The imperial temple number follows the ancestral system of "ancestor has merit, sect has virtue", the founder of the Qing Dynasty, Nur Hachi, is the Qing Taizu, and the first Qing monarch Shunzhi Emperor to enter the Central Plains is the Qing Shizu. But there was also an emperor of the Qing Dynasty who was revered as "Zu", he was the Qing Holy Ancestor Kangxi.
The Holy Ancestor must have been the best among the Qing Emperors during his lifetime, and his martial arts skills were not a problem. However, this holy ancestor called a fruit by the wrong name when he was alive, resulting in the fact that this fruit was not really called correctly for more than 300 years.
Western melon, with a long history
Although cantaloupe in Xinjiang is sold in today's supermarkets, in ancient times this fruit was a royal tribute, and ordinary people had no chance to taste cantaloupe.
According to historical records, as early as the 2nd century BC, the Chinese ancestors began to cultivate cantaloupe. And the first to grow cantaloupe was in Dunhuang, and it was mentioned in the "Taiping Guangji" that "Emperor Hanming Yin noble, dream of eating melons... From time to time, Dunhuang offers different melon seeds."
This text also shows that during the Han Dynasty, Dunhuang sent cantaloupe to the Central Plains and offered it to the emperor. In addition, in the Western Han Dynasty site in Mawangdui in Changsha, archaeologists have also found some melon-like seeds.
After identification, it was found that this belongs to Western melons, and this cantaloupe is from this category. In addition, after Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty ordered Zhang Qian to send an envoy to the Western Regions and set up the Silk Road, Dunhuang also had contacts with Xinjiang, and cantaloupe also came to Xinjiang.
In 1115 AD, the Jurchen tribe established the Jin Dynasty in the north, and cantaloupe also appeared here. Jin Shi described cantaloupe as a rare treasure in the world, "Sweet melon is like a pillow, its fragrance covers China".
Kangxi Qinzhi, the name of cantaloupe
In 1644, the Manchus invaded and marched south, overthrowing the rule of the Ming Dynasty and establishing the Qing Dynasty.
In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the Dzungar tribe of Guanwai Mongolia always invaded the Central Plains and became a major problem for the Qing emperors, and it was not until the Kangxi Dynasty that the tribal rebellion was quelled. After this, Dzungar also voluntarily bowed to the Qing dynasty.
As a vassal clan dependent on the Qing dynasty, the Dzungars also began to offer tribute to the Qing dynasty to show their loyalty. And the leader of this Hami state saw that the Qing Dynasty had defeated Dzungar, so he saw that the wind made the rudder also decide to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.
At first, after the Kangxi Emperor learned of the submission of the head of Hami State, the Sacred Heart was pleased and specially added titles to them.
Because the Hami state was able to monitor the movements of the Dzungars, once they found the wind and grass, they would report to the Qing dynasty in time. This is why the Kangxi Emperor valued this border tribe so highly and sent Qing envoys to Hami.
After arriving here with the envoys ordered by the emperor, the Hami chief was sure to entertain him with the best food, the most beautiful wine, and the sweetest melon.
Therefore, the Qing envoy ate this melon for the first time, the taste was sweet and the juice was full, which immediately grabbed his taste buds, so he suggested to the Hami chief that he could also send some of this fruit when he paid tribute next year for the Kangxi Emperor to taste.
As a result, this melon has become a "frequent visitor" in the tribute list of Hami Kingdom. At a palace banquet, after sharing the joy of pacifying Dzungar to the courtiers, the Kangxi Emperor also took out melons as a tribute for the courtiers to enjoy.
Since this was the first time the Kangxi Emperor had seen this fruit, his real name was unknown. In the chat with the minister, he made a slip of the tongue and blurted out: "This cantaloupe tastes good", and the ministers naturally did not dare to point out the emperor's mistake, so they all called it "cantaloupe" after that.
During the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, the Qing Dynasty's rivers and mountains also became precarious, and at this time, there were not only Western colonists who were looking at the tiger, but also peasant armies who launched internal rebellions, so the emperor was exempted from the rule of cantaloupe tribute.
The history books contain that "sympathetic to the vassals, do not rely on the mouth and stomach to tire people, and stop it", the distance from Xinjiang to Beijing is 2,200 kilometers, and it takes four hours by plane.
But in ancient times, it was a manpower transportation, because cantaloupe is difficult to preserve and cannot be bumpy, this road consumes a lot of cantaloupe, and also consumes a lot of manpower and material resources. At that time, the Qing Dynasty could no longer support such luxury.
Kangxi called wrong, and future generations are wrong
But after the cantaloupe was no longer a tribute to the Qing Dynasty, the Qing people still failed to figure out the real name of the fruit. But after flipping through the ancient books, you can still find some clues.
The Book of Tang states that "there are also two kinds of Dunhuang melons, those with thin and soft skin go out of Hami to return to the city and other places", and during the Tang Dynasty, the world called it Dunhuang melon. In the Han Dynasty, the Han people called this melon a vault, so what is the cantaloupe called?
The answer is qiongqiao, because the word means "melon" in Xinjiang Uyghur. This Tang Dynasty people are not wrong, this is the sinicization of the vault. The only one who gave this melon a nickname was this Kangxi Emperor.
In addition, it is also rumored that these melons are not produced by Hami, and the real origin is Shanshan. Because the leader of Hami Kingdom, after tasting the melon of Shanshan, felt that it was sweeter than what was produced in his own realm. Therefore, he gave the melons from this place as a tribute to Kangxi.
To ensure the freshness of these melons, they are placed in the dirt during transportation, which reduces the risk of being turned upside down.
But the Kangxi Emperor did not know the specific situation, he just knew that this melon was delicious, and asked the envoy, he only said that it was produced by Hami, so he gave this fruit a name, called cantaloupe.
If they are to be named according to the true origin of melons, they should also be Shanshan melons. But this view is dismissed in the book "Xinjiang Xiaozheng", which reads that "all melons are sweet and beautiful, all are Hamilaiye".
In addition, it is also recorded in the "Hami Zhi" that at that time, in order to grow enough cantaloupe, the Hami chief let "one pass through Hami City to the west to return to the South Lake, one west flows up the slope to the peacock garden, and the east divides the irrigation melon field."
epilogue
Whether it is produced in Hami or Shanshan, the original name of this fruit is definitely not cantaloupe anyway. But because the Kangxi Emperor called it wrong, so that people called it wrong for the next 300 years, people still call this fruit cantaloupe to this day.
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