Chengdu tourist sites intact, still yield their wonders

By Huang Zhiling and Wang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-07 20:34

Another famous literary work at the temple is "Conquering the Mind," a 106-year-old aphorism that is one of the most famous in China. It reads: "If a military strategist knows how to conquer the mind, a revolt can be suppressed accordingly. Since ancient times, people well versed in the art of war have never been bellicose. A leader can make mistakes if he does not make a correct assessment of the situation, being either too strict or lenient in implementing policies. Future governors of Sichuan have to take action after much deliberation."

It was written in 1902 by Zhao Fan (1850-1927), a native of Sichuan's neighboring Yunnan province, to advise his student Cen Chunxuan to not always take a hard line. As Sichuan's governor-general in the late Qing Dynasty, Cen often suppressed his rivals using the military.

In 1902, uprisings led by farmers, who called themselves the Boxers, began against the decadent Qing Dynasty in different parts of Sichuan. The Qing government's rule in Sichuan was threatened because of the size of the uprisings. The government in Beijing was so frightened that it sent Cen to Sichuan.

Cen, who believed in the ancient Chinese philosophy of "meting out severe penalties in hard times," prosecuted the Boxers to the fullest extent of the law, killing Liao Jiumei, their leader in Chengdu. As Liao was popular in Chengdu, Cen's acts aroused widespread dissatisfaction and hatred.

Zhao, who was also an official in Sichuan, felt that Cen's efforts were doomed to failure as they went against the will of the people. Although he had been Cen's teacher as a child, Zhao could neither criticize Cen nor approach him directly to urge a change in approach, for Cen was now his superior.

Zhao, noted for both his writing and calligraphy, wrote the couplet "Conquering the Mind" and had it hung in the Temple of Marquis Wu. He hoped that Cen would see the couplet and understand what he meant.

Many days passed after the couplet was put on display without Cen learning of its existence. Zhao eventually arranged a banquet for Cen in the temple as part of a spring outing. There, Cen read the couplet and was told its meaning. But the arrogant Cen was irritated with his former teacher's "offence" and demoted him, banishing him to a faraway place.

It was only after Cen suffered major setbacks several years later due to his hard line and was almost dismissed that he truly understood the couplet's meaning.

When the Qing government sent him to Sichuan to suppress the Railway Protection Movement in 1911, which helped trigger the Revolution of 1911, Cen correctly assessed the situation. This time, he did not suppress the revolutionaries who later overthrew the Qing government in the Revolution of 1911 and established the Republic of China. Instead, Cen cooperated with their leader Dr Sun Yat-sen, and contributed to the new republic.

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