Pale Ink

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1、Pale Inkby Henriette Mertz1953ReadingThis is another attempt to investigate early Chinese trans-Pacific contacts, written mid-20th century by a globe-trotting patent attorney, Henriette Mertz. Like Charles Lelands Fusang, written three-quarters of a century before, Mertz depends heavily on ancient C

2、hinese geographical treatises to support her thesis that the Chinese explored the western United States hundreds, maybe thousands of years before Europeans. The strongest part of the book is her attempt to explain the available Chinese historical descriptions, even the most fanciful parts, in terms

3、of specific locations, animals, and cultures, for the most part plausibly. On the downside, she misidentifies parts of the Hindu sacred texts as Buddhist, and indulges in the amateur etymology game, with predictable results. But these factual lapses seem to be peripheral to the book. Mertz self-publ

4、ished this in 1953, and followed it up with a second edition in 1972, which corrected many of the endemic typos in the first edition. The book was reissued in paperback by Ballentine in 1975 as Gods from the Far East: How The Chinese Discovered America (see cover), apparently in an effort to cash in

5、 on the Van Daniken craze. However, Pale Ink is a much better effort than Van Daniken, as Mertz is not obsessed with explaining every Native American technological advance as a borrowing from unknown visitors. The Chinese discovery of America continues to be a perennial theory. Most recently weve se

6、en 1421: The Year China Discovered America, by Gavin Menzies, and Voyages of the Pyramid Builders, by Robert M. Schoch. Both of these books owe quite a lot to the work of Henriette Mertz. When I came down from Ku Su Terrace in the East,I had already arranged for a vessel to float on the sea;And unti

7、l now resentment lingers in my mindThat I did not succeed in exploring Fu Sang.From the poems of Tu Fu (726 A.D.)Translation by Florence AyscouthTable of ContentsPale Ink1Reading1Table of Contents2Preface31.Geographical Myths12.Fu-sang63.Chinese Whimsy?114.Kuen 327 and the Liang-Sse-Kong Ki175.Mexic

8、an Legends256.Yucatan317.Related Items368.The Buddhists419.A Matter of Words4610.Hwui Shan, Traveller par Excellence5011.Early China5512.The Shan Hai King6213.Across the Sea6614.The Great American Desert9215.Conclusion102Author Biography105PrefaceFour thousand years is a long time to wait. One of th

9、e stories, recounted here for the very first time, has waited that longthe second story has waited fifteen hundred years.Both stories, written in China and appearing here in English translation, were written at an early date and both have been carefully preserved in the Chinese archives from that da

10、y to thisboth still exist. This writing hopes to show that the context of both documents is true. The earliest one has been assumed to be mythological and the later one, false. The reason for the assumption is that we have never understood them.The ever-present puzzle of the earliest of Chinese expe

11、ditions to America, has been a problem that we have not as yet solved. The two stories, given here, cannot be presumed to be the very first actual journeys that took place but they are, in my opinion, rather the first geographical descriptions so recorded and the record preserved. Other migrations u

12、ndoubtedly took place thousands of years earlier but we do not know when.The writer is deeply conscious of the fact that many errors may occur on the following pages. In various instances throughout the translations, two or three nearby mountain peaks might well have fulfilled the requirements set f

13、orth in the Classicsthe wrong peak may have been chosen. Exploratory matter is always imperfectif one waited until perfection were reached, little would be accomplished.In bringing to light the truth of that which has been written in both ancient documents, the field of archeology has been freely dr

14、awn upon for corroborative evidenceand it has produced many of the answers. Geography has furnished the remainder. There is no intent here to uncover any unknown archeological matterthat is being most capably done by the archeologiststhemselves. Neither is any new scientific material presentedfor th

15、e writer is no scientist. Rather, the substance of that which has been disclosed has been drawn from only known and accepted facts in many related fields. It has attempted to bring to bear the light of todays knowledge on the writings of the ancients in order to determine their truth. In so doing, t

16、he writer has felt free to use and combine scientific material from many related fields.It is believed that if the Chinese Classics were re-studied, with faith in their veracity, we may well find that much has been recorded, the truth of which we little suspected.Grateful acknowledgment is made to S

17、tanford University Press for permission to use quotations from Dr. Morleys The Ancient Maya; to Alfred A. Knopf for the use of A Poem on the Stone Drums; to Dr. H. G. Creel for material from The Birth of China; to Virginia Prewett; to Gordon Ekholm; to the National Geographic Society; particularly t

18、o Henry B. Syverud for a wealth of information on Writing Rock; and to the many other unknown archeologists whose valuable work over the years has contributed much to my studyto all of them, I am indebted.HENRIETTE MERTZJune, 19531. Geographical MythsTHIS IS A very ancient story, and yet a new one.

