A story, however, was told of an Englishman who succeeded in entering China and obtaining employment at one of the potteries, where he eventually became acquainted with the secrets of the whole business.  The difficulties he experienced in getting out of the country again, and his adventures and hairbreadth escapes from death, were thrilling to listen to.  The pattern on the famous Willow plates, which he was afterwards able to produce in England, was commonly supposed to represent some of his own adventures, and he was thought to be the man pictured as being pursued across a bridge and escaping in a boat.  This, however, was not correct, as all the views had been copied from the original Chinese willow pattern, the interpretation of which was as follows: 

To the right is a lordly Mandarin’s country-seat, which is two storeys high to show the rank and wealth of the possessor.  In the foreground is a pavilion, and in the background an orange-tree, while to the right of the pavilion is a peach-tree in full bearing.  The estate is enclosed by an elegant wooden fence, and at one end of the bridge stands the famous willow-tree and at the other is the gardener’s cottage, one storey high, and so humble that the grounds are uncultivated, the only green thing being a small fir-tree at the back.

At the top of the pattern on the left-hand side is an island with a cottage; the grounds are highly cultivated and much of the land has been reclaimed from the water.  The two birds are turtle-doves, and the three figures on the bridge are the Mandarin’s daughter with a distaff, nearest the cottage, the lover with a box is shown in the middle, and nearest the willow-tree is the Mandarin with a whip.

[Illustration:  THE LOVE-STORY OF LI-CHI AND CHANG.]

The written history of China goes back for 4,000 years, a period more than twice that over which English history can be traced; and it is about 2,600 years since Confucius wrote his wonderful laws.  Since that time his teachings have been followed by countless millions of his countrymen, and temples have been erected to him all over that great country, whose population numbers more than 300 millions.

The origin of the legend represented on the willow pattern must therefore have been of remote antiquity, and the following is the record of the tradition: 

The Mandarin had an only daughter named Li-chi, who fell in love with Chang, a young man who lived in the island home represented at the top of the pattern, and who had been her father’s secretary.  The father overheard them one day making vows of love under the orange-tree, and sternly forbade the unequal match; but the lovers contrived to elope.  They lay concealed for a while in the gardener’s cottage, and thence made their escape in a boat to the island-home of the young lover.  The enraged Mandarin pursued them with a whip, and would have beaten them to death had not the gods rewarded their fidelity by changing them into turtle-doves.

   The picture is called the willow pattern not only because it is a
   tale of disastrous love, but because the elopement occurred when the
   willow begins to shed its leaves.