Taishan enjoyed great fame both in China and in the world. As an indispensable topic, incense pilgrimage to Taishan also plays an essential role in English literature. The dense distribution of Taishan topics in English literature from the 18 th century to the mid-20 th century highlights the process of pilgrimage from prosperity to decline and then to revival. At the same time, the description of pilgrimage in English also has trans-cultural characteristics, which promotes the international transmission of Taishan culture.
Taishan, the chief of the five most sacred mountains in China was and is regarded as the home of Chinese civilization. People from the civilians, literati, aristocrats and emperors, were full of deep respect for this sacred mountain, reposing a strong vision. Every spring in history, the pilgrimage to Taishan was a must. Since the 17th century, as Taishan had become more and more known to the world, there had been more and more English literature on the sacred mountain, and the focus of attention was becoming more and more concentrated on pilgrimage, which was inherited and spread as an essential topic.
After collecting and sorting out the English writings1 and a number of paintings, photos, maps, rubbings and so on about Taishan, it is found out that the English writings authors are sinologists, missionaries, travel writers, botanists, zoologists, covering topics such as folklore, cross-cultural, gods, geology, plants, etc. The earliest literature on Taishan in English languages was published in the 17th century, and the earliest map of Taishan in foreign languages was in 1402. It is also found that travel notes, research articles, photos and pictures mixed with the articles all contain the topic of Pilgrimage. During the period from the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century, English literature was mainly composed of travelogues with dense distribution, and the topic of pilgrimage showed a process from prosperity to decline and then to revival. The following are descriptive characteristics of what pilgrimage was like in English literature in different periods.
The most common name for Taishan in English texts is the “most” sacred mountain; the Emperor Dongyue and the God of Taishan. Bixia Yuanjun was most commonly called the Goddess of Taishan, but the name “Lao Nai Nai” (which means the venerable grandmother) (Gougar, 1905) was used by Mrs. Gao (Martha Foster Crawford)2 since she lived at the foot of Taishan for more than a decade and followed the local callings to Bixia Yuanjun. Paul David Bergen3 used “Tai Shan Nai Nai Tai” (Bergen, 1888) , and W. O. Elterich4, used Taishan Nai Nai (Elterich, 1894) as the title in his writing. These names show respect and recognition for Taishan, which also pave the way for explaining the reason for the pilgrimage.
To prove the lofty charm of Taishan and its uniqueness and inevitability as a sacred place for worship, English literature often cites classics and traces its origins. William Winterbotham in 1795 had quoted evidence of Emperor Shun’s worship of Taishan from The Book of History (Winterbotham, 1795) :
We read in the Chou-king, and other fragments of the ancient Chinese history, that Chun ordained, 1st. That at the second moon, in which the vernal equinox fell, the sovereign should repair to the mountain Tai-chan, in the eastern part of China, and there offer sacrifices on a Tan within the fence of the Kiao, to beg that Heaven would deign to watch over the seed in the earth, then beginning to spring up.
The above is an early reference to classics in English literature, and subsequent literature has referred to the classical historical accounts of the pilgrimage. Augustus Ward Loomis5 has mentioned that Taishan is located in the north, which is the chief of the five sacred mountains in China. When Shun once traveled throughout the country, he first offered sacrifices there. The offerings were made during a holy month in 2272 BC. (Loomis, 1867) 6
Furthermore, Taishan was not only a geographical mountain, Calvin Wilson Mateer7 even quoted “The Book of Learning”, “The Book of Mountains and Seas” and “The Six Classics of Tang Dynasty”, and even recorded the history of Zhang Wudian’s measure of Taishan8. Meanwhile, he also cited the Tongyi Custom, The Analects of Confucius and Erya to explain the unparalleled historical status of Taishan (Mateer, 1879) :
T’ai San9 has long been characterized as the東嶽or Eastern Sacred Mountain. The嶽it is said to be used for another character of the same sound,桷, which means to examine, i.e. to examine and determine the amount of merit or demerit10. This term,嶽, is only applied properly to mountains that have worship connected with them. In ancient times the mountain was called Tai Tsung岱宗and an old book called “Explanation of Customs” defines the Tai as meaning to grow, and says that the mountain is so called because of the mutual interchange of the Yin and the Yang which produced all things originated here. Another book says the Eastern Yoa, or Sacred Mountain, is called Tai Tsung, because the evolutions that originated all things came from the East. In the Lun Yü and Erh Ya it is called T’ai San as at present. This name was given in the reign of the 13th Emperor of the Chew Dynasty. The worship of Tai San goes back to the fabulous times of Chinese history.
