FOOTNOTES:

THE BUDDHA OF KU SHAN TEMPLE(see p.402).

Photo by Ah Fong, Weihaiwei.THE CITY-GOD OF WEIHAIWEI(see p.368).

Soon afterwards he fell asleep. He slumbered long and deeply, and in the middle of the night he suddenly woke up and to his horror found himself bound hand and foot to one of the rafters of the roof, and there unseen hands proceeded to subject him to an unmerciful beating. The more he howled the faster and heavier came the blows. When he had suffered excruciating pain for what seemed to him a long time, the thongs that bound him were mysteriously loosened by ghostly fingers and he was lowered to the floor. Then the flogging began again, and the wretched Chao was driven screaming out of the temple precincts. Outside the gates he fell unconscious to the ground. When he came to himselfhe was hardly able to move; his body was still bruised and scarred, and when he tried to drag one leg after the other he writhed in agony. After many weary days the pains left him, but his contempt for alien gods was a thing of the past: he had become a grave and religious man. Before leaving the city on his return journey he took care to prove his remorse by presenting the outraged deity with a beautiful paper horse, which was of course despatched to the spirit-world through the usual agency of fire.

There is a quainter and more touching story told of the city-god of the neighbouring district-city of Jung-ch'êng. The Chinese, as we have seen,[350]regard three days in the year as specially consecrated to the spirits of the dead, just as there are three special holidays for the living. On each of the spirit-festivals the Ch'êng Huang is expected to hold a formal inspection of his city. His image is accordingly brought out of the dingy temple in which it usually reposes, placed in an official chair, and carried in a noisy and not very solemn procession through the principal streets of the town. The story goes that during one of these periodical excursions a young girl, a member of a well-known local family, was watching the procession with the keenest interest. As the god's palanquin passed the spot where she was standing, she saw the image—or believed she saw it—deliberately turn its face in her direction and smile at her with a look of friendly interest. Full of excitement the girl went home and poured out her tale in the ear of her mother. The good lady treated the story as a kind of joke and laughed gaily at her daughter's fancy. "It is clear," she said, "that Ch'êng Huang Lao-yeh wants you for his wife: so off you go to him."

A few days passed by and the girl became seriously ill. A doctor was called in, but all he did was to look wise, give her a charm to hang over her door, and make her swallow some disagreeable medicine. In less than a month after the meeting with the city-god the girl was dead. During the night following her death her mother had a strange dream. She was visited by the spirit of her dead daughter, who told her that she was now well and happy, for she had become the bride of the Ch'êng Huang. Needless to say the dream soon became the common talk of the neighbours, through whom it reached the ears of the district-magistrate. After evidence had been given and duly corroborated it was officially decided that the Ch'êng Huang's will had manifested itself in an unmistakable manner and that to thwart it would bring certain disaster on the city. The girl's body was therefore buried with much pomp and ceremony within the temple grounds, her image, robed in real silks, was installed in the central pavilion beside that of the god himself, and she received formal recognition as the Ch'êng Huang's consort.

As time went on the dead girl began to acquire some local fame as a healer of various diseases, and persons who believed she had cured their ailments took to buying little votive offerings such as tiny pairs of shoes, hair-combs, ear-rings, and other trinkets such as Chinese ladies love. These were all stored up in the temple, where many of them may still be seen. The citizens of Jung-ch'êng who tell the story to strangers and fear it will not be believed are in the habit of mentioning a prosaic little fact which, they think, must banish all doubt. Every morning, they say, a basin of clean water is taken by the priest into the inner room which is supposed to serve as the sleeping-chamber of the Ch'êng Huang and his wife. Having put the basin on its stand the priest discreetly withdraws. In half an hour he returns and takes the basin away: and lo! the water is clean no longer. This realistic touch is rather characteristic of Chinesetales of wonder. Whatever the real origin of the legend may be there is no doubt that the city-god of Jung-ch'êng does share the honours of local worship with a female spirit whose image rests beside his own; and if any one questions whether she was ever a living human being he may ask for an introduction to the descendants of the very family to which she belonged,—for their name is Ts'ai and their home is in one of the city suburbs, where they flourish to this day.[351]

Just as every town has its Ch'êng Huang Lao-yeh, so every village has its T'u Ti Lao-yeh or Old Father T'u Ti. He is of course inferior in rank to a Ch'êng Huang, and instead of possessing an ornate temple and being represented by a full-sized robed and bearded image he has no better resting-place, as a rule, than a little stone shrine three or four feet high. In the case of the Weihaiwei villages this shrine is generally situated on the roadside close by the village to which it belongs. The ordinary villager's ceremonial visits to the local T'u Ti miao or temple of the village-god are not very frequent. If he or any member of his family is sick he will beseech the T'u Ti to grant a restoration to health, and on such occasions, or after a cure has been effected, he will very often hang little flags of scarlet cloth—they areoften mere rags—on a stick or pole in front of the shrine. The popular T'u Ti of a large village sometimes possesses a dozen of these simple offerings at one time. The death of a villager must be formally announced to the T'u Ti, whose duty it is to act as a kind of guide to the dead man when he finds himself for the first time in the bewildering world of ghosts. It is a common sight and a somewhat pathetic one to see a long row of wailing mourners, clad in loose and unhemmed sackcloth and with hair dishevelled, wending their way along the village street in the direction of the shrine of the T'u Ti to report the death of a relative or fellow-villager. The T'u Ti is, in fact, a kind of registrar of deaths: the unseen record kept by him in the underworld and the family record kept by the people in their homes or in their ancestral temples, are sufficient to satisfy all Chinese requirements in the matter of death-registration.[352]Births are not reported to the T'u Ti, who, being concerned chiefly with the world of spirits, is not supposed to take any special interest in the multiplication of living men. It is to the ancestors that a child's birth (if the child be a boy) is naturally supposed to bring joy and consolation.

