Fusang facts for kids
Fusang (Chinese: 扶桑; pinyin: Fú Sāng) refers to various entities, most frequently a mythical tree or location east of China, described in ancient Chinese literature.
In the Classic of Mountains and Seas and several contemporary texts, the term refers to a mythological tree of life, alternatively identified as a mulberry or a hibiscus, 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 Hui Shen (Chinese: 慧深; pinyin: Huì Shēn, also called Hwui Shan) in 499 AD, as a place which is located 20,000 Chinese li to the east of Da-han, and it is also located to the east of China (according to Joseph Needham, Da-han corresponds to the Buriat region of Siberia). Hui Shen arrived in China from Kabul in 450 AD and went by ship to Fusang in 458 AD, and upon his return in 499 reported his findings to the Chinese Emperor. His descriptions are recorded in the 7th-century text Book of Liang by Yao Silian, and they describe a civilization which inhabits the Fusang country. The Fusang which is described by Shen has variously been posited to be the Americas, Sakhalin Island, the Kamchatka Peninsula or the Kuril Islands. The American hypothesis was the most hotly debated one during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, after the 18th-century writings of Joseph de Guignes were republished and disseminated by Charles Godfrey Leland in 1875. Sinologists, including Emil Bretschneider, Berthold Laufer, and Henri Cordier, refuted this hypothesis, however, and according to Needham, the American hypothesis was all but refuted by the time of the First 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, emperor Shi Huang sent 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 the elixir of life. Apparently, two expeditions were undertaken by Xu 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 the Record of the Historian imply that its leader Xu Fu had returned to China long ago and was lurking somewhere near Langya, frittering away the expedition's impressive budget."
Descriptions of Fusang
According to the report of Hui Shen to the Chinese during his visit to China, which is described in the Book of Liang:
Fusang is 20,000 li to the East of the country of Dàhàn (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 no Buddhism.
The Book of Liang also describes the conversion of Fusang to the Buddhist faith by five Buddhist monks who were from Gandhara:
In former times, the people of Fusang knew nothing of the Buddhist religion, but in the second year of Da Ming of the Liu Song dynasty (485 AD), five monks who were from the Kipin (Kabul region 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
In Spanish: Fusang para niños
