Chapter 33

[406]There is a room in most Buddhist temples specially devoted to this purpose.return to text[407]The Buddhist emblem of cleanliness; generally a yak’s tail, and commonly used as a fly-brush.return to text[408]Tree-worship can hardly be said to exist in China at the present day; though at a comparatively recent epoch this phase of religious sentiment must have been widely spread. SeeThe Flower NymphsandMr. Willow.return to footnote anchor 408return to footnote anchor 528[409]Literally, “had been allotted the post of Nan-fu magistrate,” such appointments being always determined by drawing lots.return to text[410]Such is one common explanation of catalepsy (seeNo. I.,note 40), it being further averred that the proper lictors of the Infernal regions are unable to remain long in thelightof the upper world.return to text[411]Upon a wall at the entrance to every official residence is painted a huge fabulous animal, calledGreed, in such a position that the resident mandarin must see it every time he goes out of his front gates. It is to warn him against greed and the crimes that are sure to flow from it.return to text[412]Such, indeed, is the case at the present day in China, and elsewhere.return to text[413]SeeNo. VII.,note 54.return to text[414]The great sorrow of decapitation as opposed to strangulation is that the body will appear in the realms below without a head. The family of any condemned man who may have sufficient means always bribe the executioner to sew it on again.return to footnote anchor 414return to footnote anchor 650[415]This story is an admirableexposéof Chinese official corruption, as rampant at the present day as ever in the long history of China.return to text[416]SeeNo. LXIV.,note 373.return to text[417]Such has, doubtless, been the occasional result of torture in China; but the singular keenness of the mandarins, as a body, in recognising the innocent and detecting the guilty,—that is, when their own avaricious interests are not involved,—makes this contingency so rare as to be almost unknown. A good instance came under my own notice at Swatow in 1876. For years a Chinese servant had been employed at the foreign Custom House to carry a certain sum of money every week to the bank, and at length his honesty was above suspicion. On the occasion to which I allude he had been sent as usual with the bag of dollars, but after a short absence he rushed back with a frightful gash on his right arm, evidently inflicted by a heavy chopper, and laying the bone bare. The money was gone. He said he had been invited into a tea-house by a couple of soldiers whom he could point out; that they had tried to wrest the bag from him, and that at length one of them seized a chopper and inflicted so severe a wound on his arm, that in his agony he dropped the money, and the soldiers made off with it. The latter were promptly arrested and confronted with their accuser; but, with almost indecent haste, the police magistrate dismissed the case against them, and declared that he believed the man had made away with the money and inflicted the wound on himself. And so it turned out to be, under overwhelming evidence. This servant of proved fidelity had given way to a rash hope of making a little money at the gaming-table; had hurried into one of these hells and lost everything in three stakes; had wounded himself on the right arm (he was a left-handed man), and had concocted the story of the soldiers, all within the space of about twenty-five minutes. When he saw that he was detected, he confessed everything, without having received a single blow of the bamboo; but up to the moment of his confession the foreign feeling against that police-magistrate was undeniably strong.return to footnote anchor 417return to footnote 597return to footnote anchor 677return to footnote anchor 692[418]SeeNo. I.,note 39.return to footnote anchor 418return to footnote 470[419]SeeNo. LXVIII.,note 385. The circumstances which led to this marriage would certainly be considered “exceptional.”return to text[420]This being a long and tedious story, I have given only such part of it as is remarkable for its similarity to Washington Irving’s famous narrative.return to text[421]SeeNo. IV.,note 46.return to text[422]Borrowed from Buddhism.return to text[423]Alluding to a similar story, related in theRecord of the Immortals, of how these two friends lost their way while gathering simples on the hills, and were met and entertained by two lovely young damsels for the space of half-a-year. When, however, they subsequently returned home, they found that ten generations had passed away.return to text[424]Besides the above, there is the story of a man named Wang, who, wandering one day in the mountains, came upon some old men playing a game ofwei-ch‘i(seeAppendix); and after watching them for some time, he found that the handle of an axe he had with him had mouldered away into dust. Seven generations of men had passed away in the interval. Also, a similar legend of a horseman, who, when riding over the hills, saw several old men playing a game with rushes, and tied his horse to a tree while he himself approached to observe them. A few minutes afterwards he turned to depart, but found only the skeleton of his horse and the rotten remnants of the saddle and bridle. He then sought his home, but that was gone too; and so he laid himself down upon the ground and died of a broken heart.return to text[425]SeeAppendixA.return to text[426]If there is one institution in the Chinese empire which is jealously guarded and honestly administered, it is the great system of competitive examinations which has obtained in China now for many centuries. And yet frauds do take place, in spite of the exceptionally heavy penalties incurred upon detection. Friends are occasionally smuggled through by the aid of marked essays; and dishonest candidates avail