Suspect Rebels 183
and the sounds of clanking weaponry had been silenced. Where hundreds of
Ming soldiers had once trained, only a handful of old monks remained, com-
plaining to their guest of harsh treatment by the new authorities. Gu vented his
frustration in a poem that likened the nation’s and the monastery’s fate. If only
a new Prince of Qin (Li Shimin) could be found, both would be succored. As-
sisted by the likes of the Tang monk Huiyang, he would overthrow the foreign
aggressors and restore the monastery to its former glory:
Lofty rises the Wuru Peak,^3
Majestic lies the Shaolin Monastery.
Once its warriors roamed the earth,
Famed for heroism since the Sui.
Grand buildings resembled an imperial palace,
Monastic robes reflected fairy garments.
Buddhist crisp chimes pierced the heavens,
Chan lamps shone on emerald peaks....
Today how desolate it appears,
Deserted and overgrown with weeds.
From broken walls wandering bees emerge,
In empty halls wild pheasants caw.
They tell me of harsh new orders,
Land allotments by corrupt officials.
Taxes increased even on a monastic estate,
Caring not which dynasty had bestowed it.
Short of rice gruel, the monks leave,
Not even one or two have remained.
All things undergo rise and decline,
Their fortunes depend on Heaven.
Could there be no hero,
Resolutely restoring the monastery from its ruins?
I am sending a note to the like of Huiyang:
Wait for the arrival of a Qin prince!^4
Did Gu really believe that after they had been consolidating their rule
for decades, the Qing could be overthrown? Or is his poem a mere fantasy—
a conscious expression of wishful thinking? It is hard to answer this question,
which has been asked of the historian’s other writings as well.^5 However, he
clearly made no pretense that a Shaolin uprising did occur. The poem is not
a description of what had happened, but of what should have. It cannot be
taken as evidence that the monks had resisted the Manchus.
What Gu Yanwu had refrained from claiming, other, less educated authors
had not. Qing period lore glorified the Shaolin warriors as fearless rebels. A
widespread legend, which originated in South China, attributed the founding