878: Abu Zayd (賽義德哈桑)
Wrote Accounts of China and India (印度中国纪行) in 916
Abu Zayd Hasan al-Sirafi [Zane Archives]
Abu Zayd Hasan al-Sirafi was an Arab seafarer who frequented the Persian port cities of Siraf and Basra.
In 916, he wrote the second half of Accounts of China and India, where he talked about the Massacre of Guangzhou that occurred in 878. His work supplemented an earlier edition written by an unknown author fifty years ago.
This era witnessed a substantial network of maritime trade between the Middle East and the Far East. According to the direction of the wind, the Arab ships would sail east one season and back home the next. The main port in the Gulf was Siraf, where the author is from, and the main port in China was Khanfu, today's Guangzhou (广州).
The book is a compilation of stories gathered from anonymous merchants who traversed the exotic land. Abu Zayd claimed to have "avoided relating any of the sort of accounts in which sailors exercise their powers of invention but whose credibility would not stand up to scrutiny in other men's minds." Instead, he tried to keep the stories short and straightforward and conveyed only the truth as the travellers perceived.
Heydays of the Tang Dynasty
At its prime, the Tang Dynasty was described as a well-regulated and highly organised society. As a result, the well-being of its citizens was carefully looked after by the government.
On reaching the age of 18, the citizen starts to pay tax; on old age, the citizen receives a pension. If a poor person is ill, the government covers the cost of his medical care. If a family is poor, the government covers the cost of educating the children. The book described this as, "The Chinese, whether poor or rich, young or old, all learn to form letters and to write."
China was also a land of law. Abu Zayd applauded the "admirable governance" of the Chinese; rights were done "wherever it is due" and "the misdeeds of those of high status" were always treated with complete and impartial justice.
The Chinese people were also highly regarded, “of all God’s creation, the Chinese are among the most dexterous at engraving and manufacturing and at every kind of craft.” Indeed, no one from any nation has the edge on them in this respect.
Huangchao Rebellion (黃巢起义)
By the middle of the 9th century, the Tang Dynasty (唐朝, 618–690, 705–907) had passed its prime. As a result, public resentment towards the government and elite grew, giving impetus to frequent uprisings. These movements culminated with the Huangchao Rebellion (黃巢起义, 874–884), which severely undermined the authority of the regime, and contributed directly to the collapse of the Tang Dynasty in 907.
Huang Chao (835–884) was born into a family of wealthy salt merchants in Heze (菏泽), Shandong Province.
Huang was a skilled archer, horseback rider, and an excellent calligrapher and poet; he was remarkably well educated but failed the Imperial Examinations at the Doctorate stage.
He became a salt smuggler and clashed with law enforcement agents on multiple occasions because only the government had the right to distribute the salt. This prompted him to join the rebel forces, and in the mid 870s, he led his troops in conquering Guangzhou and killing its inhabitants.
120,000 Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians massacred
Abu Zayd recorded, “At first the citizens of Guangzhou held out against him, but he subjected them to a long siege — this was in 877–878 CE — until, at last, he took the city and put its people to the sword. Experts on Chinese affairs reported that the number of Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians massacred by him, quite apart from the native Chinese, was 120,000; all of them had gone to settle in this city and become merchants there. The only reason the number of victims from these four communities happens to be known is that the Chinese had kept records of their numbers.”
Number derived from tax record for foreign residents
Abu Zayd testified that his seemingly improbable figure of 120,000 was derived from the tax records of non-Chinese residents of Guangzhou (向广州非汉族居民们征税的税册为基础). This indicates that Jewish merchants travelled to China for trade at this time and settled down and integrated to the point where they made fiscal contributions.
Dispute over Abu Zayd’s journey to China
It is said that Abu Zayd never actually travelled to China himself, but his writings accounted for the stories of another man, Ibn Wahad, who had indeed gone to China. Abu Zayd met Ibn Wahad, probably in 815, when Ibn Wahad was already very old.
878: Al Masudi (马苏第)
The Meadows of Gold (黄金草原) was published in 940
Al Masudi (c. 895–956), born in Baghdad, was often referred to as Herodotus of the Arabs. He was a descendent of Abdullah ibn Masud, a companion of Muhammad. In 940, he published his masterpiece, The Meadows of Gold (黄金草原).
He travelled extensively throughout the Middle East and ventured East Africa and India, but he probably never reached China. However, it is known that he met Abu Zayd Hasan al-Sirafi (賽義德哈桑) on the coast of the Persian Gulf and received information on China from him.
Huangchao captured Guangzhou
According to Al Masudi, “China continued to be in flourishing condition, as it had been under the ancient kings, up to the year 264 Hijrah (877), when some event happened which destroyed order, paralysed the laws.…These disorders were caused by a rebel, who, although he was not of royal blood, rose in some town of China…. He began with liberality, by which he attracted the worst and lowest classes. The king and the lords of the council were not watchful enough, on account of his obscurity; for he was a man of no importance. His cause became strong, his name famous, and his numbers and power increased; for the bad came in join him from afar and near. When his army was numerous enough, he quitted the place where he had begun the uprising. He sent corps out to make predatory incursions into the well-cultivated parts of the country; and finally, he besieged the city of Khaniku (Guangzhou).”
200,000 Muslims, Christians, and Jews killed
Al Masudi continued, “The town is inhabited by Moslims, Christians, Jews, and Magians, besides the Chinese. The said rebel marched towards this city, besieged it, and put the army of the king, which was come to relieve it, to fight. He violated what is sacred, and, having increased his army, he took Khaniku (Guangzhou) by storm. When he was master of the city, the victims who fell under the sword of the rebels were innumerable; and the number of Moslims, Christians, and Jews alone, exclusive of the Chinese population, who were killed or drowned for fear of the sword, amounted to two hundred thousand."
Number of killed came from government census
Huangchao Rebellion 黄巢起义 [Zane Archives]
On how the number of people killed was derived, the book elaborated, "these were counted; for the kings are in the habit of keeping a census of the population of their dominions, both of their subjects and of foreigners who are resident there. These are special officers and men for the census. This gives them a view of the state of the population of their empire."
Destroyed mulberry plants and silk trade
The book further noted that “The assailants cut down the mulberry plantations around the town, which were of importance, their leaves being the food of the silkworm, which yields the silk. This destruction of the trees was the cause why silk has failed, and that the exportation of this article into the Moslim countries is stagnated.”