Yangtze Cruises

It has a true and interesting story behind Baidi town, near Qutang Gorge of the Three Gorges. In 25 AD, China was in the age of political chaos. Peasant army overthrew the Western Han Dynasty, but a new regime had not been established yet. A local military general, Gongsun Shu (公孙述) sundered some part of southwest China, waiting for political situation change. 

It was said that one night Gongsun had a dream, a man told him “You can be an emperor reigning for twelve years”. When he woke up, he felt very mysterious. While he was walking in his courtyard in the morning on the following day, he saw white smoke wafted from the well. It looked like a flying dragon that flied up in the sky. Gongsun Shu thought that it was a good omen for him to be an emperor. Therefore, Gongsun held a ceremony, enthroned himself the emperor and called Baidi, literally “White Emperor”. He christened city established at the mouth of Qutang Gorge “Baidi City” and deployed troops. 

One of the good friends of Gongsun Shu, Ma Yuan, was a man of great ability. He heard about the good news of Gongsun, he hurried from far away to visit and wanted to aid him. By Ma’s surprise, Gongsun deliberately displayed arrogant attitude to his long time friend. He ordered subordinates to make civilian costume for him to attend a ceremony, which was grandiose with royal guards and imperial officials would cheer. Ma would be honored marquis by the emperor and commanded the army of the country. The guests who accompanied Ma Yuan were so happy and wanted to stay with him, but he said, “Now the world is very chaotic and who will be unifying the state has not been decided yet. Gongsun Shu does not know how to welcome talents humbly but just pay a lot of attention to tedious ceremonial details. He is a giant puppet indeed. How can he preserve true heroes besides him?” He made up his mind to leave. 

Meanwhile, Liu Xiu had established the Eastern Han Dynasty in Luoyang of central China to unify the state. He wrote a letter to Gongsun Shu, told him to analyze the political situation and surrender. However, Gongsun Shu thought that he was the emperor that he could not surrender. He refused the advice from Liu. In 37 AD, Liu Xiu sent troops to attack Gongsun, who died during the fighting. 

Gongsun Shu had been emperor for twelve years and eventually killed. However, before he enthroned, he had already ruled China’s southwest region for about 16 years. During his rule, it was quite stable and not affected by the fierce wars fought in middle China. When Gongsun Shu was an emperor, he developed agriculture and water conservancy, which were benefit to his subjects. Therefore, in memory of Gongsun, local people built Baidi Temple in Baidi City.