Chapter 31

[260]Alluding to a well-known expression which occurs in theHistorical Record, and is often used in the sense of deriving advantage from connection with some influential person.return to text[261]Without any regard to precedence, which plays quite as important a part at a Chinese as at a western dinner-party. In China, however, the most honoured guest sits at (what may be called) the head of the table, the host at the foot. I say “what may be called,” as Chinese dining-tables are almost invariably square, and position alone determines which is the head and which the foot. They are usually made to accommodate eight persons; hence the fancy name “eight-angel table,” in allusion to the eight famous angels, or Immortals, of the Taoist religion. (SeeNo. V.,note 48.) Occasionally, round tables are used; especially in cases where the party consists of some such number as ten.return to text[262]It is almost impossible to give in translation the true spirit of a Chinese antithetical couplet. There are so many points to be brought out, each word of the second line being in opposition both in tone and sense to a corresponding word in the first, that anything beyond a rough rendering of the idea conveyed would be superfluous in a work like this. Suffice it to say that Miao has here successfully capped the verse given; and the more so because he has introduced, through the medium of “sword” and “shattered vase,” an allusion to a classical story in which a certain Wang Tun, when drunk with wine, beat time on a vase with his sword, and smashed the lip.return to text[263]This is thevel ego vel Cluvienusstyle of satire, his own verse having been particularly good.return to text[264]Many candidates, successful or otherwise, have their verses and essays printed, and circulate them among an admiring circle of friends.return to text[265]Accurately described in Tylor’sPrimitive Culture,Vol. I.,p.75:—“Each player throws out a hand, and the sum of all the fingers shown has to be called, the successful caller scoring a point; practically each calls the total before he sees his adversary’s hand.” The insertion of the word “simultaneously” after “called” would improve this description. This game is so noisy that the Hong-kong authorities have forbidden it, except within certain authorised limits, between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.—OrdinanceNo.2 of 1872.return to text[266]This delicate stroke is of itself sufficient to prove the truth of the oft-quoted Chinese saying, that all between the Four Seas are brothers.return to text[267]The “substitution” theory by which disembodied spirits are enabled to find their way back to the world of mortals. A very interesting and important example of this belief occurs in a later story (No. CVII.), for which place I reserve further comments.return to footnote anchor 267return to footnote anchor 532return to footnote anchor 712[268]Such is the dominant belief regarding the due selection of an auspicious site, whether for a house or grave; and with this superstition deeply ingrained in the minds of the people, it is easy to understand the hold on the public mind possessed by the pseudo-scientific professors of Fêng-Shui, or the geomantic art.return to text[269]The bridegroom leads off the procession, and the bride follows shortly afterwards in an elaborately-gilt sedan-chair, closed in on all sides so that the occupant cannot be seen.return to text[270]Here again we have the common Chinese belief that fate is fate only within certain limits, and is always liable to be altered at the will of heaven.return to text[271]This is another curious phase of Chinese superstition, namely, that each individual is so constituted by nature as to be able to absorb only a given quantity of good fortune and no more, any superfluity of luck doing actual harm to the person on whom it falls.return to footnote anchor 271return to footnote anchor 344return to footnote anchor 351[272]The word here used isfan, generally translated “barbarian.”return to text[273]The disciples of Shâkyamuni Buddha. Same asArhans.return to text[274]There is no limit as to age in the competitive examinations of China. TheSan-tzŭ-Chingrecords the case of a man who graduated at the mature age of eighty-two.return to footnote anchor 274return to footnote anchor 459[275]In 1665, that is between fourteen and fifteen years previous to the completion of theLiao Chai.return to text[276]SeeNo. I.,note 36.return to text[277]Religion and the drama work hand in hand in China.return to footnote anchor 277return to footnote anchor 570[278]Always the first step in the prosecution of a graduate. In this case, the accused was also an official.return to text[279]Of what date, our author does not say, or it would be curious to try and hunt up the official record of this case as it appeared in the government organ of the day. The unfortunate man was in all probability insane.return to text[280]A.D.1675. His full name was Wu San-kuei.return to text[281]Such is the literal translation of a term which I presume to be the name of some particular kind of jade, which is ordinarily distinguished from the imitation article by its comparativecoldness.return to text[282]A.D.1682; that is, three years after the date of our author’s preface. SeeIntroduction.return to text[283]A curious note here follows in the original, not however from the pen of the great commentator, I Shih-shih:—“In 1696 a severe earthquake occurred at P‘ing-yang, and out of seventeen or eighteen cities destroyed, only one room remained