under estimating kongming

Part 9 - Black Socks Never Get Dirty

Dr Zhang suggested we should get some sleep and offered us the rolls of paper. 'They're blankets,' he explained. 'They're surprisingly warm.'

We dragged straw filled pallets around the tiny brazier and wrapped ourselves in the paper blankets as Dr Zhang gave us a lecture on paper making.

'Paper was invented in China by pounding worn out clothing into a pulp. Most cloth was made from plant fibres. The pulp was then lifted out, and dried, on bamboo screens.'

It is not yet used for writing. They still prefer to write on strips of wood. Paper is mostly used for toilet paper, blankets and armour.

Licia yawned. 'What are we going to do about Denny?'

'Ah-um. The abbot told me Denny . . . the foreigner . . . was at the monastery until a month ago. When the city guards came looking for him the abbot sent him to stay with a relative near Jiangling. But first, I need to meet with a friend in Xinye to find out what is happening. We arrived in the middle of a war here and Kongming is the advisor to the Tiger Generals.'

'Tiger Generals?' We all asked at the same time so Dr Zhang gave us a brief history lesson. The Tiger Generals were Lui Bei Xuande, Lord Guan and Zhang Fei, three of the most famous heros in Chinese history.

During a peasant uprising in 184 AD near the end of the 400 year-long Han dynasty, they had sworn an oath to defend each other as brothers. And, as China broke up into warring factions, they had fought to reestablish the rule of the last Han emperor.

Meanwhile in Britain, the Roman occupation was 150 years old and it would be another nine hundred years before anyone spoke English.

In northern China, the infamous warlord Cho Cho eventually defeated all his rivals, took Xian, the young emperor, captive and began to rule in his name. This usurpation deeply offended Xuande, who was distantly related to the emperor, so he quit Cho Cho's army and moved south, to the Han River valley. There, Lui Biao, Lord Protector of Jingzhou Province and Xuande's fellow kinsman, was pleased to have the help of three tiger generals. He put them in charge of the city of Xinye, in the northern part of the province, where they were the first line of defence against Cho Cho's forces.

In December 208 AD, Lui Biao was dying and his second wife and her brother intended to surrender to Cho Cho. Xuande knew that the few loyal soldiers under his command were no match for Cho Cho's huge army so, when he learned of a young man with reputation as a military genius, he begged for his help. Zhuge Kongming was at first reluctant to join the tiger generals but Xuande was persistent and eventually Kongming agreed. And so began the most famous relationship in China's history.

We wanted to know more but we were all falling asleep.

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Servants woke us early with a breakfast of rice porridge and tea. Miguel asked if there were any chocolate chip cookies but Dr Zhang pointed out that cacao came from south America which hadn't been discovered by Europeans yet.

He was wearing a black robe with loose sleeves and his long hair was tied into a bun on top of his head and partially hidden by a funny, rolled up chefs' hat. He studied us with an exasperated frown. 'Ah-um. I could be mistaken for a local but you three look like aliens.' We were wearing the jeans and sweaters we normally wore in Ottawa.

'And, Licia, eye glasses will not be invented for another fifteen hundred years.'

Licia looked embarrassed, 'Sorry. I forgot to put my contact lenses in.' She wrapped her glasses in a tissue and tucked them into her shoulder bag.