By Cathrine Bourzat.
( notice: A series of photogragh by a french mwassionary a hundred years ago are finding out. It show the really life in thwas place faithfullly. Phillippe Fatin, a french travelled and photographed in Guizhou for long time, takes a series of pictures according to the old photos to show the changing of culture and prospect of Guizhou. And the old and new photos are publwashed into a book named 'Floating View' by the Association for Cultural Exchange with foreign countries of Guiyang in 2001. the following was an article about the book by the dwascoverer, madame Cathrine Bourzat.)
It was a legend for today's tourist that Philippe Fatin use those photos to communicate with the picture by french missionary. And the legend show the attraction to the curious westerner for hundreds of year. It also exprsses the enthusiam of a ceaseless explorer. Philippe Fatin explore the hidden place in memery keep by the changing world by the culture view.
Surprising lasting for a long times
It was in the autumn of 1998 that I met with the foreign mwassions. And at that time, Philip Fatin had accummulated hwas experience of travelling in Guizhou for 15 years. The desire to come into a region of China which was just opened to the foreign tourwast for a look urged him to came to Guizhou in 1985. Guizhou was place that was famous for the various minorities who inhabit there. And it made tourist yearning. The region opened to the foreign tourists was just along the 150kms road which link the capital, Guiyang which was a little Han ethinc city among the karst hills, and the scenic spot of Huangguoshu waterfall ( a spectacular waterfall and used to be background of News in television.) Guizhou exhibited her beauty and distinction to the guest, although the road was very rough. Along the road, the all the things such as strange shape rocks and hills, the forest of peaks and the rape flower spreaded thoughout the fields made the guest surpurized. At that time, there is few tourist even in the famous scenic spot of Huangguoshu. And the waterfall with the strange landform around it made up a mysteric world. At the foot of the waterfall, Philippe Fatin met with the minorities first time.
It was a crowd of Buyi women-the Buyi ethnic lived in the stone villages near the waterfall, and they are famous for weaving exquisite homespuncloth. They were peddling their beautiful batik and embroidery. Comparing with the silk, their the batik and embroidery had a unque style and as if come from another world. The different craft and embriodery skill and various pattern( the pattern was engraved in the memery of any member in a ethnnic) made the embriodery distinctive. The embroidery collected by Philippe Fatin in this trip uncovered a corn of the veil for the mysteric Guizhou. Guizhou is an altogether different world. ' It is worth to go there again.'
In the second time to Guizhou, many things happened. Philippe Fatin make friends with Chenyaoge and his artist friends. Their works got the most nutrition from the minorities culture. Through the works Philippe Fatin find out that how many mountian are there and there are so many villages and so many kinds of minorities dress. The mysterical miao people live and grown in the mountain. So he just had the searching for 15 years and surprising one by one. From then on, Philippe arranged his schedual according to the marketing day. The fair was a big gethering, on which kinds of minorities was bustling with activity to show their symbol as a trophy before your eyes proudly. It may be a strange dress, or a exotic size skirt, a particular coiffure.
Following to the people, he finally found their villager. He found that the villager was poor, even utterly destitute. The villagers feared the strange tourist, who came from the over 14000km-faraway and called french nationality, so they did not show their hospitality immediately. It is the kids acted as go-between by pretending to be fear and made the village leader determined to give the foreign tourist a cup of warm water. What Philip saw in the village house was the textiles the villager wore on the fair that he had seen. The poverty of material desalinate the esthetic value of the article for daily use. These article was in semple style and selected the material from the around enviroment. It show the colour after frequently using. And under the poor condition, the inhabitant of the Guizhou mountainous area can just give a full play to their art capability. The material was very short and what they had was time.
In 1989, a embroidery craft shop was opened opposite the Yingpanpo Hotel in Kaili, and it is the only shop for the foreign tourist. The female shopkeeper became a special conversationalist to Philippe. In winter, he listened to her gossip by the stove and asked constantly. They sit down and conversed for several hours. She told him that all the animals in the embroidery were come from mother butterfly. 'It is an absolutely joke! If there is a mother butterfly, there should be the father butterfly and children butterly!' Philippe refuted. 'No, there are just the mother butterfly and a pile of colourful egg she bear. All the creature such human , animals as the human's brother and the even Leigong(a god) are come from these colourful egg.'
As the friendship between them, Philippe was invited by the female shopkeeper to spend New Year in her mother house. The NewYear of the miao ethnic was in the autumn and earlier than other nationalities'. It is said that the miao people choose to celebrate New Year in autumn because they want to ensure to have enough store things to hold the luxurious banquet before the stores were not looted, or were consumed. They started off by motor tricycle with a nerghbour of the shopkeeper. It is a sunny day, the girls wear the shining silver crown were gathering to perform the dance of bronze drum. While they were arriving, they were dazzled.