SHRINE TO THE GOD OF LITERATURE(see p.361).

A T'U TI SHRINE(see p.372).

Beings like the Ch'êng Huang and T'u Ti and Hearth-god[353]and many other popular deities may be all regarded as included in the list of Taoist gods, but as far as ceremony or ritual goes they are really independent of Taoism: that is to say, no priestly intervention is necessary between the god and the person who prays. If the rites of Taoism and the major Taoist gods were expelled from the land, minor deities such as those mentioned might continue to attract just as much or just as little reverence as they do at present; similarly ancestor-worship would not necessarily be affected by the official abolition of the cult of Confucius.

The fact that the T'u Ti is supposed to interest himself in such matters as the death of individuals seems to suggest that he must have been in origin an ancestral god: but I cannot find any trustworthy evidence that this is so, though it seems that in some cases at least he (like the Ch'êng Huang) was a human being posthumously raised to quasi-divine rank. It is noteworthy as bearing on this point that no villagein Weihaiwei, or elsewhere so far as I am aware, possesses more than one T'u Ti, though there may be two or more "surnames" or clans represented in the village; moreover, when a man migrates from one village to another he changes his T'u Ti, although his connection with his old village in respect of ancestral worship and such matters remains unimpaired. The T'u Ti, in fact, appears to be a local divinity who holds his position irrespective of the movements of families and changes of surnames. It may be that he is regarded as representing in some mysterious way the first settler in the locality concerned, or the first builder of the village. The Chinese T'u Ti seems to bear a considerable resemblance to the Uji-gami of Japan. As the nameUjiimplies, this deity was evidently at one time regarded as a clan-deity or tribal ancestor. But as a Japanese authority has told us, "the wordUji-gamior clan-god is now used in another sense, namely in the sense of the local tutelary god or the patron-god of a man's birthplace or domicile."[354]Dr. Aston says that the Uji-gami having originally been the patron-gods of particular families "became simply the local deities of the district where one was born."[355]It seems at least possible that the history of the T'u Ti has been similar to that of the Uji-Gami.

Perhaps Greek and Roman religion may help in throwing some light on the subject. Just as we find the ancestral cult forming a prominent element in the religion of Greece and Rome, so we find traces of the existence of something like a T'u Ti. Every family had its own altar and its own gods (namely its deceased ancestors), and every phratria or group of families "had a common altar erected in honour of a common deity who was supposed to be more powerful than the deities of the households taken separately."[356]

Like the Ch'êng Huang of the city of Jung-ch'êng, the T'u Ti of the Weihaiwei district are very often if not almost invariably provided with wives, who are known as T'u Ti P'o. The T'u Ti and his lady are represented by rough stone effigies, about a foot in height, which are placed side by side within the little stone shrine; or sometimes the lady has a separate shrine, of smaller size, beside that of her husband. Some T'u Ti are attended by two T'u Ti Po. On making inquiries into the reason for this at a village where the T'u Ti was thus distinguished, I was informed that the lady on his left (the place of honour) was his wife and the lady on his right his concubine. It was pointed out that the concubine's image was only about half the size of that of the wife, which was quite as it should be in view of her inferior status. Two explanations were offered as to why this particular T'u Ti had been allowed to increase his household in this manner: one was that he had won the lady on his right by gambling for her, the other was that the T'u Ti had appeared to one of the villagers in a dream and begged him to provide him with a concubine as he had grown tired of his wife. The villager called on the local image-maker the very next morning, the image-maker went to the shrine and took measurements, and in a few days a nice new concubine was placed by the T'u Ti's side. Whether the dreamer's material position underwent any marked improvement about this time is not recorded.

It has been mentioned that little red flags are often hung on a stick or pole close by the T'u Ti's shrine on behalf of persons whose ailments the T'u Ti is supposed to have cured. At first sight one might suppose that the flags were intended as thank-offerings to the T'u Ti, but though they certainly are regarded as such at the present day, I am strongly inclined to believe that they have a quite different origin. Similar customs in other parts of the world irresistibly suggest the idea that the piece of cloth was originally regarded as the vehicle of the disease which was supposed to have been expelled from the human subject.

Dr. Tylor refers to "that well-known conception of a disease or evil influence as an individual being, which may be not merely conveyed by an infected object (though this of course may have much to do with the idea) but may be removed by actual transfer from the patient into some other animal or object."[357]He goes on to consider many examples of the practical working of this conception, and draws special attention to the belief common to many parts of the world (though China is not mentioned) that disease can be banished by driving it into a rag and hanging it on a tree:—"In Thuringia it is considered that a string of rowan-berries, a rag, or any small article, touched by a sick person and then hung on a bush beside some forest path, imparts the malady to any person who may touch this article in passing, and frees the sick person from the disease. This gives great probability to Captain Burton's suggestion that the rags, locks of hair, and what not, hung on trees near sacred places by the superstitious from Mexico to India and from Ethiopia to Ireland, are deposited there as actual receptacles of disease; the African 'devil's trees' and the sacred trees of Sindh, hung with rags through which votaries have transferred their complaints, being typical cases of a practice surviving in lands of higher culture."[358]

YÜAN DYNASTY GRAVES(see p.257)

A T'U TI SHRINE, SHOWING RAG-POLES AND TREE(see p.377).