uninjured—a room inhabited by a certain filial son. And thus, when in the crash of a collapsing universe, filial piety is specially marked out for protection, who shall say that God Almighty does not know black from white?”return to text[284]Or “Director of Studies.”return to text[285]The Chinese distinguish five degrees of homicide, of which accidental homicide is one (seePenal Code, BookVI.) Thus, if a gun goes off of itself in a man’s hand and kills a bystander, the holder of the gun is guilty of homicide; but were the same gun lying on a table, it would be regarded as the will of Heaven. Similarly, a man is held responsible for any death caused by an animal belonging to him; though in such cases the affair can usually be hushed up by a money payment, no notice being taken of crimes in general unless at the instigation of a prosecutor, at whose will the case may be subsequently withdrawn. Where the circumstances are purely accidental, the law admits of a money compensation.return to footnote anchor 285return to footnote anchor 297[286]Women in China rideà califourchon.return to footnote anchor 286return to footnote 580[287]Which, although tolerably stout and strong, is hardly capable of sustaining a man’s weight.return to text[288]The Chinese acknowledge seven just causes for putting away a wife. (1) Bad behaviour towards the husband’s father and mother. (2) Adultery. (3) Jealousy. (4) Garrulity. (5) Theft. (6) Disease. (7) Barrenness. The right of divorce may not, however, be enforced if the husband’s father and mother have died since the marriage, as thus it would be inferred that the wife had served them well up to the time of their death; or if the husband has recently risen to wealth and power (hence the saying, “The wife of my poverty shall not go down from my hall”); or thirdly, if the wife’s parents and brothers are dead, and she has no home in which she can seek shelter.return to footnote anchor 288return to footnote anchor 303return to footnote anchor 345return to footnote anchor 382[289]This elegant simile is taken from a song ascribed to Pan Chieh-yü, a favourite of the Emperor Ch‘êng Ti of the Han dynasty, written when her influence with the Son of Heaven began to wane. I venture to reproduce it here.“O fair white silk, fresh from the weaver’s loom;Clear as the frost, bright as the winter’s snow!See! friendship fashions out of thee a fan,Round as the round moon shines in heaven above.At home, abroad, a close companion thou,Stirring at every move the grateful gale.And yet I fear, ah, me! that autumn chills,Cooling the dying summer’s torrid rage,Will see thee laid neglected on the shelf,All thought of by-gone days, like them, by-gone.”return to text[290]Signifying that it would be impossible for him to enter.return to text[291]The result of A-ch‘ien’s depredations as a rat.return to text[292]I have already discussed the subject of drunkenness in China (Chinese Sketches,pp.113, 114), and shall not return to it here, further than to quote a single sentence, to which I adhere as firmly now as when the book in question was published:—“Who ever sees in China a tipsy man reeling about a crowded thoroughfare, or lying with his head in a ditch by the side of some country road?”It is not, however, generally known that the Chinese, with their usual quaintness, distinguish between five kinds of drunkenness, different people being differently affected, according to the physical constitution of each. Wine may fly (1) to the heart, and produce maudlin emotions; or (2) to the liver, and incite to pugnacity; or (3) to the stomach, and cause drowsiness, accompanied by a flushing of the face; or (4) to the lungs, and induce hilarity; or (5) to the kidneys, and excite desire.return to footnote anchor 59return to footnote anchor 292return to footnote anchor 397[293]“The very name of Buddha, if pronounced with a devout heart 1,000 or 5,000 times, will effectually dispel all harassing thoughts, all fightings within and fears without.”—Eitel.return to footnote anchor 293return to footnote anchor 661[294]A religious and social offence of the deepest dye, sure to entail punishment in the world to come, even if the perpetrator escapes detection in this life.return to text[295]The Buddhist rosary consists of 108 beads, which number is the same as that of the compartments in thePhrabator sacred footprint of Buddha.return to text[296]It here occurred to me that the word hitherto translated “well” should have been “shaft;” but the commentator refers expressly to theTso Chuan, where the phrase for “a dry well,” as first used, is so explained. We must accordingly fall back on the supposition that our author has committed a trifling slip.return to text[297]SeeNo. LI.,note 285.return to text[298]That is, as to whether or not there were extenuating circumstances, in which case no punishment would be inflicted.return to text[299]Such is the invariable result of confinement in a Chinese prison, unless the prisoner has the wherewithal to purchase food.return to text[300]The provincial examiner for the degree of bachelor.return to text[301]To worship at his tomb.return to text[302]SeeNo. XLIII.,note 248.return to text[303]SeeNo. LIII.,note 288.return to text[304]Such is the Chinese idiom for what we should call “bitter” tears. This phrase is constantly employed in the notices of the death of a parent sent round to friends and relatives.return to text[305]A disgraceful state of things, in the eyes of the Chinese. See the paraphrase of theSacred Edict, Maxim 1.return to text[306]An illegal form of