If it said the marketing day was the occasion to indicate that where the minorities belonged to only by dress, and the festival was the stage to push the art of expression to the summit. The first touching to the NewYear of the miao ethnic make Philippe to advance to the splendid fancy farther. He knew many miao festival. But if he wanted to know when and where the celebratin was hold according to the complicated miao calendar, he had to look for the village hold the ceremony carefully by the calendar with the Gregorian calendar and lunar calendar. Philippe made human relation net in the kindom of needlework and embroidery by this way. But he do so not just because of his personnal interesting to the embroidery historic heritage which was unknown to the westerner.
As a photographer, he reforced the relationship with villagers. In the next trip, he would inquire around and would climb mountain to village for finding the girl with spiral coiffure, or the woman with a brilliant Beidai(a cloth used for carry baby on back) he photographed in the fair last time. The photographer came back to village, the relationship between him and villager was improved. One day on a bad climate highland of Bijie region, he found the village after four hours walking and he tried his best to make the villager to recognized him. ' You can come to our remote village unexpectedly! Please don't forget us in the future!' How could he help to go back there?
In the autumn of 1998, Philippe come back to Guizhou for the Duan festival of Shui nationality. At that time, I was also in Sandu county and there was an unexpectedly thing in my travelling bag which I found in my bookshelf before. I began to study Chinese in 1982, and my father give me three little old album named 'Mission of Guizhou'. I just engaged the big China at that time, and I acknowledged I did not notice the little province. I ignored the history value of the album at all and I just feel the picture on them beautiful and strange. I put it into a box with other photos and then forgot them at all. In 1997 , I was depatched to Guizhou by a press to write a itinery about the southwest of China, because I had been herer several time since 1992. After I went back to friench, I began to sort out the data to vivify my book. When I look for the meterial of maps and plates, I found the old box contained those Chinese photos.
What a shock it is when I saw the picture again! This time I feel the smell of the earth I had been to assailed my nostrils, and I realized the value of these old photos as the witness to a gone times. I should share the treasure with Guizhou and let people to know that the foreigner had come Guizhou by long-distance and lived there. These foreigners recorded their discover and daily life in Guizhou. I did not kwon that I would met Philippe Fatin, the person who was the reincarnation of the foreign at all. While I was showing the albums to him in Sandu hostel, he was exciting very much and had the feeling as I had but stronger. Because the Guizhou in the picture was like the scene in his first time to Guizhou. The scene of his first time to Guiyang rosed: Jiaxiu Pavilion, St-Joseph church in Guiyang and Huangguoshu waterfall. The main street of Anshun became the memery on the paper, but Zhengyuan did not change very much. Was there any historic site which also did not change?
Determining to gain a clear idea, we began to search . several days later, we find the old monastery of Guiyang. The monatery was conserved very well and hidden deeply in the botanical garden Dayingpo(a place name in the north of downtown of Guiyang). Obviously these picture just brought back the times and scene that were just forgotten but not erased in the memery of Guizhou. For a distinguisher, Philip would go back to Guizhou at all costs to contact those history clue which was about the first westerner had lived in the province he loved before him.
The story about the Guizhou mission did not end. In the spring of 1999, Philip had begun to do his photograph work. About me , I was search material to write a itinerary about Vietnam. I found a old book with a red coat and gilding name covered by dust. The book's neme was 'Chinese in Their Own Country'. The curiosity to compare our ancestors' opion to the modern view made me fetch that book , blew the dust and opened to read. It is the collection of the letters y priest J.B.Aubry. J.B.Aubry came to Guizhou as a sub-bishop. He lived there until he died in 38 years. As the strange omen of destiny, the missionary's note was fulfilled on two person: one is Philipppe, the other is me.
In this period, Philippe give his first achievement on the photos to his good friend, Chen yaoge. It is too pity to be a personal hobby for this valuable historic material. So Mr Chen suggest the local administration that he hope to use the photos to make a culture progress.
At the end of 1999, Philippe went back to Guizhou, and government of Guiyang gave all conveniences to help him. According to the priest' instuction, A woman who was familiar to Guiyang led Philippe to the botenical garden on the top of the hill. Because five missionaries was buried there, among them the priest Huphuli came from Bordeaux-in southwest of France as Philippe's. He finished his studying in Bordeaux monastery. When Huphuli was in Guizhou, he was very interested in Guizhou. And he even imitated some curious Chinese literatis to draw three atlas of the miao ethnic. And these atlas described vividly the daily life of the miao people and was storied in the library of monastery in Bordeaux. The two men came to close in passing in the river of history. The photographer of the old pictures was unknown. But Philippe considered the Huphuli as his guide, and found a new way which marked by mission and was also the grape wine of Bordeaux.