There are traces of a belief of this kind in Japan, and I have observed many proofs of it also in the border country between China and Tibet. There is good reason, I think, to believe that the custom of hanging rags in front of the T'u Ti's shrine has a similar origin. The fact that the rags are usually hung up after the patient has already recovered merely goes to show that the primitive meaning of the act has become obscured.

It is probable that the T'u Ti originally had nothing to do with the matter. Of what possible use to him could be a number of small pieces of ragged cloth, unless indeed he wished to make himself a patchwork quilt? But as soon as the significance of the suspended rag had been forgotten, the idea may very naturally have grown up that the practice was essentially a religious one and ought to be associated with some god: and what god so suitable as the local guardian-spirit—the T'u Ti—whose shrine was always conveniently close at hand, and who was supposed to take a personal interest in every villager? As soon as the rag came to be regarded as a votive-offering the Chinese would naturally select red—the colour of joy and good luck—as most acceptable to the god and most likely to win his favour. This theory will perhaps gain in reasonableness if it is explained that the uneducated Chinese of the north—including Weihaiwei—do actually believe to this day in the possibility of transferring certain diseases from a human being to an inanimate object. They declare that if a sick person rubs a piece of cloth over the part of his body in which he feels pain, and then throws the cloth away at a cross-road,[359]he will feel the pain no more. Wayfarers who see such cloths lying on the road will on no account touch them, as they are supposed to harbour the disease that has been expelled from the human patient.[360]There are similar beliefs in Korea[361]and elsewhere in Asia, and also in several countries of Europe.[362]

To confine ourselves to Weihaiwei, it should be mentioned that the sticks or poles in front of the T'u Ti's shrine to which the rags are fastened are inserted perpendicularly in the ground in front or at the side of the shrine, and are often made to represent, on a miniature scale, the well-known mast-like poles that stand outside the gates of official yamêns and the houses and family temples of the literary "aristocracy." But sometimes the shrine is shaded by the branches of a tree, and in such cases the rags may occasionally be seen hanging on the tree itself. It is possible that here we have something like a blending of three old beliefs or superstitions: the cult of the local tutelary god, faith in the magical expulsion of sickness, and the worship of sacred trees.

Tree-worship is one of the bypaths of Chinese religion. It is not connected, except as it were accidentally, with Confucianism, Taoism or Buddhism. But the bypath is worth exploring if only because it leads to a region of folk-lore and myth that is common to both China and Europe. The idea thatcertain trees are animated by more or less powerful spirits, or the distinct and still earlier view that certain trees are themselves the bodies of living divinities, is a belief that can be traced to almost every part of the world. It existed in ancient Rome,[363]where the sacred fig-tree of Romulus was an object of popular devotion; it existed among the ancient Jews at Hebron, Shechem, Ophrah and at Beersheba;[364]it existed in Pelasgian Attica and neighbouring regions thousands of yearsB.C.;[365]it existed in India in pre-Buddhistic and post-Buddhistic times—witness the history of the famous Bo-tree of Anuradhapura in Ceylon, to which pilgrims still flock in their thousands; it flourishes to this day in all the countries of Indo-China; it is to be found in Korea and in many islands of the Pacific; indeed traces of it exist in every part of the world, including western Europe and the American continent. No wonder Dr. Tylor says of "direct and absolute tree-worship" that it may lie "very wide and deep in the early history of religion."[366]Its extraordinary vitality in Europe may be estimated by the fact that though the early Christian missionaries on the Continent and in Britain anathematised it as idolatrous and endeavoured to stamp it out—sometimes adopting the method of cutting down a sacred grove and using the timber for building a Christian chapel[367]—traces of the belief in sacred trees actually survive in popular traditions and local customs up to the present time right across the Euro-Asiatic continent from England and Sweden to China, Malaya and the islands of Japan.[368]Folk-lore has much to tell us about talking trees, and trees that could plead for their own lives when the wood-cutter approached them with his axe. In 1606 Lincolnshire was reported to possess "an ash-tree that sighed and groaned."[369]

Apart from all consideration of the origin of maypoles, some faint traces of a surviving belief in holy trees have been found in recent years in Yorkshire.[370]In Switzerland it is a common belief of the people that walnut-trees are tenanted by spirits.[371]Dr. Frazer tells us that "down to 1859 there stood a sacred larch-tree at Nauders in the Tyrol which was thought to bleed whenever it was cut.... So sacred was the tree that no one would gather fuel or cut timber near it; and to curse, scold or quarrel in its neighbourhood was regarded as a crying sin which would be supernaturally punished on the spot. Angry disputants were often hushed with the whisper, 'Don't, the sacred tree is here.'"[372]The belief in trees animated by some kind of divinity or inhabited by spirits is parallel with many other ancient animistic beliefs. Just as the sea has its mermaids and nymphs and the streams have their naiads and water-kelpies and the mountains their gnomes and elves, so groves and single trees have their haunting spirits, dryads or gods. At the present day the popular faith in the existence of tree-spirits is exceedingly strong in such countries as Burma, the Shan States and Siam; indeed Buddhism was obliged to compromise with the pre-Buddhistic animism of those lands to the extent of finding a place for tree-nats or tree-spirits—as well as water-nats and numerous other fairy-like beings—in its general scheme of the cosmos.

THE HAUNTED TREE OF LIN-CHIA-YÜAN(see p.381).