19、It is the story of two Chinese expeditions to Americaone in the fifth century A.D., and the other in the twenty-third century B.C. Both have been taken from Chinese records. One has been doubtedthe other has never been examined.The fifth century story, which will be treated first, is that of Hwui Sh

20、an, Buddhist priest, who told the Court of China of going to a far country, to the east, called Fu-sang. The second story, the Classic of Mountains and Seas, is the record of a series of journeys, compiled by the great Yu, at the request of the Emperor Shun, supposedly in 2250 B.C., describing mount

21、ains and rivers across the Great Eastern Sea.Fu-sang, this alleged-to-be geographical myth of Mexico-figment of Buddhist imagination, is, today, assumed to be nothing more than legendary fantasy. The dramatic record, from the Chinese Classics, was microscopically examined from 1761 to 1885, by more

22、than fifty top-flight European scholars. Paper after paper was written but when the fan-fare had died down, nothing was conclusively proved or disprovedsince nothing was actually known of pre-historic Mexico or United States. The controversy over Fu-sang eventually died a natural death for lack of k

23、nowledge.Work, the process of digging down deep into the earth to see what went on before, had not started. No one knew just what was thereand, even yet, the surface is barely scratched.Within the past ten or fifteen years, archeologists have uncovered amazing pre-historic sites that would have been

24、 inconceivable to the scores of French and German scientists who examined the Buddhist monks story. Recent finds in Arizona and New Mexico confirm some of the most minute details contained within Hwui Shans gripping account of Fu-sang. Had this present-day knowledge been available to those European

25、scholars, history, within the past century, would have recorded the facts in a far different manner from the way in which they are recorded.Fu-sang is no geographical myth. It is real. In the fifth century, it was a vital, strategic spotHwui Shans (慧深)visit there changed the entire course of its his

26、tory. He it was who was instrumental in creating in it a magnificently brilliant civilizationthe like of which the world has never seen.The second of our stories, which chronologically belongs first, suffering from want of examination, has been infrequently read, even in China, and has never been fu

27、lly translated into English. Presumably compiled by Yu, who later became Emperor, the books comprising the Shan Hai King, the Classic of Mountains and Seas, contain accounts of journeys that cover the earth. It is my belief that the Shan Hai King will be found to be the most astounding geographical

28、document that has ever been written.It has long been known that Asiatics came across Bering Strait to America at a very remote timeno one knows how early100,000 years, 500,000 years, or perhaps earlier. Land masses in that area are relatively close and at no time is it necessary to be without sight

29、of land from either the Asiatic or Alaskan coast. Then, too, we know that climatic conditions have changed many times in the polar regionsa million years ago, redwood trees and ferns grew on the Aleutians; they formed a continuous band from the Asiatic shore down to southern California. Other simila

30、r climatic changes in those ice-locked areas have taken place within the known age of man. Journeys, that now seem to us incredible, apparently were frequently undertaken.No longer ago than sixty years, it was the general belief that the Indian on the American continent, although recognized as being

31、 of Mongolian origin, came sometime after the Christianera. Forty years ago, the date was moved back a thousand years and it was assumed that 3,000 years would be the limit of time accorded the red man. Twenty-five years ago, with the finding of the Folsom Man, the date was shoved to 10,000 B.C.the

32、Sandia Man came to light and the date was revised to 20,000 B.C. Now, with recent discoveries in southern California, it is believed to go back to 100,000 B.C., with 400,000 B.C. as a possibility. Tremendous strides have been made with these discoveries. Things that fifty years ago were inconceivabl