Therefore, whether it is generally accepted in English that Taishan is “the highest mountain around” or “the highest mountain in Shandong”, this is the external impression left by the natural attributes and geographical height of Taishan. As “the most famous” and “sacred place of incense pilgrimage” in English descriptions, Taishan is everywhere to praise especially is culture. “The oldest in the world” and “the most magnificent in the world” were also words of praise. Therefore, the description of the cultural status of Taishan in English literature is also the original charm of Taishan. In other words, because Taishan contains the natural attribute of rising from the North China Plain, it naturally has the cultural attribute, is endowed with sacredness, and is full of mystery. Since a mountain rises high above the flat plain, and it is the highest mountain in the surrounding area, and it is located in the east. Therefore, whether from the angle of the five elements (wood in the Oriental represents green and dominates the growth of all things), the angle of Yin and Yang, or the ancient mountain worship, it proves that the exclusive status of Taishan in Chinese five sacred mountains is inevitable. Alexander Williamson11 sang high praise of Taishan:
The Tai-shan is the chief of the five sacred mountains of China: is buttressed by the surrounding hills; it is full of springs, which pour their waters over the precipices; it gathers the clouds and sends down the rain. Its merit is equal to Heaven, and so is appointed and called Heaven’s equal, the benevolent and holy Ruler12. It is Lord of this world; and determines births, deaths, misfortune, and happiness; honour and dishonour; things high and great, low and crooked. The peaks are many; and of all places under Heaven, this hill is the most worthy of being visited. (Williamson, 1870)
The descriptions include the cause, the worshippers, the organization and the temple fair. While the incense process is very pertinent, the emphasis and the details are different.
There are descriptions of pilgrims in English literature, mainly from the author’s personal observation, so that readers can understand who the pilgrims are, where they come from and what they come for. In 1846, the Chinese Repository published an article translated from de Besi (Besy, 1844) . It describes in early spring, among the pilgrims streaming to and from Taishan, the author came across a group of elderly ladies from southern Henan. Dressed in festive costumes and ranging in age from 78 to 90, they followed a lifelong vegetarian diet, known as “Chang-zhai”. Their pilgrimage to Taishan was a reminder to the gods they believed in that they would be able to fulfill the happy cycle of their souls as they followed the doctrine throughout their lives. This is the information about the early close contact with the pilgrims and the description of the Taishan pilgrimage. In 1883, Samuel Wells Williams13 quoted this information and added his own observations (Williams, 1883) . He noticed that caravans full of pilgrims swarmed the road to Taishan in spring. People came to Taishan to make wishes for happiness, health and wealth. James A. Summers14 described thousands of pilgrims toiling up and down Taishan (Summers, 1863-1864) 15. And this article was reprinted in Auckland Daily Southern Cross (Auckland Daily Southern Cross, 1864) . Mr. Williamson’s two-volume travelographies in 1870 also contain descriptions of the pilgrimage. The first volume records the participation in the Dongyue temple fair and the observation of the pilgrims. He noticed that pilgrims arrived in Tai ‘an on the Lunar New Year, and this phenomenon continued until the 18th day of the fourth lunar month. The second month of the lunar calendar is the month with the largest number of pilgrims, who flocked here from all over the country. He also noted that the pilgrims did not all belong to the same status. There were different classes, the upper and lower, the official and the unofficial, the male and the female, while the majority of the pilgrims were elderly women. Some old women sit in sedan chairs, followed by their husbands or sons, or both. The second volume records Williamson’s continuing observations of the pilgrims. Old and young women crowded into a horse-drawn cart covered with straw mats and pulled by six or eight mules. The destination for the pilgrims was the Bixia Temple, the main temple on the top of the mountain, which houses the “Goddess of Taishan”, or the “Temple of Bixia Yuanjun” which was revered throughout the province. Sick people, unfortunate people, especially childless women, all go to the blue Xianxia temple to burn incense, and to the blue chardonnay Yuanjun vow. There was a courtyard behind the Bixia Temple that was closed all year round, with a single doorway into which worshippers threw silver coins, copper plates and other things. Childless women would often throw in old shoes, and Williamson wondered how in this way the wishes of female pilgrims were often subsequently fulfilled. The biggest festival was on the 18th day of the fourth lunar month when officials sent by the emperor opened the long-closed gates and took away all the coins and other goods that had previously been given to the Taoist priests in the temple.
