Monday, August 27, 2007
(A giraffe brought from Africa as a tribute to China in the twelfth year of Yongle -AD 1414.)
One of the most famous tribute gifts to China were giraffes from East Africa. The first giraffe arrived in the Chinese court in 1414, a gift from the newly crowned king of Bengal, Saifu’d-Din, who had been given the giraffe by the king of Malindi (now a town in Kenya).
The Chinese had never quite seen anything like them: tall creatures with endless legs and necks, short horns, a long tongue and gentle eyes framed by long lashes. To the astonished court, these animals were qilin, beasts of the literary imagination appearing only when the world was at harmony and the emperor virtuous. Many no doubt thought the gift indicated not only the wisdom of their emperor, but also that the world was united under China’s benevolent civilizing power. With due fanfare, a painting of the animal was commissioned and a hymn of praise of Yongle and his family composed:
In a corner of the western seas, in the stagnant
waters of a great morass,
Truly was produced a qilin, whose shape was
as high as fifteen feet,
With the body of a deer and the tail of an ox,
and a fleshy, boneless horn,
With luminous spots like a red cloud or purple mist.
Its hoofs do not tread on [living] beings and its wandering it
carefully selects its ground,
It walks in stately fashion and in its every
motion it observes a rhythm,
Its harmonious voice sounds like a bell or a
musical tube.
Gentle is this animal that in all antiquity has
been seen but once,
The manifestation of its divine spirit rises up to heaven's abode.
Two years later, Yongle journeyed to the palace gates in Nanjing to receive yet more amazing animals from Malindi, including what were described as "celestial horses" and "celestial stags" (probably species of antelope and zebra) – and another "qilin". He is quoted as saying "This event is due to the abundant virtue of the late emperor, my father, and also to the assistance rendered me by my ministers. That is why distant people arrive in uninterrupted succession."
The giraffe continued to play a small but symbolic role in the voyages of the treasure fleet, with several arriving at court during the time of Zheng He's voyages. Almost 600 years later, it again took centre stage when the Chinese prime minister visited Kenya in 1983 and China's People's Daily wrote about the role of the animal in Sino-African relations. In 1988, two giraffes were presented to China on the occasion of the Kenyan president's visit to China.
as told by us;
12:30 AM