In view of the almost universal prevalence of tree-worship of some kind or other it would be strange indeed if no trace of it could be found in China. It has been said by a writer on the subject that "there is very little evidence of the existence of tree-worship among Chinese,"[373]but as a matter of fact the evidence for its existence (though perhaps it is not to be found to any great extent in books) is abundant and conclusive. I have myself seen "sacred trees" in at least seven provinces of China—Chihli, Shansi, Honan, Shensi, Ssŭch'uan, Fuhkien and Shantung—and I have good reason to believe they are to be found in other provinces as well.[374]The trees are generally seen in the neighbourhood of a village or sometimes in the middle of a village-street; their branches are usually hung with votive-offerings and lettered scrolls, and below them are sometimes placed little altars with incense-burners and small dishes of sacrificial food. Such trees are regarded with veneration, and their decay or accidental destruction is looked upon as a public calamity. In north China the sacred tree seems generally though not always to be aSophoratree, known by the Chinese ashuai.[375]But any one who wishes to be convinced that tree-worship is still a living faith in China need not travel so far as the inland provinces: it is unnecessary to go further than Weihaiwei. Close to the picturesque village of Lin-chia-yüan (The Garden of the Lin Family) is a fine old specimen of the Ginkgo or Maidenhair tree,[376]known by the Chinese as thepai kuoor "white-fruit tree." It is believed in the neighbourhood to be inhabited by the spirit of a Buddha or Bodhisatva.

Here we have an interesting example of how Buddhism utilised local legends for its own purposes and for the advancement of its own interests. Close by the tree stands an old Buddhist temple that dates from the T'ang dynasty. Had there been no priests to mould the religious ideas of the neighbouring villages into a Buddhistic form the tree would still have been regarded as the abode of a spirit, but no one would have thought of suggesting that the spirit was that of a Buddha. The devout Christian need not jeer at the harmless wiles of the Buddhist priests in this little matter, for the European monks of the Middle Ages were equally ready to seize upon local superstitions and give them a Christian interpretation. "The peasant folk-lore of Europe still knows," says Dr. Tylor, "of that old tree on the Heinzenberg near Zell, which uttered its complaint when the woodman cut it down, for in it was Our Lady, whose chapel now stands upon the spot."[377]Exactly the same procedure was adopted, as is well known, with regard to the sacred wells and springs of our European forefathers. It was found a simpler matter to substitute the name of a Christian saint for that of a heathen divinity than to crush the popular superstitions altogether. "With a varnish of Christianity and sometimes the substitution of a saint's name," says the writer just quoted,[378]"water-worship has held its own to this day. The Bohemians will go to pray on the river-bank where a man has been drowned, and there they will cast in an offering, a loaf of new bread and a pair of wax candles." The bread, no doubt, represented the old heathen offering to the water-spirit, the candles represented the compromise with Christianity. But let us refrain from ridiculing the superstitions of "the heathen Chinee" so long as we possess such obvious relics of heathendom in our own quarter of the globe.

A VILLAGE

AT CHANG-CHIA-SHAN.

Signs are not wanting that the old belief inshên shu("spirit-trees"), as they are called by the Chinese, is more or less rapidly decaying in this district. Certain villages, such as Chang-chia-shan, Wên-ch'üan-chai, Ho-hsi-chuang, Pao-hsin and others, possess fine old trees which, according to tradition, were once "worshipped," but are now only familiar and much-loved landmarks which the villagers would on no account allow to be removed. I do not refer only to the temple-groves and the little woods that shade the ancestral burial-grounds, for they, as we have seen,[379]derive their sanctity from causes not necessarily connected with tree-worship. I refer rather to the large isolated trees that one sometimes sees in or close to a village or overhanging the T'u Ti shrine. In the latter case it would be interesting to know whether it was the tree or the shrine that first possessed the site. Sometimes the little shrine is almost hidden by the low-hanging foliage of a group of trees—such trees having in all probability sprung from a parent-stem. Of the Khond tribes in British India it is said that when they settle in a new village "the sacred cotton-tree must be planted with solemn rites, and beneath it is placed the stone which enshrines the village-deity."[380]Whatever may have been the practice in Weihaiwei, it seems not improbable that similar rites once attended the planting of sacred trees in some parts of China.

The proximity of an ancient Buddhist temple is sufficient to explain how it is that the sacred tree of Lin-chia-yüan is supposed to be inhabited by a Buddhist spirit: but no one seems to have thought it worth while to proselytise the spirit of the most famous tree in the Territory, thesophoraof the village of Mang-tao, which enjoys a celebrity extending far beyond the limits of the surrounding villages. Only a year or two ago a serious calamity befell the villagers of Mang-tao. During one night of dismal memory their famous tree caught fire and was destroyed. Their consternation was great, for the disaster seemed irremediable; but the local sages rose to the occasion, for they declared that the tree-spirit had grown tired of the old tree and had moved into a smaller one a few yards further up the village-street. As for the fire, it was explained as beingt'ien huo—fire from heaven—sent purposely at the instigation of the migrated tree-spirit in order to prevent people from worshipping the wrong tree. A circumstantial story has already been invented in the village to this effect. A villager came with incense to pay his respects to the old tree which—unknown to him—was now untenanted. The tree-spirit from his new perch saw what was going on, and was much disgusted to perceive that the old tree, though he had abandoned it, was still the recipient of offerings. Grinding his branches with rage and jealousy at the vexatious spectacle, he persuaded heaven to send a mysterious wind that fanned the villager's lighted sticks of incense into a mighty flame, which speedily stripped the poor old tree of bark and foliage. Whatever the true cause of the fire may have been, the fact is indisputable that the tree was completely destroyed. Its blackenedtrunk has been removed by the villagers, so that not a trace of the tree now remains; while its proud successor is now decorated with the rags and other offerings that once hung upon its venerable branches.