33、e, are now accepted.Mongolian characteristics among the Mexican Indians had been recognized even as far back as the Conquest. The Spaniards, time after time, likened the Indian people to the Chinese. As more knowledge became available, one similarity after another was noted. The Indian of North Amer

34、ica also bore marks of similarity to the Chinese, but they were of a different type from those of the Indians farther to the south.About thirty years ago, the Mexican Government took an interest and it, together with several North American private institutions, set to work to find out some of the an

35、swers. Archeologists began the work of shovelling out trenches and soon were able to identify which piece of pottery came from which level, and thus built up a time sequence. Gradually, a mosaic was pieced together and relative periods of time fell into place.Tremendous spurts of activity in the art

36、s and sciences are known to have taken place shortly after the beginning of the Christian era in southern Mexico, Yucatan and Guatemala. Such things as the corbelled roof suddenly appeared in north-western Yucatan, in 475 A.D., with no apparent explanation and with no gradual process of evolution le

37、ading up to it. It arrived full blown. The calendar came onto the scene at approximately the same time. Great cities, such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal, rose in spectacular glory.Speculation started buzzing around among archeologists to find the cause. Some impact from an outside source must have exert

38、ed a terrific influence. Material that was unearthed showed evidence of great and sudden changea religious motif not noticeable earlier, cropped up. Artifacts that were unearthed bore an uncanny resemblance to Buddhist Java, Cambodia and China. Buddhists, who were known to have wandered over the fac

39、e of the earth spreading their doctrine, were charged with having found their way over here sometime around 500 A.D., during a time of great upsurge of Buddhist missionary activity.Then other material was found that preceded the time of Buddha. One thing after another turned up. The Tuxtla Statuette

40、, a jade figurine, tentatively dated as of 162 A.D., was discovered; the El Baul monument supposedly executed in 29 A.D., and the monument from Tres Zapotes, in southern Vera Cruz, presumably carved in 21 B.C., were next uncovered. The earliest fixed date is that of the Leyden jade piece, dated as h

41、aving been carved in 320 A.D. An early spurt appeared to have taken place somewhere about the second millennium B.C.pottery had developed to a finished state and corn was cultivated by that date. Buddhist Chinese could not then be alleged to have contributed to the teaching of pottery or the cultiva

42、tion of corn, since they both arose here before the Buddha was born.Did the Indians from Mexico to Peru develop all of their arts and crafts independently? Were there two separate periods of external influence? Were Chinese the emigrants in both instances? Did these wanderers come for a time and the

43、n stop? After a thousand years or more did they come back? At the early date did they bring any Egyptians along? If any of them were here did they leave anything behind? Archeologists started looking for Chinese bones. None are known to have been found. Since none have been found and positively iden

44、tified, there appeared to be nothing that would prove that they were here.It would be a relatively simple matter if the Chinese Buddhists had been as thoughtful as Kilroy and had taken time out to have carved their names in Chinese characters on solid rock, together with a date. If Chinese were here

45、 before the Buddhists, they likewise might have been more considerate. If they came over at periodic intervals starting about 400,000 B.C. and forsome reason terminated their visits along about 500 A.D., why did they not leave some note of it? If they did, perhaps we have not yet recognized it. Were

46、 there many persons that came acrossor just a handful? Were they on round trip expeditions or did they come as permanent settlers? How far down did they travel or settle? Was there trade back and forth once the contact had been established? Did one borrow from the other back and forth? If the Chines

47、e taught the Indians, did the Indians likewise teach the Chinese?Both the history of China as well as that of Japan, relate stories concerning boatloads of thousands of young people sailing out across the eastern sea to find a fabled landnever to return. Great ships sailed across the Indian Ocean, c

48、arrying as many as 200 persons, together with their horsesbut they all returned. Whether the boatloads of young people were shipwrecked or went down in mid-ocean was never known. Whether they may have been carried along with the Kamchatka Current and deposited on another shore was never presumed nor

49、 suspected. Chinese records reveal that a boatload sailed about 219 B.C. and the Japanese date was three hundred years later. They were all looking for The Promised Land.Two hundred years ago, de Guignes, a Frenchman, thought that he had found the answers to these questions in the Chinese Classics.