During the incense pilgrimage, “Hui (会)” or fairs were very popular to offer sacrifices to Bixia Yuanjun. Williamson’s two-volume account outlines the basic profile of the pilgrims during the pilgrimage: numerous, of all classes, mostly elderly women, from all directions, and with a brief mention of temple fairs. The details of the pilgrims are supplemented in an article in 1879 by C. W. Mrteer who observed that some people came from five hundred or even six or seven hundred miles away, and others from the farthest frontier. While in the city, he saw women, mostly elderly, on the trolleys that shuttled through the city every day. He called them “incense burners”. This is an early English translation that used to be closer in meaning to the word “香” in Chinese culture, and Susan Naquin (Naquin, 1992) used “进香” to indicate that foreign languages pay attention to the uniqueness of Chinese culture. It is an important example of communication between two words with different cultural connotations. She also noticed that during the first four months of the year, pilgrims come in a steady stream. Three thousand to five thousand pilgrims climb the mountain every day in the first month, and as many as ten thousand on the fifteenth day of the first month. Between 500 and 1000 pilgrims climb the mountain every day in March. Some of the people who came for the purpose of offering incense generally caught up with the season, while others who came to offer incense and attended temple fairs for commercial purposes came later. In 1888, Bergen used a good English word for incense pilgrim. He also added a purpose of incense (Bergen, 1888) : Because others go; to enjoy the scenery; to wish for good luck; to dissolve the doom; and to atone for the crime and so on.
The introduction of the Xianghui (香会) in English literature restores an organized and planned activity. It was C. W. Marteer who early noted that many of them were called “Hui”, meaning Xianghui, the pilgrim society16. The head of Hui usually held a little flag. They basically came to pray for some kind of happiness, and some to make a wish. The most comprehensive introduction to the Hui association is Arthur Henderson Smith17 who took the Hui (rural incense gathering) as the research object and introduced two kinds of organization and the respective sacrificial ceremonies vividly (Smith, 1899) . He introduced Hui’s most famous pilgrimage site and the most frequented one was Taishan. Taishan is crowded with pilgrims from all over the country in February every year. Williamson has already said that the cost of travel to Taishan, the world’s oldest mountain range, was a big obstacle to why pilgrims travel so far. In order to overcome the difficulties, various festivals were organized to raise money through short-term loans. “Shan Yue Xiang Hui” was divided into two types, one was the mountain hiking Party (Xingshan Hui), and the other was the mountain-facing Party (Chaoshan Hui). Hiking Mountain was a plan to ascend mountains and make pilgrimages to different temples. There was no need to bother or spend money to actually go there. In particular, as the Yellow River continued to break its banks, the number of pilgrims hiking to Taishan had plummeted, while the number of pilgrims facing Taishan had increased, because crossing the Yellow River was the only pilgrimage route. Chaoshan (Facing the Mountain), as the host or guest, would watch drama performances for three or four days at the appointed time and place. They would feast three times a day without stopping, and in the interval they would worship a paper painting of the Goddess Taishan to obtain merit. The Hiking Mountain Party (Xingshan Hui) will gather and march to the mountain (Taishan) immediately after the New Year. Housing expenses were paid out of a common fund, but items that individuals wanted to buy must be paid for with their own money. When they reached their destination, there was another long ceremony. Then they bought a large amount of ghost money and distributed it to members in advance so that they could climb the holy mountain and burn the ghost money to complete the sacrifice and obtain merit.