The Mang-tao tree is prayed to for many things, but especially for recovery from illness, and the rags are chiefly the offerings of grateful worshippers whose prayers have met with favourable response. It is very possible that the rags were originally regarded as the mere vehicles of expelled diseases in accordance with the old superstition already described, but there is no doubt that the tree or the tree-spirit is looked upon as the power through which the diseases are driven out. The Mang-tao tree is often adorned with more than mere rags: cloth scrolls on which are inscribed mottoes and sentences expressive of gratitude and reverence are also to be seen on its branches. Grant Allen remarks that "Christianity has not extinguished the veneration for sacred trees in Syria, where they are still prayed to in sickness and hung with rags."[381]It is interesting to find in a remote Weihaiwei village—probably never visited by any European other than an occasional Englishman on official duty—a superstition that still flourishes in the very birthplace of Christianity.

FOOTNOTES:[334]Prof. H. A. Giles holds that theTao Tê Chingis a compilation and was not written by Lao Tzŭ himself though it probably enshrines some of his sayings. He gives strong reasons for believing that it must have been compiled after the appearance of the works of Chuang Tzŭ (fourth centuryB.C.), Han Fei Tzŭ (third centuryB.C.) and Huai Nan Tzŭ (second centuryB.C.). As for Lao Tzŭ himself, Dr. Giles rejects the slender evidence that makes him a contemporary of Confucius, and assigns him to "some unknown period in remote antiquity." (China and the Chinese, pp. 145, 148seq.)[335]Cf. Dr. W. A. P. Martin in hisLore of Cathay, and many other authorities.[336]Cf. Sir Robert Douglas,Confucianism and Taouism(5th ed.), p. 191. Max Müller rejected the theory that Tao was a Vedic idea transferred from India to China: but he mentioned a Sanskrit word and concept which in its historical development ran parallel with that ofTao. This word wasRita—the Way, the Path, the κινοῦν ἀκίνητον orprimum mobile. (Last Essays, Second Series, pp. 290seq.)[337]Mr. T. W. Kingsmill (The Taoteh King) calls it "one of the few remains existing of primitive Buddhism." He points out that as there is no intimation of any intercourse between China and India before the Han period, the compilation of theTao Tê Chingmust be assigned to that age,—several hundred years after the supposed date of Lao Tzŭ.[338]Mr. Chester Holcombe in theInternational Journal of Ethics, January 1908, pp. 168seq.The whole article deserves careful attention.[339]The Chinese Classics, vol. iii. pt. i. p. 200.[340]Prof. G. W. Knox, D.D., LL.D., inThe American Journal of Theology, October 1907, p. 569.[341]Rev. W. K. McKibben inThe American Journal of Theology, October 1907, p. 584.[342]"Pure Taoism has never ceased to affect the cultured Chinese mind, just as pure Shinto-Taoism has never ceased, or did not for long cease, to affect the cultured Japanese Court."—Prof. E. H. Parker,China and Religion, p. 258.[343]See Maspero'sDawn of Civilisation, edited by A. H. Sayce, translated by M. L. McClure (4th ed., 1901).[344]The Ideals of the Far East(John Murray: 1903).[345]See pp.26-7.[346]This detestable custom was practised in many European countries as well as in Africa, Polynesia, Borneo, Japan, Indo-China and India. [See Tylor'sPrimitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. i. pp. 104seq.; Lyall'sAsiatic Studies(2nd ed.), First Series, p. 25, Second Series, pp. 312-13; Grant Allen,The Evolution of the Idea of God, p. 265 (see footnote).] Prof. S. R. Driver in one of his Schweich Lectures (delivered before the British Academy on April 2, 1908) described some recent archæological discoveries of great interest in Palestine and the neighbouring countries. Some of these discoveries clearly prove that foundation-sacrifices existed in those regions. At Gezer, Taanach and Megiddo were actually discovered the skeletons of numbers of miserable people who had been buried under the corners of walls or under towers. That the custom of sacrificing boys and girls was practised in ancient Persia we know from Herodotus (Book vii. 114). It is not so generally known that it was apparently practised in the British Isles not merely in savage times but after the introduction of Christianity and even in connection with the foundation of ecclesiastical buildings. According to a legend which may be founded on fact, Oran, the companion of St. Columba, was buried under the foundations of the great monastery of Iona. For this and many other cases see G. Laurence Gomme'sFolk-lore Relics of Early Village Life, pp. 24-58.[347]The Rev. Ernest Box, writing on "Shanghai Folk-lore" in theJournal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society(vol. xxxv. 1901-2, p. 123), mentions that human sacrifices are said to have taken place in the building of one of the silk-filatures at Soochow. "I am also informed," he says, "that in the potteries in Kiangsi a new furnace is secretly consecrated by the shedding of a child's blood, as a sacrifice to ward off evil influences or accidents." Mr. Box seems to be inclined to ascribe the custom to the desire of propitiating the spirits of the earth.[348]See pp.225,274.[349]See pp.53-4.[350]See p.192.[351]It is probable that similar stories are told of other city-gods, for the Rev. Ernest Box (J.R.A.S.