punishment, under the present dynasty, which authorizes onlybambooingof two kinds, each of five degrees of severity;banishment, of three degrees of duration;transportationfor life, of three degrees of distance; anddeath, of two kinds, namely, by strangulation and decapitation. That torture is occasionally resorted to by the officers of the Chinese Empire is an indisputable fact; that it is commonly employed by the whole body of mandarins could only be averred by those who have not had the opportunities or the desire to discover the actual truth.return to footnote anchor 306return to footnote anchor 322[307]Lagerstrœmia indica.return to text[308]That is, old Mr. Jen’s body had been possessed by the disembodied spirit of Ta-ch‘êng’s father.return to text[309]Five is considered a large number for an ordinary Chinese woman.return to text[310]In order to leave some one behind to look after their graves and perform the duties of ancestral worship. No one can well refuse to give a son to be adopted by a childless brother.return to footnote anchor 310return to footnote 610[311]That is, of rising to the highest offices of State.return to text[312]The Chinese term used throughout is “star-man.”return to text[313]Chinese official life is divided into nine grades.return to text[314]Prostrating himself three times, and knocking his head on the ground thrice at each prostration.return to text[315]Theretinueof a high mandarin is composed as follows:—First, gong-bearers, then bannermen, tablet-bearers (on which tablets are inscribed the titles of the official), a large red umbrella, mounted attendants, a box containing a change of clothes, bearers of regalia, a second gong, a small umbrella or sunshade, a large wooden fan, executioners, lictors from hell, who wear tall hats; a mace (called a “golden melon”), bamboos for “bambooing,” incense-bearers, more attendants, and now the great man himself, followed by a body-guard of soldiers and a few personal attendants, amounting in all to nearly one hundred persons, many of whom are mere street-rowdies or beggars, hired at a trifling outlay when required to join what might otherwise be an imposing procession. The scantyretinuesof foreign officials in China still continue to excite the scorn of the populace, who love to compare the rag-tag and bob-tail magnificence of their own functionaries with the modest show even ofH.B.M.’sMinister at Peking.return to footnote anchor 315return to footnote 394return to footnote 510return to footnote anchor 624[316]A land journey of about three months, ending in a region which the Chinese have always regarded as semi-barbarous.return to text[317]This use of paper money in China is said to date fromA.D.1236; that is, during the reign of the Mongol Emperor, Ogdai Khan.return to footnote anchor 317return to footnote 614[318]This contingency is much dreaded by the Chinese.return to text[319]Ayojanahas been variously estimated at from five to nine English miles.return to text[320]Thepatraandkhakkharamof thebikshuor Buddhist mendicant.return to footnote anchor 320return to footnote anchor 566[321]It is not considered quite correct to take a concubine unless the wife is childless, in which case it is held that the proposition to do so, and thus secure the much-desired posterity, should emanate from the wife herself. On page 41 ofVol. XIII., of this author, we read, “and if at thirty years of age you have no children, then sell your hair-pins and other ornaments, and buy a concubine for your husband. For the childless state is a hard one to bear;” or, as Victor Hugo puts it in hisLégende des Siècles, there is nothing so sad as “la maison sans enfants.”return to text[322]This is the celebrated form of death, reserved for parricide and similar awful crimes, about which so much has been written. Strictly speaking, the malefactor should be literally chopped to pieces in order to prolong his agonies; but the sentence is now rarely, if ever, carried out in its extreme sense. A few gashes are made upon the wretched victim’s body, and he is soon put out of his misery by decapitation. As a matter of fact, this death is not enumerated among theFive Punishmentsauthorized by the Penal Code of the present dynasty. SeeNo. LV.,note 306.return to footnote anchor 322return to footnote anchor 672[323]Alluding to a well-known Buddhist miracle in which abikshuwas to be thrown into a cauldron of boiling water in a fiery pit, when suddenly a lotus-flower came forth, the fire was extinguished, and the water became cold.return to text[324]The Chinese term—here translated “Cannibals”—is a meaningless imitation by two Chinese characters of the Sanscrityakcha, or certain demons who feed upon human flesh.return to text[325]Hué, the capital of Cochin-China.return to text[326]The island of Hainan, inhabited as it was in earlier times by a race of savages, is the most likely source of the following marvellous adventures.return to text[327]To which sounds the languages of the west have been more than once likened by the Chinese. It is only fair, however, to the lettered classes to state that they have a similar contempt for their own local dialects; regardingMandarinas the only form of speech worthy to be employed by men.return to text[328]The occasional analogies to the story of the Cyclops must be evident to all readers.return to text[329]The animal here mentioned is the plain brown deer, orRusa Swinhoii, of Formosa, in which island I should prefer to believe, but for the great distance from Hué, that the scenes here narrated took place.return to text