themselves of “sleeve editions,” as they are called, of the books in which they are to be examined. On the whole, the result is a successful one. As a rule the best candidates pull through; while, in exceptional cases, unquestionably good men are rejected. Of the latter class, the author of this work is a most striking instance. Excelling in literary attainments of the highest order, he failed more than once to obtain his master’s degree, and finally threw up in disgust. Thenceforward he became the enemy of the mandarinate; and how he has lashed the corruption of his age may be read in such stories asThe Wolf Dream, and many others, while the policy that he himself would have adopted, had he been fortunate enough to succeed, must remain for ever a matter of doubt and speculation.return to footnote anchor 168return to footnote anchor 426return to footnote anchor 643[427]The Infernal Regions are supposed to be pretty much a counterpart of the world above,exceptin the matter of light.return to text[428]The visitor to Canton cannot fail to observe batches of prisoners with chains on them sitting in the street outside the prisons, many of them engaged in plying their particular trades.return to text[429]The judge in a Chinese court is necessarily very much dependent on his secretaries; and, except in special cases, he takes his cue almost entirely from them. They take theirs from whichever party to the case knows best how to “cross the palm.”return to text[430]The whole story is of course simply a satire upon the venality and injustice of the ruling classes in China.return to text[431]In BookV.of Mencius’ works we read that Shun, the perfect man, stood with his face to the south, while the Emperor Yao (seeNo. VIII.,note 63) and his nobles faced the north. This arrangement is said to have been adopted in deference to Shun’s virtue; for in modern times the Emperor always sits facing the south.return to footnote anchor 431return to footnote anchor 511return to footnote anchor 663[432]Name of a celebrated play.return to text[433]These are about as big as a cheese-plate and attached to a short stick, from which hangs suspended a small button of metal in such a manner as to clash against the face of the gong at every turn of the hand. The names and descriptions of various instruments employed by costermongers in China would fill a good-sized volume.return to text[434]SeeNo. XXIII.,note 154.return to text[435]A famous official who lived in the reign of Hung Wu, first Emperor of the Ming dynasty (A.D.1368–1399). I have not been able to discover what was the particular act for which he has been celebrated as “loyal to the death.”return to text[436]SeeNo. II.,note 42.return to text[437]The Chinese, fond as they are of introducing water, under the form of miniature lakes, into their gardens and pleasure-grounds, do not approve of a running stream near the dwelling-house. I myself knew a case of a man, provided with a pretty little house, rent free, alongside of which ran a mountain-rill, who left the place and paid for lodgings out of his own pocket rather than live so close to a stream which he averredcarried all his good luck away. Yet this man was a fair scholar and a graduate to boot.return to text[438]That Chinaman thinks his a hard lot who cannot “eat till he is full.” It may be noticed here that the Chinese seem not so much to enjoy the process of eating as the subsequent state of repletion. As a rule, they bolt their food, and get their enjoyment out of it afterwards.return to text[439]The full explanation and origin of this saying I have failed to elucidate. Dragons are often represented with pearls before their mouths; and these they are supposed to spit out or swallow as fancy may take them. The pearl, too, is said to be the essence of the dragon’s nature, without which it would be powerless; but this is all I know about the subject.return to footnote anchor 439return to footnote anchor 686[440]Such is the common belief in China at the present day. There is a God of Thunder who punishes wicked people; the lightning is merely a mirror, by the aid of which he singles out his victims.return to text[441]The “sea-serpent” in this case was probably nothing more or less than some meteoric phenomenon.return to text[442]The following is merely a single episode taken from a long and otherwise uninteresting story. Miss Fêng-hsien was a fox; hence her power to bestow such a singular present as the mirror here described, the object of which was to incite her lover to success—the condition of their future union.return to text[443]Besides the all-important aspirate, this name is pronounced in a differenttonefrom the first-mentioned “Tung;” and is moreover expressed in writing by a totally different character. To a Chinese ear, the two words are as unlikely to be confounded as Brown and Jones.return to text[444]The Four Seas are supposed by the Chinese to bound the habitable portions of the earth, which, by the way, they further believe to be square. In the centre of all is China, extending far and wide in every direction, the eye of the universe, the Middle Kingdom. Away at a distance from her shores lie a number of small islands, wherein dwell such barbarous nations as the English, French, Dutch, etc.return to text[445]The commentator, I Shih-shih, adds a note to this story which might be summed up in ourown—“The [wo]man that deliberates is lost.”return to text[446]Buddhist priests not unusually increase the revenue of their monastery by taking pupils; and it is only fair to them to add that the curriculum is strictly secular, the boys learning precisely what they would at an ordinary school and nothing else.return to text[447]These consist simply of thin slips of wood dipped in brimstone, and resemble those used in England as late as the first quarterofthe present century. They are said to have been invented by