(China Branch), vol. xxxiv. p. 109) mentions a case in connection with Lutien, a place a few miles north-west of Shanghai.[352]As the functions of the T'u Ti are, on a reduced scale, similar to those of the Ch'êng Huang, it follows that in walled towns it is the Ch'êng Huang who receives reports of death.[353]See p.193.[354]Ancestor Worship and Japanese Law, by Mr. Nobushige Hozumi, p. 25.[355]Shinto, p. 10.[356]Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, "Religion of the Ancient Greek and Latin Tribes," inReligious Systems of the World(8th ed.), p. 224.[357]Primitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. pp. 148-9. See also Frazer'sGolden Bough(2nd ed.), vol. iii. pp. 26seq., and W. G. Black'sFolk Medicine, pp. 34seq.[358]Primitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. p. 150.[359]Quite an interesting chapter might be written about various beliefs connected with cross-roads. See, for example, the superstition referred to in Plato'sLaws, quoted by Dr. Frazer inThe Golden Bough(2nd ed.), vol. iii. p. 20; and the Bohemian prescription for fever: "Take an empty pot, go with it to a cross-road, throw it down, and run away. The first person who kicks against the pot will catch your fever and you will be cured." (Op. cit., p. 22.) Again, of the Dyaks we are told that they "fasten rags of their clothes on trees at cross-roads, fearing for their health if they neglect the custom." (Tylor'sPrimitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. p. 223.) Still more remarkable is it to find a similar belief in England. "Lancashire wise men tell us, 'for warts, rub them with a cinder, and this, tied up in paper and dropped where four roads meet, will transfer the warts to whoever opens the parcel.'" (W. G. Black'sFolk Medicine, p. 41. This author mentions the existence of the same superstition in Germany.)[360]For superstitions of the kind in the Shanghai district, see Rev. E. Box's "Shanghai Folk-lore" inJ.R.A.S.(China Branch), vol. xxxiv. pp. 124-5. For a Chinese cross-road superstition see the same article, p. 130; and see Dennys'sFolk-lore of China, p. 22.[361]See Mrs. Bishop'sKorea and Her Neighbours, vol. ii. pp. 143seq., andFolk-lore, September 1900, p. 329.[362]See Frazer'sGolden Bough(2nd ed.), vol. iii. p. 21.[363]See T. R. Glover'sConflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire(Methuen & Co., 1909), p. 13.[364]See the Rev. A. W. Oxford's "Ancient Judaism" inReligious Systems of the World(8th ed.), p. 55. He remarks that the sacred trees at these places "were always evergreen trees as being the best symbols of life; 'green' is the constant adjective applied to them by the prophets. The name used for them—elaorelon—shows that they were considered to be divine beings." As regards the choice ofevergreentrees, see above, pp.262-4.[365]See also Mr. A. B. Cook's articles on "Zeus, Apollo and the Oak" inThe Classical Reviewfor 1903 and 1904.[366]Primitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. p. 221. The whole subject is discussed pp. 214-29.[367]Op. cit.p. 228.[368]"Trees of great size and age are worshipped in almost every village in Japan. They are girt with honorary cinctures of straw-rope and have tiny shrines erected before them."—Dr. Aston'sShinto, p. 45. See also W. W. Skeat'sMalay Magic, p. 67.[369]County Folk-lore, vol. v.:Lincolnshire(David Nutt, 1908).[370]County Folk-lore, vol. ii.:North Riding of Yorkshire, p. 54.[371]Folk-lore Journal, vol. i. (1883), p. 377. For tree-worship in Tuscany see Dr. J. G. Frazer's article inFolk-lore, Dec. 1901.[372]Frazer'sGolden Bough(2nd ed.), vol. i. pp. 173-4. For Dr. Frazer's admirable discussion of the whole subject see especially vol. i. pp. 166-232, and vol. iii. pp. 26seq.See also Grant Allen'sEvolution of the Idea of God, pp. 138seq.; Philpot'sThe Sacred Tree,passim; Maspero'sDawn of Civilisation(4th ed.), pp. 121-2; H. M. Bower'sThe Elevation and Procession of the Ceri at Gubbio(David Nutt, 1897), pp. 61, 70seq., 85seq., 93 andpassim; Griffis'sThe Religions of Japan(4th ed.), pp. 30seq.; Ferguson'sTree and Serpent Worship,passim; W. W. Skeat'sMalay Magic, pp. 52seq., 63seq., 193seq., 203seq.; Reinach'sOrpheus(Eng. tr. 1909), pp. 114, 129.[373]Philpot'sThe Sacred Tree(Macmillan & Co., 1897), p. 15.[374]As for example in Kansu. For Kiangsu seeJ.R.A.S.(China Branch), vol. xxxiv. (1901-2), p. 116. For observations on Chinese tree-spirits see De Groot'sReligious System of China, vol. iv. pp. 272seq.and vol. v. pp. 653-63; and seeFolk-lore, June 1906, p. 190; and Dennys'sFolk-lore of China, p. 47.[375]TheSophora japonica.[376]Salisburia adiantifolia.See p.168.[377]Primitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. p. 221.[378]Op. cit.vol. ii. p. 213.[379]See pp.261seq.[380]Tylor'sPrimitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. p. 225.[381]The Evolution of the Idea of God, p. 150.

[334]Prof. H. A. Giles holds that theTao Tê Chingis a compilation and was not written by Lao Tzŭ himself though it probably enshrines some of his sayings. He gives strong reasons for believing that it must have been compiled after the appearance of the works of Chuang Tzŭ (fourth centuryB.C.), Han Fei Tzŭ (third centuryB.C.) and Huai Nan Tzŭ (second centuryB.C.). As for Lao Tzŭ himself, Dr. Giles rejects the slender evidence that makes him a contemporary of Confucius, and assigns him to "some unknown period in remote antiquity." (China and the Chinese, pp. 145, 148seq.)