[260]Alluding to a well-known expression which occurs in theHistorical Record, and is often used in the sense of deriving advantage from connection with some influential person.return to text

[261]Without any regard to precedence, which plays quite as important a part at a Chinese as at a western dinner-party. In China, however, the most honoured guest sits at (what may be called) the head of the table, the host at the foot. I say “what may be called,” as Chinese dining-tables are almost invariably square, and position alone determines which is the head and which the foot. They are usually made to accommodate eight persons; hence the fancy name “eight-angel table,” in allusion to the eight famous angels, or Immortals, of the Taoist religion. (SeeNo. V.,note 48.) Occasionally, round tables are used; especially in cases where the party consists of some such number as ten.return to text

[262]It is almost impossible to give in translation the true spirit of a Chinese antithetical couplet. There are so many points to be brought out, each word of the second line being in opposition both in tone and sense to a corresponding word in the first, that anything beyond a rough rendering of the idea conveyed would be superfluous in a work like this. Suffice it to say that Miao has here successfully capped the verse given; and the more so because he has introduced, through the medium of “sword” and “shattered vase,” an allusion to a classical story in which a certain Wang Tun, when drunk with wine, beat time on a vase with his sword, and smashed the lip.return to text

[263]This is thevel ego vel Cluvienusstyle of satire, his own verse having been particularly good.return to text

[264]Many candidates, successful or otherwise, have their verses and essays printed, and circulate them among an admiring circle of friends.return to text

[265]Accurately described in Tylor’sPrimitive Culture,Vol. I.,p.75:—“Each player throws out a hand, and the sum of all the fingers shown has to be called, the successful caller scoring a point; practically each calls the total before he sees his adversary’s hand.” The insertion of the word “simultaneously” after “called” would improve this description. This game is so noisy that the Hong-kong authorities have forbidden it, except within certain authorised limits, between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.—OrdinanceNo.2 of 1872.return to text

[266]This delicate stroke is of itself sufficient to prove the truth of the oft-quoted Chinese saying, that all between the Four Seas are brothers.return to text

[267]The “substitution” theory by which disembodied spirits are enabled to find their way back to the world of mortals. A very interesting and important example of this belief occurs in a later story (No. CVII.), for which place I reserve further comments.return to footnote anchor 267return to footnote anchor 532return to footnote anchor 712

[268]Such is the dominant belief regarding the due selection of an auspicious site, whether for a house or grave; and with this superstition deeply ingrained in the minds of the people, it is easy to understand the hold on the public mind possessed by the pseudo-scientific professors of Fêng-Shui, or the geomantic art.return to text

[269]The bridegroom leads off the procession, and the bride follows shortly afterwards in an elaborately-gilt sedan-chair, closed in on all sides so that the occupant cannot be seen.return to text

[270]Here again we have the common Chinese belief that fate is fate only within certain limits, and is always liable to be altered at the will of heaven.return to text