the people of Hang-chou, the capital of Chekiang; but it is quite possible that the hint may have first reached China from the west. They were calledyin kuang“bring light,” (cf.lucifer),fa chu“give forth illumination,” and other names. Lucifer matches are now generally spoken of astzŭ lai huo“self-come fire,” and are almost universally employed, except in remote parts where the flint and steel still hold sway.return to text[448]The whole point of the story hinges on this.return to text[449]Beside which lived Hsi Shih, the famous beauty of the fifth century after Christ.return to text[450]I fear that the translation of this “Singing-girl’s Lament” falls so considerably below the pathetic original as to give but a poor idea of the real merit of the latter as a lyric gem.return to text[451]The Chinese have precisely the same mania as our Browns, Joneses, and Robinsons, for scribbling and carving their names and compositions all over the available parts of any place of public resort. The literature of inn walls alone would fill many ponderous tomes.return to text[452]The examination, which lasts nine days, has been going on all this time.return to text[453]That is, his own body, into which Ch‘u’s spirit had temporarily passed, his own occupying, meanwhile, the body of his friend.return to text[454]That is, for being born again, the sole hope and ambition of a disembodied shade.return to text[455]SeeNo. LXXI.,note 403.return to text[456]SeeNo. LXI.,note 346.return to text[457]His own spirit in Ch‘u’s body had met her in a disembodied state.return to text[458]Such is the invariable custom. Large presents are usually made by those who can afford the outlay, and the tutor’s name has ever afterwards an honourable place in the family records.return to text[459]SeeNo. XLVIII.,note 274.return to text[460]The elaborate gilding and wood-work of an ordinary Chinese temple form a very serious item in the expense of restoration. Public subscriptions are usually the means employed for raising sufficient funds, the names of subscribers and amount given by each being published in some conspicuous position. Occasionally devout priests—black swans, indeed, in China—shut themselves up in boxes studded with nails, one of which they pull out every time a certain donation is given, and there they remain until every nail is withdrawn. But after all it is difficult to say whether they endure these trials so much for the faith’s sake as for the funds from which they derive more of the luxuries of life, and the temporary notoriety gained by thus coming before the public. A Chinese proverb says, “The image-maker doesn’t worship Buddha. He knows too much about the idol;” and the application of this saying may safely be extended to the majority of Buddhist priests in China.return to text[461]This is the title generally applied to the Manchu commanders of Manchu garrisons, who are stationed at certain of the most important points of the Chinese Empire, and whose presence is intended as a check upon the action of the civil authorities.return to text[462]SeeNo. VI.,note 52.return to text[463]The moral being, of course, that Buddha protects those who look after his interests on earth.return to text[464]It is related in theFamily Sayings, an apocryphal work which professes to give conversations of Confucius, that a number of one-legged birds having suddenly appeared in Ch‘i, the Duke of Ch‘i sent off to ask the Sage what was the meaning of this strange phenomenon. Confucius replied, “The bird is theshang-yang, and portends beneficial rain.” And formerly the boys and girls in Shantung would hop about on one leg, crying, “Theshang-yanghas come;” after which rain would be sure to follow.return to text[465]Speaking in the unknown tongue, like the Irvingites and others.return to text[466]This is a clever hit. The “personal” name of a man may not be uttered except by his father or mother, grandfather, grandmother, uncles, etc. Thus, the mere use of the personal name of thehead of a familyproves conclusively that the spirit of someone of his ancestors must be present.return to text[467]I consider the whole of the above a curious story to be found in a Chinese work exactly 200 years old, but no part of it more so than the forcible removal of some part of the clothing, which has been so prominent a feature in theséancesof our own day. It may be added that in many a court-yard in Peking will be found one or more trees, which cause the view from the city wall to be very pleasing to the eye, in spite of the filth and ruins which a closer inspection reveals.return to text[468]The arrangement being that of the hobby-horse of by-gone days.return to text[469]The couches of the north of China are brick beds, heated by a stove underneath, and covered with a mat. Upon one of these is generally a dwarf table and a couple of pillows; and here it is that the Chinaman loves to recline, his wine-kettle, opium-pipe, or teapot within reach, and a friend at his side, with whom he may converse far into the night.return to text[470]SeeNo. LXXIII.,note 418. Chang Fei was the bosom-friend of the last, and was his associate-commander in the wars of the Three Kingdoms. Chou Kung was the first Emperor of the Chou dynasty, and a pattern of wisdom and virtue. He is said by the Chinese to have invented the mariner’s compass; but the legend will not bear investigation.return to text[471]Mr. Li had, doubtless, taken a “drop too much” before he started on his mountain walk.return to text[472]Of whom I can learn nothing.return to text[473]The following extract from a long and otherwise tedious story tells its own tale. Wang is the modest man, and the young man from Yü-hang the braggart. Sung is merely a friend of Wang’s.return to text[474]This is one of our author’s favourite shafts—a sneer at examiners in general, and those who rejected him in particular.return to text