[335]Cf. Dr. W. A. P. Martin in hisLore of Cathay, and many other authorities.

[336]Cf. Sir Robert Douglas,Confucianism and Taouism(5th ed.), p. 191. Max Müller rejected the theory that Tao was a Vedic idea transferred from India to China: but he mentioned a Sanskrit word and concept which in its historical development ran parallel with that ofTao. This word wasRita—the Way, the Path, the κινοῦν ἀκίνητον orprimum mobile. (Last Essays, Second Series, pp. 290seq.)

[337]Mr. T. W. Kingsmill (The Taoteh King) calls it "one of the few remains existing of primitive Buddhism." He points out that as there is no intimation of any intercourse between China and India before the Han period, the compilation of theTao Tê Chingmust be assigned to that age,—several hundred years after the supposed date of Lao Tzŭ.

[338]Mr. Chester Holcombe in theInternational Journal of Ethics, January 1908, pp. 168seq.The whole article deserves careful attention.

[339]The Chinese Classics, vol. iii. pt. i. p. 200.

[340]Prof. G. W. Knox, D.D., LL.D., inThe American Journal of Theology, October 1907, p. 569.

[341]Rev. W. K. McKibben inThe American Journal of Theology, October 1907, p. 584.

[342]"Pure Taoism has never ceased to affect the cultured Chinese mind, just as pure Shinto-Taoism has never ceased, or did not for long cease, to affect the cultured Japanese Court."—Prof. E. H. Parker,China and Religion, p. 258.

[343]See Maspero'sDawn of Civilisation, edited by A. H. Sayce, translated by M. L. McClure (4th ed., 1901).

[344]The Ideals of the Far East(John Murray: 1903).

[345]See pp.26-7.

[346]This detestable custom was practised in many European countries as well as in Africa, Polynesia, Borneo, Japan, Indo-China and India. [See Tylor'sPrimitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. i. pp. 104seq.; Lyall'sAsiatic Studies(2nd ed.), First Series, p. 25, Second Series, pp. 312-13; Grant Allen,The Evolution of the Idea of God, p. 265 (see footnote).] Prof. S. R. Driver in one of his Schweich Lectures (delivered before the British Academy on April 2, 1908) described some recent archæological discoveries of great interest in Palestine and the neighbouring countries. Some of these discoveries clearly prove that foundation-sacrifices existed in those regions. At Gezer, Taanach and Megiddo were actually discovered the skeletons of numbers of miserable people who had been buried under the corners of walls or under towers. That the custom of sacrificing boys and girls was practised in ancient Persia we know from Herodotus (Book vii. 114). It is not so generally known that it was apparently practised in the British Isles not merely in savage times but after the introduction of Christianity and even in connection with the foundation of ecclesiastical buildings. According to a legend which may be founded on fact, Oran, the companion of St. Columba, was buried under the foundations of the great monastery of Iona. For this and many other cases see G. Laurence Gomme'sFolk-lore Relics of Early Village Life, pp. 24-58.

[347]The Rev. Ernest Box, writing on "Shanghai Folk-lore" in theJournal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society(vol. xxxv. 1901-2, p. 123), mentions that human sacrifices are said to have taken place in the building of one of the silk-filatures at Soochow. "I am also informed," he says, "that in the potteries in Kiangsi a new furnace is secretly consecrated by the shedding of a child's blood, as a sacrifice to ward off evil influences or accidents." Mr. Box seems to be inclined to ascribe the custom to the desire of propitiating the spirits of the earth.

[348]See pp.225,274.

[349]See pp.53-4.

[350]See p.192.

[351]It is probable that similar stories are told of other city-gods, for the Rev. Ernest Box (J.R.A.S.(China Branch), vol. xxxiv. p. 109) mentions a case in connection with Lutien, a place a few miles north-west of Shanghai.

[352]As the functions of the T'u Ti are, on a reduced scale, similar to those of the Ch'êng Huang, it follows that in walled towns it is the Ch'êng Huang who receives reports of death.

[353]See p.193.

[354]Ancestor Worship and Japanese Law, by Mr. Nobushige Hozumi, p. 25.

[355]Shinto, p. 10.

[356]Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, "Religion of the Ancient Greek and Latin Tribes," inReligious Systems of the World(8th ed.), p. 224.

[357]Primitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. pp. 148-9. See also Frazer'sGolden Bough(2nd ed.), vol. iii. pp. 26seq., and W. G. Black'sFolk Medicine, pp. 34seq.

[358]Primitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. p. 150.

[359]Quite an interesting chapter might be written about various beliefs connected with cross-roads. See, for example, the superstition referred to in Plato'sLaws, quoted by Dr. Frazer inThe Golden Bough(2nd ed.), vol. iii. p. 20; and the Bohemian prescription for fever: "Take an empty pot, go with it to a cross-road, throw it down, and run away. The first person who kicks against the pot will catch your fever and you will be cured." (Op. cit., p. 22.) Again, of the Dyaks we are told that they "fasten rags of their clothes on trees at cross-roads, fearing for their health if they neglect the custom." (Tylor'sPrimitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. p. 223.) Still more remarkable is it to find a similar belief in England. "Lancashire wise men tell us, 'for warts, rub them with a cinder, and this, tied up in paper and dropped where four roads meet, will transfer the warts to whoever opens the parcel.'" (W. G. Black'sFolk Medicine, p. 41. This author mentions the existence of the same superstition in Germany.)