50、His discovery connected the Chinese Buddhists of 500 A.D. with the fabled land of Fu-sangwhich de Guignes believed was Mexico. After a lapse of seventy years, another scholar came to the conclusion that de Guignes was wrong. For the past 120 years, the second mans opinion has been accepted. Whether

51、or not either one or the other was correct or in error, it still does not explain the early period, 1500 years before the advent of Buddha in 500 B.C.Since the Classics of 500 A.D. were disproved in 1831, insofar as they were identified with Mexico, why should one go back to the Classics again for a

52、ny earlier record of contact between Mexico and China? The search may be presumed to be fruitless before it is started. Nevertheless, it is now being undertaken.The account which de Guignes examined, that of Hwui Shan, the Buddhist priest, will be re-examined first. The second portion will deal with

53、 the record of Yu, which is called in Chinese, Shan Hai King, and, in English, the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Presumably this recording was begun during the reign of the Emperor Shun, 2250 B.C., and completed after Yu succeeded to the throne, about 2205 B.C. Both the dates and the geographical s

54、ubstance of the record have been completely discounted by scholars, here and abroad, who consider the entire account as pure travestya descriptive collection of non-existing mountain ranges peopled with leprechauns and fire-spewing dragons.If the fabled country across the Great Eastern Sea, of which

55、 Yu has left descriptive notes, were non-existent, why did so many poets tingle with excitement when they wrote of the spectacular beauty of the Great Luminous Canyon? Why did so many poets write I saw the place where the sun was born? Why did others feel that they had been cheated because they had

56、been born too late and were unable to travel to the place where the sun was born? One poet of the Tang dynasty (618 A.D.) regretted that Confucius had travelled extensively to the west but had failed to go east to the place of the sun. The inspiring sight of the Great Luminous Canyon thrilled those

57、poetic soulsit could not fail to do so.For centuries Chinese scholars had studied this Book of Mountains and Seasthis record of Yu. It was one of the required books that all students had to read and on which they were examined during the time of the great examinations of China.About the third centur

58、y B.C., doubts as to the veracity of Yus account crept in. Scholars looked for his mountain ranges in every conceivable corner of China and failed to find them. Since they failed to find them in China, it was concluded that Yus mountains did not exist; that the record was good literatureit was never

59、 intended to be factual. That opinion has been held for the past 2,000 years.Originally the Book of Mountains and Seas comprised 32books18 have come down to us. No complete English translation is known to exist. On reading the precious few that were found in translation. I was impressed by their sin

60、cerity. It was perfectly obvious that whoever set down the data had been somewhere. The record was an eye-witness accountit was no collection of mythical nor imaginary labyrinthine wanderings.The fragmentary portion, available in translation, was titled Across the Great Eastern Sea. Chinese scholars

61、 had made exhaustive searches in China but failed to locate Yus mountain ranges. Looking in China would prove pointlessthe caption specifically stated otherwise. No one, it seemed, had looked across the Great Eastern Sea.If the book were to be examined, directions of the author would have to be scru

62、pulously followed. Discounting the other fellows directions and mileage, on the presumption that he must be wrong, one never gets to the place where he was directed. That was what happened to the German scientist who examined Hwui Shans account in the 1830s. In this instance, when we are told to go

63、eastwe go east; when directions specify 266 miles, then we shall go 266 miles. We shall follow every instruction laid down in the Classics, insofar as we have it.Traditions, oftentimes, are forgotten. In the case of Yus journeymen, great numbers of persons were sent out across the seas who, on their

64、 return, doubtless related stories of their adventures to their children and grandchildren. But time, along with war, upheaval and pestilence over extended periods, has a habit of erasing details from mens minds. If we rely solely on tradition, which, while it maintains the germ, frequently is disto

65、rted, we would have an incomplete picture. Tradition in this case was long since forgottenbut the record of Yu remained intact, indelibly written down so that man would not forget.Pale ink, said Confucius, is better than the most retentive memory. And so it was with the record of Yu.2. Fu-sangYUS DOCUMENT will be put aside for the moment in order to explore the highly controversial fifth century story of Fu-sang, an account contained within the Chinese Classics.The much-sought-a