MORE THAN JUST AN ORDINARY RICE BOWL
The story of Empress Wu
The hand-painted bowls are of the finest porcelain and originally had matching porcelain lids. They are far superior in workmanship to the Bamboo, Celedon, and Four Seasons dinnerware found throughout the rest of the site. It is likely that this set of bowls was kept in a display cabinet and only brought out and used during special occasions.
Dr. Larry Young (specialist in Chinese history and culture) translated the characters discovered on these beautiful rice bowls.
Around the bowls one can see a picture of Empress Wu and Ti-Jen-cheh (a well respected elder statesman). Also seen are Chinese characters, what appear to be herbalist's jars, and gaming pieces (dice, etc.).
Empress Wu lived from AD 624 till 705. Wu, one of the most famous (or notorious) women in Chinese history, usurped the ruling power after the death of her husband (the 4th emperor of the Tang Dynasty). As a usurper and the only woman who ever did such a thing in China, she has been severely condemned by Chinese historians. Her reign finally came to a close in AD 705. She was in her 80's when she was set aside by a palace coup and she died that same year.
When she took power, she named herself Wu Chou and one of the 19 new Chinese characters invented by her was one to represent her name. The Chinese public never accepted this new character. Her real name (known to historians) is Wu Tse-tien. Once in power, she tried to change the name of the dynasty to "Chou".
The porcelain artist who painted these bowls refers to her as Wu Chou and indicates his negative feelings toward this ruler by refering to her dynasty on the bowls as "puppet Chou".
The same artist refers to the elder statesman by using his honorary title "Ti Liang-kung". This shows the respect the artist had for this statesman in contrast to his disdain for the empress.
Dr. Young asks "Why would a SLO Chinese family own bowls with this particular story when there are many important historical sagas which could be depicted?" He indicates that legendary beautiful women, historical brave and loyal warriers, the goddess of Mercy, the eight Taoist fairies and other folk heros are commonly seen in Chinese porcelain paintings. But it is extremely rare to see a symbol of a vicious woman, the head of a puppet regime as porcelain art.
The answer to this question may tell us more about the political aspirations of San Luis Obispo's Chinese pioneers than any other artifact found so far.
First we must remember that archaeologists deal with both "facts" and "hypotheses". The existence of the bowls is an undisputable fact. The hypothesis about why they are here is an intellegent guess (hypothesis) based on theories of human behavior.
The story of Empress Dowager Tzu-hsi
For the answer, we need to look at the period when San Luis Obispo's Chinese pioneers arrived in California (the late 1800's).
It is possible that the porcelain artist was borrowing a story from the past as a way of expressing public condemnation of the present rulling power in China. Using such historical parables has long been an accepted way of expressing public opinion in China.
A review of 19th century Chinese history tells us that at the time this porcelain was produced, the ruling power of the Ching dynasty was in the hands of a powerful woman; the Empress Dowager (1835-1908). She was usually called Tzu-hsi in China.
In 1851 at the age of 16, Tzu-hsi became a low ranking concubine of Emperor Hsien Feng. In 1856 she bore him his only son and eventually became one of the Emperor's wives. When the emperor died, Tzu-hsi's young son became emperor. She couldn't rule openly but had to go through her son. She would sit behind a screen in back of her son's throne and listen as officials gave him their reports. He would then repeat her answers to them. She often put her own interests above those of the nation. After a few years her son died. Tzu-hsi appointed her own 3 year-old nephew (Kuang-hsu) emperor even though he was not in a direct line of succession to the throne.
By 1881 Tzu-hsi had complete control of China. She represented the old conservative guard (Manchu Nobles, etc.). When her young nephew Kuang-hsu came into full power in 1889 at the age of 17 he had a mind of his own and wanted to modernize China. In 1898 he initiated his 100 days of Reform, planning to "Westernize" China. His reforms called for the development of rail lines, modern schools, and other western style changes.
This went against the old guard and, with the support of the conservative military, Tzu-hsi reacted by placing Kuang-hsu under house arrest and wiped out all his modernizing decrees. She even gave the order to have 6 of his reform movement leaders executed.
Tzu-hsi's government secretly supported the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 which sought to rid China of all foreigners (the Western influence). When the Boxer Rebellion failed, she and her supporters fled north and China had to indure a humiliating settlement known as the Peace of Peking.
In 1901 she returned to the "Forbidden City" with a changed political attitude which she hoped would allow her to stay in power, but the Chinese people had enough of her. The Chinese Republican Revolution eventually overthrew her power and did away with the old Emperial ruling system all together.
More Than Just a Coincidence?
The parallels between the story of Empress Wu and Tzu-hsi are too obvious to ignore. Both were women who used trickery to usurp power from the traditional male lineage. Both were not popular with China's public.
Perhaps the most outspoken opponent of Tzu-hsi's reign was Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925). He was the leader of the Chinese Republican Revolution. Dr. Sun was from the southern coast of China, a place called Chung-shan County in the Kwangtung Provence.
Where did SLO's Chinese Pioneers come from?... the Kwangtung Provence, and many likely came from Chung-shan County. [Hong Kong is located on the south China coast in the Kwangtung Provence]
Why would someone leave their homeland and travel so far to start a new life in a strange place? History tells us that political unrest is often the key ingredient which prompts people to leave their home country for new horizons. It shouldn't be a surprise that SLO's Chinese population were staunch supporters of the Republican Revolution which was being led by one of their home-town heros.
All of this history leads us back to the rice bowls.
Dr. Young suggests that SLO's Chinese pioneers would have welcomed any form of art that could express their anti-Manchu feeling and support of the revolution. He indicates that it is very clever for the porcelain artists to "borrow" the ancient symbol of corrupt power and use it as a public way of condemning the present Chinese power holder.