The Story of Aunt Tian-shui

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During the Qing Dynasty, Du Tian-shui brought an exploration team from Fujian to Puli. As the flat land had already been claimed and developed, they decided to look for a suitable place in the mountains. Finally, they found a plot of fertile land on the upper reaches of the Wu River that was suitable for settling down and cultivating.

One day, as everyone was busy planting the fields, a volley of arrows was fired at them. Everyone fled and hid in their homes. Soon, a group of aboriginals had them surrounded, and their leader said,“The land here belongs to us. You cannot grow crops here, or I shall kill every single one of you.”Everyone felt terrified. But Aunt Tian-shui brought out a blue cloth bag. She offered it to the chief and said,“We only want to grow crops here. I have some silver, cloth and matchsticks. Could we trade these for your land?” The leader said, “No, this is too little.”Aunt Tian-shui said,“We can bring you more in exchange for your land. Is that okay?”The chief was afraid that the outsiders would go back on their word, so he said,“You will stay behind as hostage. Bring us the goods by August 15th.”So, Du Tian-shui quickly took his people home to gather the required goods.

On the night of August 14th, the leader grew angry as he did not see Du Tian-shui return with the goods. So, he had Aunt Tian-shui executed at dawn on the 15th. At noon, Du Tian-shui and his people arrived with the goods. When they saw Aunt Tian-shui’s corpse, they were so angry that they wanted to stab the chief with their knives. But Du Tian-shui stopped them from doing so and said sadly, “Aunt Tian-shui would have wanted us to co-exist peacefully with the natives. Let’s not settle this with war and bloodshed. Let us not sacrifice more lives in vain.”The chief realized he had been too hasty in assuming that Du Tian-shui would not return. He regretted killing innocent Aunt Tian-shui, so he told Du Tian-shui,“I have wronged all of you. To atone for my mistake, I will allow you and your people to use the land here. Let us coexist in harmony and build this place together.”Du Tian-shui’s people and the aboriginals soon became close friends, and they developed Puli into a beautiful agricultural village. A shrine was built to commemorate Aunt Tian-shui, and every Mid-autumn Festival people would bring mooncakes to thank Aunt Tian-shui for her contribution to the people.