In China, as the other place of the world, the French grape wine was necessary drink in every dinner. The grape wine sold by merchants of Bordeaux accompany the missionary to everywhere of the world. This drink which was necessary in the celebration of Mass, was a warm mental pillar to the homesick, ill and leaving home missionary. After leaving off Guiyang, Anshun is the first station for the missionary to Yunnan.
Philippe found the place where the missionary passed by the supporting from the local government and the people attracted by the old photos. Philippe found the scene like in the old photos in Anzhuangpo of Zhenning county. What a surprising it is! He also find the chain bridge on the Beipan river, which was the witness of the hard communication in Guizhou. Until now, the traffic there is still bad. After the beautiful journey through the corn field and to the border of the 70km-long spectacular valley, and going on to walk down the mountain for a half hour, Philippe came to the bottom of the valley. He can touched the chain made in 18th century and a little church named with the name of the bridge.
It was one of Philippe' s most contributions to make the missionaries' route clear. The route was from Kaiyang to Zhenfeng and across the Guizhou oblique. The little church and catholic area along the route was the lodge for western tourist. It was recorded in the note of the few explorer and bishops of the local church. Guizhou was so clased as a little island in the Pacific ocean in the early of 19th century. It need piety and strong feeling of mission to arrive there at least. This point was proved in the letter of priest Aubry: twenty years ago, he was not informed that he was sent to the Chinese mission, and God call him to go to a undeveloped and unknowed earth-Guizhou.
Aubry started from Massail, and he spent 127 days to Guiyang finally. The journey took the most time was not the sail from Massail to Shanghai! He spent 40 days on the French ocean liner to Shanghai and only 7day on steam boat to Yichang against the current of Changjian river. Then he changed to by boat pulled by boat tracker and spent 40 days to Chongqing. The rest journey to Guiyang parish was not the most comfortable and he also spent 40 days on sedan chair. He wrote:' At the 9 a.m. of 8th , March, we were in sedan chair that hold by three sedan chair bearar. These guys was shabbily dressed but stronge and totally without worries. They looked hearthy and they were chatting while they were carrying heavy burden.'
'Except in China, we can not find this kind of communication way anywhere, which carried the sedan chair by hunman and mule together and Chinese were skilled to it. The sedan carriers had no tother way for making living here. In addition, all goods were almost carried by people. It could says the shoulder of Chinese were strong than any docker in Europe.' When he arrived in Zunyi, he saw the special scenery of Guizhou first time:'The nearer to Guizhou the higher the mountains are, and the more stones and more rough the road were. So that we can not find a place to release our tired eyes. There is always a torrent in the deep valley, and the mountains beside the river are cultivated unless it is too steep to be field. The fields are piled layer upon layer.'
Aubry described the final trip: ' In the shining of the sun I have not seen for long time, we start our last journey. But the journey is so long that I feel bored. The Guiyang hides in the funnelform low-lying land very well, only we climb up the last mountain, we can see it.' It was a prospect -on the mountain road in the Rassian mountain ridges, a coveyance fell into disused in Europe 50 years ago was runing.
We could see the same scenery about the tour of Guizhou in the note of Frances. Janiear, the first explorer of the source of Meigong river. That was the second time to here , and wanted to go to Tibet. In way to Gongtan, beside the wu river and the border of the Sichuan and Guizhou, Frances experienced personnally the acient stone-paved road and wrote: ' Among the most strange mountains we have seen , the stone-paved road extend up to the mountain. It is 1250 levels totally that I count. The surface of the road is very slippery and it frequently flooded by rain, and the stone steps will become the little waterfalls, so we don't choose by sedan chair for discreetness. Many stone of steps is lost and some of them are very steep.' To be a geograhper, Frances wrote down the unique karst landform:' to image that a series of strange-shaped peaks and hills like udder stand on the sunken earth disorderly. There is no mountain range and valley, you never know the run of the mountain. And the rivers flow in all directions. If we don't know the most of river are underground, we would consider all what we see in the journey is miracle impossible on the geography. We need to draw the map contain the condition both surface of earth and underground.'
The underground condition was always the treasure of Guizhou. He also mentioned: ' I have ever visited one of the Guizhou limestone caves, it can attract all European tourist to come without a huge volume. The cave is rectangle shaped and the roof looks like a very flat ceiling supported by limestone wall around with regular lines. The four corners of the ceiling are hanging down the stalactites like the droplight. I can not help to look for those 'lamps'. The cave make people to get a impression that as if in a abandoned hall of an old castle. The underground river is roaring and bitting the rock in the depth of the cave, and the sound of the river fulfill the cave.'( Frances. Janiear, travel note-from Paris to Tibet,1882, Paris Hachette Press).
