In old times Chengdu was also called Turtle City because the shape of the old town resembled a great turtle. Its tail roughly corresponded to what are now Tongzilin and Yulin. Old people say that when the turtle’s tail shrinks, snow falls on Chengdu. Snow is rare enough there to count as an auspicious sign, so naturally there have always been people who made a trade of it.
Du Fen was one of them. He wore a thick long gown all year round and dressed his hair in a Daoist knot. The nails on all ten of his fingers were left long, so long that they had softened and looked like a pair of bird claws. He could not really do anything for himself and required attendants to serve him at all times.
In the winter of the wuzi year, heavy snow fell on Chengdu, and large numbers of disaster victims were still sleeping out in pits dug into the snow. Du Fen brought out a whole cartload of empty cloth sacks, called together a dozen or so young men from the surrounding streets, and had them sweep up the snow, stuff it into the sacks, and flatten them out. These he distributed to the worst-hit households as quilts. The people who carried the sacks home found them wonderfully warm and comfortable. When they opened them up, the snow inside had turned into white cotton batting.
Du Fen also sought out families in urgent need of money, set up braziers for them, and shaped snow into little balls that he tossed into the fire. Once the flames died down, silver ingots could be fished out of the ashes, bright and gleaming, with the very pinch marks of Du Fen’s fingers still visible on them. Families in need were allowed to take two ingots each. If they took more than that, even the first two would melt back into slush. My family still has two of those ingots today.