In addition to Smith’s detailed introduction to the society, in 1916 Prof. Walter Kenrick Fisher18 introduced the members to pay a monthly subscription fee to the initiator (the head of Hui), until enough money had been raised, and then set off to the mountain in the first month of the lunar calendar. Usually, the leader (the head of Hui) carried a flag with the name of their town and other items written on it, while the other members usually wore red or yellow sashes. The money raised was used first for rituals such as incense, then for meals, temple fairs and excursions, and finally, in some cases, for the erection of a stone tablet to commemorate the names of the members and the money donated. (Fisher, 1916)
The object of worship presented in the English literature originates from the appeal of the heart. From the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century, all the documents described the main deity of incense pilgrimage as Bixia Yuanjun. Generally speaking, the main body of the pilgrimage is women, especially the elderly, and the pilgrimage to Taishan to make a vow or return a vow is closely related to people’s basic lives. Ruth Ewing Hanson19 introduced A Pilgrim’s Confession, a complete account of the story of the women to Taishan. The article mentioned different women because of their own living conditions and yearning for Taishan precisely verify: the wealthy Mrs. Zhang was the initiator. She called on everyone willing to pay a visit to Taishan. Mrs. Wu went to Taishan to ask for a son for her son’s family, which was the basic demand of typical rural women. In order to broaden her horizons, Mrs. Zhao wanted to see strange things, which were the entertainment activities after the Taishan incense pilgrimage, such as the Dongyue Temple Fair. The most difficult living was the young Mrs. Han. Unhappy life made her heart like a cold stone, so for her, to burn incense on Taishan was only to obtain the power of life. The rarest and most miserable was the old lady Han, who had been to Taishan before. She insisted on visiting Taishan despite her old age and poor health. She was also the representative of many elderly women in rural areas, praying for the protection of future generations. In short, although each woman’s appeal was different, their belief in the incense pilgrimage was the same. They all hoped that Tai Shan Lao Nainai (Goddess Taishan) would bring them good luck.
As for the reason for worshiping Goddess Taishan and the reason why the temple gate “sweeping the temple” was mentioned many times on the 18th day of April in the lunar calendar, English literature does not write too much but only describes it. Elterich seems to have known better, believing that the Qianlong emperor’s help also played an important role in spreading the reputation of Goddess Taishan as a healer (Elterich, 1894) . This is precisely consistent with the fact that the main deity of Taishan in the Ming and Qing Dynasties changed from Dongyue Emperor to Bixia Yuanjun [Reference: Che Xilun, Myth, Belief and Religion of the Goddess of Taishan, Daizong Journal, 2001, No. 1, page 4; Liu Hui, Religious Research of Taishan and Temple Fair, Jinan: Shandong People’s Publishing House, 2018, pp. 97-110]. This understanding will be clearer if we compare the Jin Xiang to the Yuan drama. As mentioned in “Xiangguo Temple Gongsun He Shirt” and “Xiaozhang Tu”, etc., the main god to incense Taishan is the Dongyue Emperor, and the main body of incense is also male. The destination of incense is only the Dai Temple in Tai’an City, and the worshiper does not even need to climb the mountain. The office of the Dongyue Emperor and the titles bestowed by successive emperors kept the belief going until the Ming and Qing dynasties when the chief deity of Taishan was gradually replaced by Bixia Yuanjun. However, Taishan is a tolerant mountain. Shrines and temples exist harmoniously on the mountain, and the presence of gods is diverse. S. Williams once mentioned that there were gods and temples dedicated to each religion, large and small, all over Taishan (Williams, 1883) . G. T. Bettany also mentioned that there was also a temple dedicated to Taishan, a Taoist deity, the Jade Emperor, and several temples dedicated to Confucius, Emperor Qing, Emperor Wenchang, who was in charge of the world’s cultural affairs, and Emperor Guan, the god of war. The gods of fire, wealth, agriculture, road, and earth are all proud to have a temple dedicated to them. (Bettany, 1891) A rare source of information is from James Legge20 who recorded that Dou Mother also had the function of satisfying people’s prayer for heirs (Legge, 1905) . This recording is not common in Chinese and foreign texts. The textual research of Dou Mu in Chinese literature mainly focuses on the Taoist deities and the myth that Dou Mu is the mother of the Big Dipper. Although there is no agreement, the ancient people’s deep desire for good luck is still the main topic for people’s beliefs. Williamson recorded that the goddess dedicated to Dou Mu’s Palace ruled the constellation Ursa Major (the Big Dipper). C. W. Marteer also mentions that “women come here [to the Palace of Dou Mu] to pray for their children”. Timothy Richard21 even mentioned that July 7 or August 15 of the lunar Calendar was the birthday of Lord Doumyuanjun, to commemorate the mother of the Big Dipper (Richard, 1906) . Dwight Condo Baker22 who lived at the foot of Taishan for years and had a deeper understanding of the Dou Mu Palace, which he regarded as another Taoist temple influenced by Buddhism. The overall image of Dou Mu was a Buddhist image, shining red, with 48 arms on each side, a golden triple crown on the head, and many smaller human faces distributed above (commonly known as the Buddha with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes). She was the mother of Ursa Major (the Big Dipper), and one of the Ursa Major (literary star) ruled the exam promotions, so she was worshipped. (Baker, 1925)
To sum up, the object of worshipers’ incense comes from the appeal of life, and the harmonious existence of the gods of Taishan is the consolation for people’s various appeals. So how do pilgrims get spiritual comfort and satisfaction?