[406]There is a room in most Buddhist temples specially devoted to this purpose.return to text

[407]The Buddhist emblem of cleanliness; generally a yak’s tail, and commonly used as a fly-brush.return to text

[408]Tree-worship can hardly be said to exist in China at the present day; though at a comparatively recent epoch this phase of religious sentiment must have been widely spread. SeeThe Flower NymphsandMr. Willow.return to footnote anchor 408return to footnote anchor 528

[409]Literally, “had been allotted the post of Nan-fu magistrate,” such appointments being always determined by drawing lots.return to text

[410]Such is one common explanation of catalepsy (seeNo. I.,note 40), it being further averred that the proper lictors of the Infernal regions are unable to remain long in thelightof the upper world.return to text

[411]Upon a wall at the entrance to every official residence is painted a huge fabulous animal, calledGreed, in such a position that the resident mandarin must see it every time he goes out of his front gates. It is to warn him against greed and the crimes that are sure to flow from it.return to text

[412]Such, indeed, is the case at the present day in China, and elsewhere.return to text

[413]SeeNo. VII.,note 54.return to text

[414]The great sorrow of decapitation as opposed to strangulation is that the body will appear in the realms below without a head. The family of any condemned man who may have sufficient means always bribe the executioner to sew it on again.return to footnote anchor 414return to footnote anchor 650

[415]This story is an admirableexposéof Chinese official corruption, as rampant at the present day as ever in the long history of China.return to text

