gradually gathered together through many different dictation and handwriting. and became known to the world today. The sources of these stories reach as far as Africa, Asia and Europe.In the thirteenth century, it was the period between the Song and Yuan Dynasties in our country. Therefore, most of the China mentioned in "Arabian Nights" lived in Guangzhou during the Tang Dynasty.

The Arabs brought back knowledge.A little later, what is mentioned is the situation of the Yuan Dynasty.because Therefore, at this time, China is said to be a very far away, but also very large country. One of the characteristics is that the emperor likes to kill people the most. The famous Sir Borton's translation of "The Arabian Nights", in the annotations for some stories mentioned He has made extremely valuable annotations to the places where Chinese people have customs and customs.It's not often mentioned recently From the ancient Chinese porcelain displayed in the Cairo Museum, all of them were excavated in the United Arab Emirates.This

Can't it be used to prove the long history of Sino-Arab cultural exchanges? Khan in "The Arabian Nights" The story told by the second eunuch contained in the story of Ream Bin Yayub, in which Seeing the eunuch's hostess and daughter, because they knew that the house collapsed and crushed the eunuch to death, they asked the eunuch to take the house All the utensils and porcelain on display were smashed to vent their grief and indignation.The eunuch said: "So I went with her and helped her break down all the grids in the house, and Everything on it, and after that, I went over the rooftops and every spot,

Break all that I can, so that there is not a piece of china in the house that is not broken. … " Sir Borton commented here: "It is said that this is a custom in Egypt and Syria. They have to be six or seven feet indoors On the height of the wall, many exquisite Chinese porcelain jars are displayed along the walls, forming a A very rich wall decoration.I bought a lot when I was in Damascus until the locals understood Having acquired their preciousness, they began to demand astonishingly high prices from me. " What Sir Borton said in this commentary is undoubtedly what is now on display in the Cairo Museum

Those Chinese porcelain jars in the yard.The trend of using Chinese porcelain pots for interior decoration is not only found in Africa, It was once very popular even in the Nanyang area.Because of cherishing our country's porcelain, it is not only regarded as art decoration Jewelry, and it is regarded as a family heirloom. Many places in Africa and Southeast Asia have cultures with us very early. trade relations. In the story of "Abu Muhammad and Lasaibonis" again, Muhammad is in the sea He was rescued, and the ship that rescued him belonged to the city of "Harat" in China.China of course not

Such a city.Lord Borton said that when it comes to the unattainable and the most unimaginable, Because of the size of China's borders, they always say that this place is within China's borders.Again in "Arisa and the Women" In the story of Nuju Molu, a female slave refused to sell herself to a buyer who dyed her beard, and chanted poems to He laughed, two of which were: "The beards are the same when you go, It was the same when I came back, Like an ugly foot doing a Chinese shadow show at night. " Sir Borton added a note here, explaining that the performance method of Chinese shadow theater is a bit like that of foreigners.

Like the puppet show in China, it is just a transparent cloth curtain with a burning lamp inside, and the puppet is held by hand. The black shadow cast on the curtain to perform. Sir Borton was the British Consul in the Middle East at that time. He mentioned that the Arabs and the Turks In the shadow play performed by others, the ugly foot is often very obscene, dragging a body bigger than himself And a long dildo comes on stage.It made the consular corps present feel embarrassed. The Chinese shadow play mentioned here is what we call "shadow puppets" now, and most of them use

Donkey skin is used as raw material, and it is made thin and transparent like frosted glass through special tanning method. Coupled with dyeing, the shadows of the characters in the play, which can move like puppets, can be seen through the light Projected on the white curtain, accompanied by music and libretto, it becomes the most primitive color moving sound movie. According to legend, this kind of shadow play in our country already existed in the Han Dynasty.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty missed the dead Wei Madame, the alchemist performed a spell for him, summoning the dead soul of the madam and appearing on the veil.It is said that

What is used is this shadow play method.Weim Scharter of Harvard University in his book In "China's Shadow Play", it is admitted that the history of the existence of Chinese shadow play may be earlier than the Han Dynasty, Huiyu has a history of three thousand years.Undoubtedly the ancestor of today's cinema. The shadow plays popular in the Middle East, like the Javanese shadow plays, are all inherited from China. past.The ridiculously behaving ugly foot, as quoted in the story of the Arabian Nights, was obviously added to the local color. Also, in the "Sharf Yarmuloka" that started from the seventh hundred and fifty-ninth night

The Story of the Prince and the Princess Badia Yalchamar, the prince wanted to inquire about his beauty He was willing to go to the ends of the earth to find his whereabouts, so someone in the court suggested to the Pharaoh of Egypt, if I want to know where the mysterious places where the princess lives are. It is best to take a boat to China to find them. listen.It is said that there is a big city in China, which is not only rich in products, but also people from all over the world gather. Gathering there, any strange places and news can be inquired from that city. Sir Borton notes here:

"The reference may have been to Guangzhou, as it is a city familiar to Arabs." At that time, Prince Shaf Yalmuloka had already assumed the throne, and when he heard the courtiers talk about going to China, If he could find out the whereabouts of the princess, he said to his father, who had already passed away: "Oh, my father, please prepare a ship for me so that I can go to China Just go, and at the same time, please take the throne for me temporarily. " But the old king replied to him: "Son, you still continue to sit on your throne and rule over you. people, let me sail for you to China, and find out for you all about the city of Babel and the Garden of Ilam. exist. " But Prince Yalmuloka refused and insisted on going in person.Pharaoh had no choice but to prepare four Ten ships of war, twenty thousand warriors, besides servants and all war supplies and travel supplies, for him lead off. The story goes that when they arrived at a city in China (which was apparently by the sea, So Lord Borton thought it was Canton), the Chinese in the city heard that forty warships were coming, The soldiers were fully armed, thinking that the enemy must be besieging them, so they quickly closed the city gates and prepared to defend. city ​​tools. Later Prince Shaf Yarmuloka sent envoys outside the city to declare that he was from Egypt The prince came here for sightseeing as a guest, not to invade.Therefore, if you wish to wait for him, they will go ashore, if they do not want to receive him, they will go back on the same ship, and will never disturb the people in the city. common people. The Chinese are of course hospitable, so the story goes on, those Chinese opened City gate, led them to meet the king of China.Here, the story calls the Chinese emperor "Fafu Er", Sir Borton eruditely commented below the word: The word Favre is the respectful name Muslims give to the emperor of China. "Fa" is actually "Ba" This word has the meaning of "god" and "pagoda" in some dialects of the Middle East, so he quoted Using the explanation of a French scholar, it is believed that the word "Bafour" means "Son of Heaven" in Chinese. translate. Needless to say, the Chinese emperor wholeheartedly entertained the prince from afar and summoned all sailors and merchants, searched out for him the city of Babel and the gardens of Elam, until He left China only after getting satisfactory news. There are many places where China is mentioned in "The Arabian Nights".Because since the Tang Dynasty, from land and Muslims who traveled to Chang'an and Guangzhou by water, brought with them a lot of information about China when they returned to the Middle East. The knowledge and legends of the "Arabian Nights" later reflected in these stories, the real and the imagined The image is mixed, but we can still see the good impression China has left in the mouths of these Middle Eastern guests. elephant. Seeds sown in remote times seem to be now bearing fruit in these nascent lands up.