The important ritual of pilgrimage to Taishan is to throw offerings through the door and go down to join the temple fair. John Markham23 mentioned that sacrifices, silver ingots, silver dollars, and old shoes were thrown through the gaps in the gate by the women who were making sacrifices. (Markham, 1869-1870) Charles Alfred Stanley Jr.24 depicted sacrificial objects thrown in by pilgrims through heavy wooden doors from farther away or closer to the temple where the goddess of Taishan was placed. If the gift was not thrown in, it needed to be thrown again in order to receive good luck in time to fulfill the appeal. The gifts were mainly copper coins, small shoes made of cloth or paper, sometimes silver, or scones about the size of flying saucers. On the day of Stanley’s ascent, the floor of the main temple was littered with gifts about ten inches thick, mostly representing different appeals. It was sometimes said that the gifts thrown in can bury a standing man up to his shoulder. (Stanley Jr., 1905) Williamson also mentioned that pilgrims threw silver coins, copper plates, and other objects through the gate, and women often threw old shoes as offerings for their sons. He was curious to find that the wish always came true. So, he used “Goody Two Shoes” to refer to the good luck this ritual brought to honor the people with good character.
Then the pilgrims go to the Dongyue Temple Fair, or temple fair for short. The temple fair is an important part of incense pilgrimage, that is to celebrate the Dongyue Emperor’s birthday (March 28 in the lunar calendar) and Bixia yuan Jun’s birthday (April 18 in the lunar calendar) held in Dai Temple to integrate religious culture, business and trade as one of the comprehensive activities, but most of the English literature describes the temple fair more prominent the trade and entertainment activities, although this is part of the pilgrimage for religious sacrifice. The temple fair looked as if it were mainly commercial, with rows of tents occupying the south courtyard of Dai Temple. Tents were selling trinkets, and vendors did their best to entice customers to buy their wares to fill their pockets: there is puppetry like Punch and Judy. The same toy as the Carousel. Temple fairs focused on commercial and recreational activities are so common in English literature that there is little evidence of the sacrificial function of temple fairs. The account of Mateer made up for this function. He mentioned the need to kowtow in front of the idols for a few minutes after the completion of the ritual before entertainment and commercial activities. A. Smith also criticized the temple fair for using sacrifice as a formality: The routine acts of devotion to whatever god or goddess may be the object of worship are hurried through. A report in North-China Daily News also recorded:
The number of Pilgrims is getting less every year... Customs, too, are slightly changing: the offerings at the shrine in the big temple at the top of the mountain were formerly made in great variety, clothing, fans, boots and in fact almost anything of value was included in the offerings and the floor of the Temple is said to have been “four fingers” deep in coins and rough silver mixed with the offerings in kind. Now nothing but money is given and less of that as the years go on. (The North-China Daily News, July 13, 1909)
The above description is also an important time node, and provides the basis for the beginning of a change in incense pilgrimage activity, followed by more and more changes.
A report in 1911 North-China Daily News recorded, as fewer and fewer worshippers went to the top of the mountain, the influence of the gods declined. The pilgrims from far away were less numerous, most of them more or less local or provincial, and most of them were women. G. E. Moule25, also saw the decline of the incense pilgrimage. He had heard that in the past, hundreds of thousands or even millions of pilgrims from all over the country had come to Taishan to offer incense, but that the number of pilgrims had decreased significantly in the following years, he recorded in 1912: those who come from other provinces are comparatively few. (Moule, 1912) And in 1914 H. F. Hackmann26 in his travelogue talked about a similar experience: The road winding to the top is an eloquent witness of the generations of pilgrims that have found their way to its summit.” (Hackmann, 1914)
However, did incense pilgrimage become a memory? In 1919, H. C. Foster thought deeply about the collision between Taishan’s traditional ideas and foreign ideas (Foster, 1919) , and finally proved that Taishan was an almighty and inclusive mountain, which did not exclude foreign ideas, nor would it abandon traditional beliefs, because:
At Taianfu, where philosophies and religions have been thought out and preached by their illustrious originators, the people look upon the advent of a new creed somewhat as a matter of historical repetition.