The contribution of the missionaries was not only the exciting and complicated travel notes or the missionary work. Since 1846, Guizhou was set to be a dependant parish(it belonged to Sichuan parish) and some European began to live there a completely unknown place for them. At the end of 19th century, they research this area with great enthusiasm. And in movement for carrying the Christianity forward in 1871, they are vigorous to draw maps, to research the local geography(landform, climate, inhabitant, industry, mining industry and so on) ethnology and humanics(especial in the non-Han nationalities).
To the regulation for missionary by The Rome Vatican according to St.Hilthy, they replied: 'Do not be over zealous. Do not try to persuade the inhabitant to change their manner and custom unless they are seriously against the creed and morality. It is the most stupid thing to vainly attempt to copy France,Span, Italy or other European countries to China. Do not attempt to copy all spects of our country here except our faith. And our faith can not exclude and hurt the inhabitant's custom unless it is too bad;It would better to reserve and protect it. Do not compare the custom of the people with European. On the contrast, we should adapt ourself to it as soon as possible.'
These bishop with missions began to do their primary try to adapt the completely different local custom, especially the food in the long-distance journey across the China. And the sermon in 17th century emphasized that they must understand the condition of the inhabitant in detail for preaching successfully. In these decades, the information on the southwest of China were supplied by these special observer. The persons interested in Guizhou were not only French of the Paris mission. There were also Anglo-Saxons, and they were very interested in the miao people; Priest Edkins published a history book about miao ethnic and a dictionary for miao language in 1870.
Actually, the suddenly arising of Guizhou's fame was just because it lied the outer of the south China and became the place that coveted and fought for by the English occupied India and Burma and the French in the North Bay. With the smooth developing of mission work, the intention to survey the natural resource and wealth
of the China border near the English and French colony. In 1862, after the jiaozhi China colony was set in the south of Vietnam, Franch already tried to approch to China and control the two river rised in Yunnan-Red river and Meigong river. But according to the survey by France. Janiear and Doudar. De. Lagry to the source of Meigong river, it could not entering China by these two river.
To further approach to China, the France occupied the North Bay and stationed there to find the chance for building a vital communicatin line along the valley of Red river. At that time, it was not quick to take the new road in Yunnan than the route Abry chose, which was the communication route for the merchant of Sichuan and the south of Changjiang river. It took 30 days from Hanoi to Mengzi of Yunnan. In the journey it spent 6 days from Old Street to Manhao by boat against the current of Yuanjiang. And then it needed to unload the cargos and consign them to carava. Only the caravan dare to tramp over the 2000 metres high mountain and famous ladder road with millions of steps between Manhao and Mengzi.
In 1895, the business investigation group of Leon Chamber of Commerce chose this line. Leon was the silk metropolis of France and the delegation was entrusted with mission of survey natural rescource of the south of China. A length of the long-distance journey across the Yungui highland was through Guizhou. It took at least 20 days from Kunming to Guiyang. And the travel note about this journey was impressing:'Entering into Guizhou, we began to going down, but the journey was ceaselessly tramping mountain and fording stream, up and down......
Five days later we reached Datie Pass, on the bank of Maokou river and with the altitude of about 1500 metres. And we turned to west and saw that eight endless mountain ranges were showing their outline behind us. In the valley of Maokou river with altitude of 800m, we found sugarcane and orange grown there and the thermograh numbered 25centigrade in shadow. The time was two o'clock p.m. and 25th,January. we had walked for a morning in 21st. We would arrive in the prefecture of Guiyang in February.' ( The Leon Business Investigation Group in China 1895-1897, first volum, travel notes, Leon Chammber of Commerce, Alexandar. Roy. 1898).
In 1910, French took a step forward to China Southwest by building a railway linked Haiphone and Kunming. As the preemptive measure of France, English abandoned their plan to building a railway from Mandalay to Kunming. At that time, the offical appointed to negotiate with China government was August. Francovar(he was appionted as the honorary general consul of French Consulate in the prefecture of Yunnan. He was learned and love the Chinese culture so that he could mediate between Chinese and French government.
To build a railway instead of the one in Hongkong with complete commercial aim, he not only showed the Chinese official that the plan has no enmity but also made French government to realize the military expedition was too much evil and stupid. August .Francovar had no chance been to Guizhou, but he kept a lot of articles, pictures and even a documentary about Yunnan. The camera he used was borrowed from the 'light and figure brothers photo studio'.
August was a member of a little family with goodwill, and the families came to China for hobby and their own determining, not for greed. They treat the place they arrived whout prejudce. The railway played a positive role in breaking the close condition, promoting the further dicovery and even in developing the tourism in the southwest of China. At that time, what the people know was just a little part. 'Yunnan province of China...... was one of the most beautiful places in the world undoubtedly.' We could read the sentence on the advertising book of a from Yunnan to India China railway corporation of Frances in 1930. In the former decades of 20th century, the southwest of China entered into a year of long-time turmoil and rebuilding. Until 1980s the western tourist just came to Guizhou.
