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20.06.2007
The astonished Khan is said to have replied: “.. Since you desire your own shame,
you may have it.”
When Marco Polo came to Hami – or “ the province of Kamul” he experienced a
most unusual form of hospitality. He wrote: “… if a stranger comes to a house
here to seek hospitality he receives a very warm welcome. The host bids his wife
to everything that the guest wishes. Then he leaves the house and goes about his
own business and stays away two or three days. Meanwhile the guest stays with
his wife in the house and does what he will with her. lying with her in one bed
just as if she was his own wife and they lead a gay life together. The women are
beautiful and vivacious and always ready to oblige.”
This strange custom was rejected by one of the Mongol Khans and he prohibited
this practice. For a few years the people of Kamul obeyed, but then they
convinced the Khan to allow them to follow a very old tradition
“ …Their ancestors had declared that by the pleasure they gave to guests with their
wives and goods they won the favor of their idols and multiplied they yield of their
crops and their village.”
The astonished Khan is said to have replied: “.. Since you desire your own
shame, you may have it.”
So maybe the modern version of this hospitality has spread all over China, in to
the better hotels. There every traveler can find relief to many needs. Only that it
has to be paid for now.
Today Hami is a fairly pleasant oasis city - lot of trees and parks. A nice mix of
different minority nationalities, as the Chinese expression goes.
The Chinese considered Hami the key to the northwest. And not only by the
Chinese, so a lot of fighting for this oasis has taken place. In the late 1600 it was
annexed by Mongols – from 1697 to 1930 a succession of Hami kings had the
nominal power.
This city honors its colorful history by rebuilding these once destroyed palaces. In
1931 the main palace was burnt down by Uyghur rebellions.
The problem from a European point of view is, that these rebuilding are a bit too
much like Disney World. At least for me – and when they are presented as more
or less the real thing it is even more bothersome.
This practice is true for most of China…and maybe it is better than nothing at all.
Hami also has the tomb or “Mazar” of Gess or Gai Si – who died in Xingxia, a
creepy border town between Xingjian and Gansu.
Gai Si is one of the three Muslim missionaries believed to have been sent by the
Prophet himself during the seventh century.
His memorial Mazar was in Xingxia until 1939 when Kuomintang troops
destroyed it while building a fort. Six years later the local Muslims collected
money to build a new shrine for him in Hami. And when they opened the tomb his
beard was said to be intact…and that during the 250 km transport to Hami it
rained all the time. Only to stop when he remains were placed to rest in the new
Mazar.
Hmmm.. It rains very seldom in this area..
This shrine is an important place for Muslims in this area but specially
important for those who cannot afford a trip to Mecca. This is the second
alternative.
After two days rest we continued our journey towards Dunhuang in the Gansu
Province. Now we were heading into the real China. On the right side of the wall…
right.
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