Remembering Catherine the Great & Xiang Yu's loyal wife Consort Yu

MANILA, Philippines –  The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth.  — Ancient Chinese proverb

Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies.   — Erich Fromm

SUQIAN CITY, Jiangsu province, east China — This writer loves to travel to non-traditional places that most tourists ignore and do not know about, such as going to Krakow and Auschwitz in Poland, Budapest in Hungary, Prague in Czech Republic and exploring cities like Hamelin, Cologne, Dresden or Coburg in Germany instead of the traditional favorites Paris, Rome or London.

 The same with my travels across continental and amazing China. Instead of just going to Shanghai, Beijing or Xian, I also traverse other less-known cities to learn more history, local culture and marvel at the booming economies in the rural countryside. China is as big as five Europes and as culturally diverse, with impressive arts, local histories and the most sumptuous cuisine!

In this trip to Shanghai’s World Expo, I detoured to Suzhou and Nanjing of Jiangsu province and later visited the area’s “poorest” city north of the Yangtze River called Suqian (pronounced “su-chian”). Surprisingly, though “poor” by Shanghai or Suzhou standards, Suqian is very progressive and investor-friendly.

Catherine the great’s coup, fabulous art collection & success

By the way, for the many readers who e-mailed asking for Shanghai World Expo suggestions, my advice is to have a friend or travel companion with you while lining up outside various countries’ pavilions so you enjoy more fun.

I also recommend that all should go to the Shanghai Museum and see Catherine the Great’s interesting art collection, which includes paintings by European, masters like Rubens and others.

 This superb collection is on special loan to China by Russia’s Hermitage State Museum only from Aug. 26 to Dec. 12. Apart from appreciating China’s cultural treasures, learn from the special exhibit how an art-loving and politically astute German princess became one of only two leaders in Russian history to have the word “Great” attached to their names (the other one was Czar Peter the Great). 

 In a military coup by “guard regiments and a small group of aristocrats” (which reminds me of the EDSA 2 uprising by our local power elite ousting popularly elected President Joseph Estrada and benefiting the politically crafty Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2001 ) the ineffectual Czar Peter III was replaced by his estranged wife Catherine. 

At least in the Philippines, Erap was “imprisoned” in his vast and luxurious resthouse in Tanay complete with a golf cart gifted by new President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; in the case of Catherine the Great, her husband the ousted Peter III was killed. Wow! The exhibit said: “Peter III was murdered, possibly with his wife’s connivance.”

On her love for the arts, Hermitage museum director Mikhail Potrovsky said: “Catherine the Great knew that a great collection of art was as important as a powerful army or flourishing economy for a nation’s advancement.” Will President Noynoy C. Aquino support Philippine arts and culture? By the way, where are the European and Russian art works bought by ex-First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos which should ideally be in our National Museum?

Philippine donation to the famous shanghai museum

Another reason why visiting the Shanghai Museum is a must is the Ching Banlee Room inside the Run Run Shaw Gallery on Chinese Paintings on the fourth floor. Appreciate how the late industrialist and philanthropist Ching Banlee of the former Philippine Blooming Mills (PBM Steel) and Baguio Oil spent decades collecting exquisite antique Chinese paintings and calligraphy scrolls, worldwide then his children Alfredo and Rita Ching in 2000 donated 233 works back to China via this permanent exhibit in the Shanghai Museum.

This is one positive, though modest, Philippine contribution to the inexorable rise of Shanghai as one of the world’s greatest cosmopolitan cities — the Ching Banlee collection in the Shanghai Museum.

Tragic hero & his loyal wife inspired ‘Farewell my Concubine’

One compelling reason for me to visit rural Suqian City is the fact that it is the hometown and birthplace of the great warrior Xiang Yu, who 2,200 years ago became hegemon-king of the Western Chu state which defeated the short-lived Qin dynasty of China’s first Emperor the late Qin Shih Huangdi. Qin’s weak son and successor was defeated by the brilliant warrior Xiang Yu.

 In 207 BC at the Battle of Julu, Xiang’s army of 20,000 men would vanquish the 300,000 soldiers of the Qin Empire. After crossing the river, Xiang ordered his men to destroy their cooking utensils and sink their boats, to boost his army’s morale in preparation for the upcoming pivotal battle ahead, that there should be no alternative but either only victory or death. This order of Xiang Yu is known to all Chinese as “Po-fu Chen-zhou.”

 The brilliant Xiang Yu eventually lost to the less talented but more politically cunning Liu Bang who would then go on to become founder of the illustrious Han Dynasty. Xiang Yu couldn’t be defeated on the battlefields; he earlier had two opportunities to finish off Liu Bang and the latter’s father but he didn’t kill them. Ever since this epic loss, Xiang Yu’s hometown of Suqian has quietly faded into political and economic oblivion, thus preserving its natural beauty of lakes, forests and gardens.

This writer visited the old elegant home of Xiang Yu, where his grandfather the famous General Xiang Yan also lived. In that home, there still stand two ancient trees planted by Xiang Yu when he was a kid. There was also a monument to Xiang Yu’s favorite horse.

I also visited in Suqian the home of Xiang Yu’s famous wife Consort Yu Ji (also called Concubine Yu) in Shuyang county. During the time when Xiang Yu was in danger of total defeat, Consort Yu committed suicide in order for her husband to concentrate on fighting the Han forces of Liu Bang and not become distracted by his love for her. When Xiang Yu eventually lost, he committed suicide at the age of 31.

Famous Chinese director Chen Kaige’s 1993 Palme d’Or Best Film winner Farewell My Concubine also tackles the epic saga of the doomed Xiang Yu and the fatal loyalty of his beautiful wife Concubine Yu, which is also an age-old favorite story for Beijing Operas.

 Xiang Yu was one tragic hero whose loss is still forever remembered by the Chinese people for generations because of his guts, his brilliance, his chivalry and in large part also because of his good wife Consort Yu Ji who continued to be loyal even when Xiang Yu was doomed. 

Not all losers are totally forgotten, not all losses are totally wasted efforts as long as we give our very best, always be true to our ideals and passionately stick to our principles!

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E-mail willsoonflourish@gmail.com or my Facebook page or WilsonLeeFlores at Twitter.