[271]This is another curious phase of Chinese superstition, namely, that each individual is so constituted by nature as to be able to absorb only a given quantity of good fortune and no more, any superfluity of luck doing actual harm to the person on whom it falls.return to footnote anchor 271return to footnote anchor 344return to footnote anchor 351

[272]The word here used isfan, generally translated “barbarian.”return to text

[273]The disciples of Shâkyamuni Buddha. Same asArhans.return to text

[274]There is no limit as to age in the competitive examinations of China. TheSan-tzŭ-Chingrecords the case of a man who graduated at the mature age of eighty-two.return to footnote anchor 274return to footnote anchor 459

[275]In 1665, that is between fourteen and fifteen years previous to the completion of theLiao Chai.return to text

[276]SeeNo. I.,note 36.return to text

[277]Religion and the drama work hand in hand in China.return to footnote anchor 277return to footnote anchor 570

[278]Always the first step in the prosecution of a graduate. In this case, the accused was also an official.return to text

[279]Of what date, our author does not say, or it would be curious to try and hunt up the official record of this case as it appeared in the government organ of the day. The unfortunate man was in all probability insane.return to text

[280]A.D.1675. His full name was Wu San-kuei.return to text

[281]Such is the literal translation of a term which I presume to be the name of some particular kind of jade, which is ordinarily distinguished from the imitation article by its comparativecoldness.return to text

[282]A.D.1682; that is, three years after the date of our author’s preface. SeeIntroduction.return to text

[283]A curious note here follows in the original, not however from the pen of the great commentator, I Shih-shih:—“In 1696 a severe earthquake occurred at P‘ing-yang, and out of seventeen or eighteen cities destroyed, only one room remained uninjured—a room inhabited by a certain filial son. And thus, when in the crash of a collapsing universe, filial piety is specially marked out for protection, who shall say that God Almighty does not know black from white?”return to text

[284]Or “Director of Studies.”return to text

[285]The Chinese distinguish five degrees of homicide, of which accidental homicide is one (seePenal Code, BookVI.) Thus, if a gun goes off of itself in a man’s hand and kills a bystander, the holder of the gun is guilty of homicide; but were the same gun lying on a table, it would be regarded as the will of Heaven. Similarly, a man is held responsible for any death caused by an animal belonging to him; though in such cases the affair can usually be hushed up by a money payment, no notice being taken of crimes in general unless at the instigation of a prosecutor, at whose will the case may be subsequently withdrawn. Where the circumstances are purely accidental, the law admits of a money compensation.return to footnote anchor 285return to footnote anchor 297

[286]Women in China rideà califourchon.return to footnote anchor 286return to footnote 580

[287]Which, although tolerably stout and strong, is hardly capable of sustaining a man’s weight.return to text

[288]The Chinese acknowledge seven just causes for putting away a wife. (1) Bad behaviour towards the husband’s father and mother. (2) Adultery. (3) Jealousy. (4) Garrulity. (5) Theft. (6) Disease. (7) Barrenness. The right of divorce may not, however, be enforced if the husband’s father and mother have died since the marriage, as thus it would be inferred that the wife had served them well up to the time of their death; or if the husband has recently risen to wealth and power (hence the saying, “The wife of my poverty shall not go down from my hall”); or thirdly, if the wife’s parents and brothers are dead, and she has no home in which she can seek shelter.return to footnote anchor 288return to footnote anchor 303return to footnote anchor 345return to footnote anchor 382

[289]This elegant simile is taken from a song ascribed to Pan Chieh-yü, a favourite of the Emperor Ch‘êng Ti of the Han dynasty, written when her influence with the Son of Heaven began to wane. I venture to reproduce it here.“O fair white silk, fresh from the weaver’s loom;Clear as the frost, bright as the winter’s snow!See! friendship fashions out of thee a fan,Round as the round moon shines in heaven above.At home, abroad, a close companion thou,Stirring at every move the grateful gale.And yet I fear, ah, me! that autumn chills,Cooling the dying summer’s torrid rage,Will see thee laid neglected on the shelf,All thought of by-gone days, like them, by-gone.”return to text

“O fair white silk, fresh from the weaver’s loom;Clear as the frost, bright as the winter’s snow!See! friendship fashions out of thee a fan,Round as the round moon shines in heaven above.At home, abroad, a close companion thou,Stirring at every move the grateful gale.And yet I fear, ah, me! that autumn chills,Cooling the dying summer’s torrid rage,Will see thee laid neglected on the shelf,All thought of by-gone days, like them, by-gone.”