Therefore, every lunar February and March, pilgrims still jammed on the huge winding road leading to Taishan, and the destination was still the temple on the top of the mountain. There were many temples in the roadside area where different deities were enshrined. Amidst the constant flow of people up and down the mountain, Muslims, Taoists, and Confucians blended in and met a European tourist every short period of time. It was precisely this spirit of inclusiveness that incense Pilgrimage not only did not withdraw from the historical stage, but also shone with vitality in the mid-20th century. In1945, a travellogue to Taishan (Mullikin, 1945b) by M. A. Mullikin27 inspired us. She recorded that the incense pilgrimage to Taishan coincided with the passing of the Chinese solar system Awakening of Insects, “The pilgrimage is in full swing—as many as ten thousand pilgrims a day—such an eruption of new life seems to have taken place”. Different people have different visions. When people climbed the mountain, they carried paper money like boats, eat steamed buns, and various cucumbers, radishes, and apricots. Farmers in low-lying areas were herding sheep and managing farms and orchards. The apricot and peach trees that bloomed in spring added beauty to the Pan Lu. She also provided rare information, such as not all female pilgrims binding their feet; the trendy people didn’t offer incense but enjoyed the scenery, and on Taishan Mountain “East and West Meet on the Way”.
Generally, Taishan incense pilgrimage in the English literature recordings experienced a development of rise, fall and renewal.
The topic of the Taishan incense Pilgrimage presented in English literature reflects trans-cultural characteristics. When describing the deity and historical status of Taishan, the author of the literature can easily relate to his own culture. Therefore, when exploring the topic of pilgrimage in English, cross-cultural thinking runs through all the time. Calvin Wilson Mateer once sighed that the Israelites would go to high places to pray; the ancient Greeks believed that gods lived on Mount Olympus. Chinese people associate the most ancient gods with Kunlun Mountain and Taishan (Mateer, 1879) . Bergen also lamented that for four thousand years, from the time when Emperor Shun sacrificed burnt offerings on the top of Taishan to heaven, 150 generations of people have come and gone here. Greek poets recited his epic poems28. About 1500 years ago, Moses stood on Mount Pisgah, gazing at the land of hope29. About a thousand years ago, when the time was pushed forward, the world was still young and humanity was still in its cradle, have human descendants climbed the same rugged mountain range30 and traveled the same path to pilgrimage? (Bergen, 1912)
From the above, the long history of pilgrimage in Taishan is clear at a glance through trans-cultural narration and comparison. Besides, English newspapers have successively compared Taishan to Mecca, the Holy Land of pilgrims (Daily Inter Mountain, 1900; Saint John’s Evening Telegram, 1921) . C. Baker compared Taishan to China’s Olympus and compared the wordless monument with Cleopatra’s obelisk (Baker, 1925) . And there was an article in North-China Daily News devoted to discussing how the Taishan god’s office was established step by step through the analogy of gods in different periods around the world. Carl Whiting Bishop31 wrote that the North China Plain created by the gift of the Yellow River was like the gift of the Nile to Egypt, and he also equated the Taishan goddess Bixia Yuanjun with the ancient Greek goddess of dawn. (Bishop, 1921) Timothy Richard believed that Dou Mu was Durga, one of the most important Hindu goddesses. (Richard, 1906)
All in all, trans-cultural expression can better enable readers to understand the connotation of the corresponding culture. Just like the term “pilgrimage”, which has historical and cultural origins and leans more towards folk culture rather than religious rituals, the English term “pilgrim” also has its unique and cultural connotations. Susan Naquin has conducted in-depth discussions on pilgrimage in different religions and cultures (Naquin, 1992) , and pointed out the differences in research between East and West, especially when she conducted a historical review and religious and cultural interpretation of this term in the Chinese context. She also specifically used the Chinese character “进香” on the cover to indicate the exploration of Chinese culture under cultural origins and contexts, and the term “pilgrim” should have Chinese characteristics. Faced with numerous vocabulary with cultural connotations, she annotated them in English, Pinyin, and Chinese characters simultaneously, maximizing the readability of the article and avoiding cultural aphasia. Therefore, both authors, readers, and translators need to understand their own culture and have a thorough understanding of the target language and its culture, with trans-cultural two-way thinking, in order to achieve good results.