[360]For superstitions of the kind in the Shanghai district, see Rev. E. Box's "Shanghai Folk-lore" inJ.R.A.S.(China Branch), vol. xxxiv. pp. 124-5. For a Chinese cross-road superstition see the same article, p. 130; and see Dennys'sFolk-lore of China, p. 22.

[361]See Mrs. Bishop'sKorea and Her Neighbours, vol. ii. pp. 143seq., andFolk-lore, September 1900, p. 329.

[362]See Frazer'sGolden Bough(2nd ed.), vol. iii. p. 21.

[363]See T. R. Glover'sConflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire(Methuen & Co., 1909), p. 13.

[364]See the Rev. A. W. Oxford's "Ancient Judaism" inReligious Systems of the World(8th ed.), p. 55. He remarks that the sacred trees at these places "were always evergreen trees as being the best symbols of life; 'green' is the constant adjective applied to them by the prophets. The name used for them—elaorelon—shows that they were considered to be divine beings." As regards the choice ofevergreentrees, see above, pp.262-4.

[365]See also Mr. A. B. Cook's articles on "Zeus, Apollo and the Oak" inThe Classical Reviewfor 1903 and 1904.

[366]Primitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. p. 221. The whole subject is discussed pp. 214-29.

[367]Op. cit.p. 228.

[368]"Trees of great size and age are worshipped in almost every village in Japan. They are girt with honorary cinctures of straw-rope and have tiny shrines erected before them."—Dr. Aston'sShinto, p. 45. See also W. W. Skeat'sMalay Magic, p. 67.

[369]County Folk-lore, vol. v.:Lincolnshire(David Nutt, 1908).

[370]County Folk-lore, vol. ii.:North Riding of Yorkshire, p. 54.

[371]Folk-lore Journal, vol. i. (1883), p. 377. For tree-worship in Tuscany see Dr. J. G. Frazer's article inFolk-lore, Dec. 1901.

[372]Frazer'sGolden Bough(2nd ed.), vol. i. pp. 173-4. For Dr. Frazer's admirable discussion of the whole subject see especially vol. i. pp. 166-232, and vol. iii. pp. 26seq.See also Grant Allen'sEvolution of the Idea of God, pp. 138seq.; Philpot'sThe Sacred Tree,passim; Maspero'sDawn of Civilisation(4th ed.), pp. 121-2; H. M. Bower'sThe Elevation and Procession of the Ceri at Gubbio(David Nutt, 1897), pp. 61, 70seq., 85seq., 93 andpassim; Griffis'sThe Religions of Japan(4th ed.), pp. 30seq.; Ferguson'sTree and Serpent Worship,passim; W. W. Skeat'sMalay Magic, pp. 52seq., 63seq., 193seq., 203seq.; Reinach'sOrpheus(Eng. tr. 1909), pp. 114, 129.

[373]Philpot'sThe Sacred Tree(Macmillan & Co., 1897), p. 15.

[374]As for example in Kansu. For Kiangsu seeJ.R.A.S.(China Branch), vol. xxxiv. (1901-2), p. 116. For observations on Chinese tree-spirits see De Groot'sReligious System of China, vol. iv. pp. 272seq.and vol. v. pp. 653-63; and seeFolk-lore, June 1906, p. 190; and Dennys'sFolk-lore of China, p. 47.

[375]TheSophora japonica.

[376]Salisburia adiantifolia.See p.168.

[377]Primitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. p. 221.

[378]Op. cit.vol. ii. p. 213.

[379]See pp.261seq.

[380]Tylor'sPrimitive Culture(4th ed.), vol. ii. p. 225.

[381]The Evolution of the Idea of God, p. 150.

A district like Weihaiwei, which is agricultural and which also possesses an extensive coast-line, naturally pays special reverence to the gods that preside over the weather and the sea. Two of the most popular of the Weihaiwei deities are Lung Wang—the Dragon-king—who possesses the power of manipulating rainfalls and is therefore appealed to in seasons of drought, and T'ien Hou—the Queen of Heaven, also known as Shêng Mu, the Holy Mother—a goddess who is in many respects the Taoist counterpart of the Buddhist Kuan Yin (the "Goddess of Mercy") and is regarded as a protecting deity of sailors and fishermen. The Holy Mother has many shrines along the coast, besides a quaint old temple at Port Edward and a locally-famous one called Ai-shan Miao on a mountain-pass a short distance to the north-west of the market-village of Yang-t'ing. The last-named temple, which recently has been undergoing a partial restoration, is, owing to its position, exposed to the fierce north winds of winter and the equally boisterous south winds of early summer, and after its erection about the end of the fifteenth century it was more than once blown down. The priests and other wise men of the time deliberated on the question of how to prevent such catastrophes in future, and finally decided that the best way would be to dig a tunnel through the hillfrom north to southunderneaththe temple, so as to give the wind a means of crossing the pass comfortably without hurting the building. The tunnel was duly made and exists to this day. It is over six feet in height, four feet in breadth, and perhaps thirty yards in length. No self-respecting wind, it was supposed, would play havoc with the walls and roof of the temple when a nice channel had been specially constructed for its private use, and indeed for many years, it is said, the temple enjoyed complete immunity from storms. But the priest now in charge has informed me regretfully that the tempests of these latter days are not so amenable to reason and discipline as were those of the good old times.[382]

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