“O fair white silk, fresh from the weaver’s loom;

Clear as the frost, bright as the winter’s snow!

See! friendship fashions out of thee a fan,

Round as the round moon shines in heaven above.

At home, abroad, a close companion thou,

Stirring at every move the grateful gale.

And yet I fear, ah, me! that autumn chills,

Cooling the dying summer’s torrid rage,

Will see thee laid neglected on the shelf,

All thought of by-gone days, like them, by-gone.”

return to text

[290]Signifying that it would be impossible for him to enter.return to text

[291]The result of A-ch‘ien’s depredations as a rat.return to text

[292]I have already discussed the subject of drunkenness in China (Chinese Sketches,pp.113, 114), and shall not return to it here, further than to quote a single sentence, to which I adhere as firmly now as when the book in question was published:—“Who ever sees in China a tipsy man reeling about a crowded thoroughfare, or lying with his head in a ditch by the side of some country road?”It is not, however, generally known that the Chinese, with their usual quaintness, distinguish between five kinds of drunkenness, different people being differently affected, according to the physical constitution of each. Wine may fly (1) to the heart, and produce maudlin emotions; or (2) to the liver, and incite to pugnacity; or (3) to the stomach, and cause drowsiness, accompanied by a flushing of the face; or (4) to the lungs, and induce hilarity; or (5) to the kidneys, and excite desire.return to footnote anchor 59return to footnote anchor 292return to footnote anchor 397

It is not, however, generally known that the Chinese, with their usual quaintness, distinguish between five kinds of drunkenness, different people being differently affected, according to the physical constitution of each. Wine may fly (1) to the heart, and produce maudlin emotions; or (2) to the liver, and incite to pugnacity; or (3) to the stomach, and cause drowsiness, accompanied by a flushing of the face; or (4) to the lungs, and induce hilarity; or (5) to the kidneys, and excite desire.return to footnote anchor 59return to footnote anchor 292return to footnote anchor 397

[293]“The very name of Buddha, if pronounced with a devout heart 1,000 or 5,000 times, will effectually dispel all harassing thoughts, all fightings within and fears without.”—Eitel.return to footnote anchor 293return to footnote anchor 661

[294]A religious and social offence of the deepest dye, sure to entail punishment in the world to come, even if the perpetrator escapes detection in this life.return to text

[295]The Buddhist rosary consists of 108 beads, which number is the same as that of the compartments in thePhrabator sacred footprint of Buddha.return to text

[296]It here occurred to me that the word hitherto translated “well” should have been “shaft;” but the commentator refers expressly to theTso Chuan, where the phrase for “a dry well,” as first used, is so explained. We must accordingly fall back on the supposition that our author has committed a trifling slip.return to text

[297]SeeNo. LI.,note 285.return to text

[298]That is, as to whether or not there were extenuating circumstances, in which case no punishment would be inflicted.return to text

[299]Such is the invariable result of confinement in a Chinese prison, unless the prisoner has the wherewithal to purchase food.return to text

[300]The provincial examiner for the degree of bachelor.return to text

[301]To worship at his tomb.return to text

[302]SeeNo. XLIII.,note 248.return to text

[303]SeeNo. LIII.,note 288.return to text

[304]Such is the Chinese idiom for what we should call “bitter” tears. This phrase is constantly employed in the notices of the death of a parent sent round to friends and relatives.return to text

[305]A disgraceful state of things, in the eyes of the Chinese. See the paraphrase of theSacred Edict, Maxim 1.return to text

[306]An illegal form of punishment, under the present dynasty, which authorizes onlybambooingof two kinds, each of five degrees of severity;banishment, of three degrees of duration;transportationfor life, of three degrees of distance; anddeath, of two kinds, namely, by strangulation and decapitation. That torture is occasionally resorted to by the officers of the Chinese Empire is an indisputable fact; that it is commonly employed by the whole body of mandarins could only be averred by those who have not had the opportunities or the desire to discover the actual truth.return to footnote anchor 306return to footnote anchor 322