The pilgrimage presented in English literature has brought a positive impact and promoted the spread of Taishan culture at home and abroad. P. D. Bergen’s article in 1888 was republished in 1912, and also was referred to by A. J. Brown (Brown, 1904) and F. W. Ayscough (Ayscough, 1917) , creating a deep influence to the population of Taishan culture. The content of introducing Taishan’s status and pilgrims in A. Armstrong’s book (Aromstrong, 1891) is similar to that of A. Williamson (Williamson, 1870) and S. W. Williams (Williams, 1883) , which is a positive communication of culture.
In addition, overseas newspapers also publicized Taishan as a pilgrimage center. For example, Taishan was introduced as the most sacred mountain in China in the The Tewkesbury Register and Agricultural Gazette in 1901. And further introduction was that Shun once offered sacrifices to heaven there in 2254 BC. Every spring, thousands of people went to Taishan for pilgrimage and prayed in many of its temples. This overseas introduction had received good communication effects, making more people admire the name of Taishan. E. F. Egan32 once mentioned that: I think of what China looked like in books and photos when I was a child, and it was those beautiful old photos that attracted me from the West to the East. (Egan, 1921)
Just as M. A. Mullikin’s article was published in the Illustrated London News (Mullikin, 1945a) , Taishan presented by overseas newspapers was the embodiment of good communication effect, Ezra Pound33 benefited a lot from this good communication effect. As is well known, Ezra Pound created The Pisan Cantos (Pound, 1948) when he was encamped in TDC (The Disciplinary Center) Pisa. And in the cantos, a large number of Tishan figures appear in chapters 74, 77, 81 and 83. Why E. Pound chose Taishan during his stay in Pisa? In 1993, Jay Parini, a poet-novelist, and columnist mentioned in The Columbia History of American Poetry “To the eye of Ezra Pound, imprisoned in the Disciplinary Training Center in Pisa, the mountain he sees nearby is in the likeness of the holy mountain of Taishan in China, and both are in the likeness of Mount Chocuroa in New Hampshire, which was a favorite place for William James, who meditated there on the divided soul suffered by an American who must choose between Europe and America.” (Parini, 1993) The question was further discussed in 2013 by J. Crouch in the journal Notes & Queries as Carroll Terrel (Terrel, 1984) can not cite E. Pound’s “Shun on Mt. Taishan” because the original source may be from the June 1945 issue of the National Geographic. (Crouch, 2013) J. Crouch also mentioned that the information sources of Stars and Stripes and Time magazines used by E. Pound may be the newspapers he read when he was imprisoned in Pisa, while he may not know that the relevant information source of Taishan should be the article “Taishan, Sacred Mountain of the East” on National Geographic in 1945 written by Mary Augusta Mullikin. So C. Terrel’s citation source also went wrong. In addition, J. Crouch pointed out that Terrel’s statement that “there is no road to the top of Taishan” was wrong because there are 6700 stone steps from the foot of the mountain to the top, about 15 miles long. No matter whether J. Crouch doubted correctly, and whether E. Pound had read these journals and magazines at that time, the figures of Taishan and Shun appeared in these journals and magazines, also in E. Pound’s The Pisan Cantos, and even in the discussion of 2013’s authoritative Notes & Queries. It can be speculated that E. Pound read about Taishan from the English newspapers at that time, and because of his high esteem for Chinese traditional culture and Confucius’ thought, the image of Taishan can better represent Pound’s mood and gave him strength when he was in trouble.
To summarize, the incense Pilgrimage to Taishan, and Taishan culture were successfully and effectively expressed and transmitted in the English literary articles.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Tian, F. (2023). Incense Pilgrimage to Taishan in English Literature between 18th and Mid-20th Century. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 13, 858-873. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojml.2023.136050