Shen Kua (1030–1094)
[On a UFO]1
In the Chia-yu period,2 a “pearl” 3 appeared in Yang-chou. It was very large and frequently appeared at night. At first it emerged from the swamps of T’ien-ch’ang county; later it moved to Pi-she Lake; and finally it was at Hsin-k’ai Lake. For more than ten years, residents and travelers would constantly see it.
My friend had a study by the lakeside and one night saw that the “pearl” was very near. At first it opened its door very slightly, and light shot out from the crack like a golden ray. After a moment, it opened wider to the space of half a mat; within there was white light like silver. The “pearl” was as big as a fist and so bright you couldn’t look at it directly. For over ten tricents, the trees cast shadows, exactly as when the sun has just come up. In the distance you saw only a sky reddened as if by a forest fire. All of a sudden it went far off, moving as if in flight, floating over the waves, shining like the sun.
In the past there was a “moongem,” but its color was unlike the moon; shimmering with sharp flames, it rather resembled the sun. Ts’ui Po-yi once wrote a “Rhapsody on the Bright Gem.” Ts’ui was from Kao-yin 4 and so must have seen it often.
In recent years, it hasn’t appeared again; no one knows where it has gone. Fan-liang-chen is where the “pearl” used to appear, and when travelers reach there, they usually tie up their boats for a few nights to watch for its appearance. The pavilion there is called “The Playful Pearl.”
Translated by Richard W. Bodman
Shen Kua served in a number of governmental positions in the capital and in the provinces. His duties concerned river control, compilation of the imperial diary, border fortifications against the Tanguts (Hsi-hsia), and diplomatic missions to the Khitans (Liao). Wherever he went, he was always a keen observer and wrote voluminously about all manner of things that he encountered. Possessed of a polymathic mind, Shen jotted down his diverse data and thoughts in the form of random notes—pi-chi, “brush talks.” His extremely broad interests in science, technology, language, and literature are evident in the celebrated collection known as Sketches from Dream Brook (Meng hsi pi-t’an, named after the place where his estate was located), from which the present selection has been taken.
1. Section title provided by the translator.
2. 1056–1063.
3. In Chinese folklore, pearls are endowed with the magic power to give off their own light, to protect their owner from sickness, and to repel water (when their owner is swimming).
4. Kao-yin is in Kiangsu province near Yangchow.