[307]Lagerstrœmia indica.return to text

[308]That is, old Mr. Jen’s body had been possessed by the disembodied spirit of Ta-ch‘êng’s father.return to text

[309]Five is considered a large number for an ordinary Chinese woman.return to text

[310]In order to leave some one behind to look after their graves and perform the duties of ancestral worship. No one can well refuse to give a son to be adopted by a childless brother.return to footnote anchor 310return to footnote 610

[311]That is, of rising to the highest offices of State.return to text

[312]The Chinese term used throughout is “star-man.”return to text

[313]Chinese official life is divided into nine grades.return to text

[314]Prostrating himself three times, and knocking his head on the ground thrice at each prostration.return to text

[315]Theretinueof a high mandarin is composed as follows:—First, gong-bearers, then bannermen, tablet-bearers (on which tablets are inscribed the titles of the official), a large red umbrella, mounted attendants, a box containing a change of clothes, bearers of regalia, a second gong, a small umbrella or sunshade, a large wooden fan, executioners, lictors from hell, who wear tall hats; a mace (called a “golden melon”), bamboos for “bambooing,” incense-bearers, more attendants, and now the great man himself, followed by a body-guard of soldiers and a few personal attendants, amounting in all to nearly one hundred persons, many of whom are mere street-rowdies or beggars, hired at a trifling outlay when required to join what might otherwise be an imposing procession. The scantyretinuesof foreign officials in China still continue to excite the scorn of the populace, who love to compare the rag-tag and bob-tail magnificence of their own functionaries with the modest show even ofH.B.M.’sMinister at Peking.return to footnote anchor 315return to footnote 394return to footnote 510return to footnote anchor 624

[316]A land journey of about three months, ending in a region which the Chinese have always regarded as semi-barbarous.return to text

[317]This use of paper money in China is said to date fromA.D.1236; that is, during the reign of the Mongol Emperor, Ogdai Khan.return to footnote anchor 317return to footnote 614

[318]This contingency is much dreaded by the Chinese.return to text

[319]Ayojanahas been variously estimated at from five to nine English miles.return to text

[320]Thepatraandkhakkharamof thebikshuor Buddhist mendicant.return to footnote anchor 320return to footnote anchor 566

[321]It is not considered quite correct to take a concubine unless the wife is childless, in which case it is held that the proposition to do so, and thus secure the much-desired posterity, should emanate from the wife herself. On page 41 ofVol. XIII., of this author, we read, “and if at thirty years of age you have no children, then sell your hair-pins and other ornaments, and buy a concubine for your husband. For the childless state is a hard one to bear;” or, as Victor Hugo puts it in hisLégende des Siècles, there is nothing so sad as “la maison sans enfants.”return to text

[322]This is the celebrated form of death, reserved for parricide and similar awful crimes, about which so much has been written. Strictly speaking, the malefactor should be literally chopped to pieces in order to prolong his agonies; but the sentence is now rarely, if ever, carried out in its extreme sense. A few gashes are made upon the wretched victim’s body, and he is soon put out of his misery by decapitation. As a matter of fact, this death is not enumerated among theFive Punishmentsauthorized by the Penal Code of the present dynasty. SeeNo. LV.,note 306.return to footnote anchor 322return to footnote anchor 672

[323]Alluding to a well-known Buddhist miracle in which abikshuwas to be thrown into a cauldron of boiling water in a fiery pit, when suddenly a lotus-flower came forth, the fire was extinguished, and the water became cold.return to text

[324]The Chinese term—here translated “Cannibals”—is a meaningless imitation by two Chinese characters of the Sanscrityakcha, or certain demons who feed upon human flesh.return to text

[325]Hué, the capital of Cochin-China.return to text

[326]The island of Hainan, inhabited as it was in earlier times by a race of savages, is the most likely source of the following marvellous adventures.return to text

[327]To which sounds the languages of the west have been more than once likened by the Chinese. It is only fair, however, to the lettered classes to state that they have a similar contempt for their own local dialects; regardingMandarinas the only form of speech worthy to be employed by men.return to text

[328]The occasional analogies to the story of the Cyclops must be evident to all readers.return to text

[329]The animal here mentioned is the plain brown deer, orRusa Swinhoii, of Formosa, in which island I should prefer to believe, but for the great distance from Hué, that the scenes here narrated took place.return to text

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