[416]SeeNo. LXIV.,note 373.return to text

[417]Such has, doubtless, been the occasional result of torture in China; but the singular keenness of the mandarins, as a body, in recognising the innocent and detecting the guilty,—that is, when their own avaricious interests are not involved,—makes this contingency so rare as to be almost unknown. A good instance came under my own notice at Swatow in 1876. For years a Chinese servant had been employed at the foreign Custom House to carry a certain sum of money every week to the bank, and at length his honesty was above suspicion. On the occasion to which I allude he had been sent as usual with the bag of dollars, but after a short absence he rushed back with a frightful gash on his right arm, evidently inflicted by a heavy chopper, and laying the bone bare. The money was gone. He said he had been invited into a tea-house by a couple of soldiers whom he could point out; that they had tried to wrest the bag from him, and that at length one of them seized a chopper and inflicted so severe a wound on his arm, that in his agony he dropped the money, and the soldiers made off with it. The latter were promptly arrested and confronted with their accuser; but, with almost indecent haste, the police magistrate dismissed the case against them, and declared that he believed the man had made away with the money and inflicted the wound on himself. And so it turned out to be, under overwhelming evidence. This servant of proved fidelity had given way to a rash hope of making a little money at the gaming-table; had hurried into one of these hells and lost everything in three stakes; had wounded himself on the right arm (he was a left-handed man), and had concocted the story of the soldiers, all within the space of about twenty-five minutes. When he saw that he was detected, he confessed everything, without having received a single blow of the bamboo; but up to the moment of his confession the foreign feeling against that police-magistrate was undeniably strong.return to footnote anchor 417return to footnote 597return to footnote anchor 677return to footnote anchor 692

[418]SeeNo. I.,note 39.return to footnote anchor 418return to footnote 470

[419]SeeNo. LXVIII.,note 385. The circumstances which led to this marriage would certainly be considered “exceptional.”return to text

[420]This being a long and tedious story, I have given only such part of it as is remarkable for its similarity to Washington Irving’s famous narrative.return to text

[421]SeeNo. IV.,note 46.return to text

[422]Borrowed from Buddhism.return to text

[423]Alluding to a similar story, related in theRecord of the Immortals, of how these two friends lost their way while gathering simples on the hills, and were met and entertained by two lovely young damsels for the space of half-a-year. When, however, they subsequently returned home, they found that ten generations had passed away.return to text

[424]Besides the above, there is the story of a man named Wang, who, wandering one day in the mountains, came upon some old men playing a game ofwei-ch‘i(seeAppendix); and after watching them for some time, he found that the handle of an axe he had with him had mouldered away into dust. Seven generations of men had passed away in the interval. Also, a similar legend of a horseman, who, when riding over the hills, saw several old men playing a game with rushes, and tied his horse to a tree while he himself approached to observe them. A few minutes afterwards he turned to depart, but found only the skeleton of his horse and the rotten remnants of the saddle and bridle. He then sought his home, but that was gone too; and so he laid himself down upon the ground and died of a broken heart.return to text

[425]SeeAppendixA.return to text

[426]If there is one institution in the Chinese empire which is jealously guarded and honestly administered, it is the great system of competitive examinations which has obtained in China now for many centuries. And yet frauds do take place, in spite of the exceptionally heavy penalties incurred upon detection. Friends are occasionally smuggled through by the aid of marked essays; and dishonest candidates avail themselves of “sleeve editions,” as they are called, of the books in which they are to be examined. On the whole, the result is a successful one. As a rule the best candidates pull through; while, in exceptional cases, unquestionably good men are rejected. Of the latter class, the author of this work is a most striking instance. Excelling in literary attainments of the highest order, he failed more than once to obtain his master’s degree, and finally threw up in disgust. Thenceforward he became the enemy of the mandarinate; and how he has lashed the corruption of his age may be read in such stories asThe Wolf Dream, and many others, while the policy that he himself would have adopted, had he been fortunate enough to succeed, must remain for ever a matter of doubt and speculation.return to footnote anchor 168return to footnote anchor 426return to footnote anchor 643

[427]The Infernal Regions are supposed to be pretty much a counterpart of the world above,exceptin the matter of light.return to text

[428]The visitor to Canton cannot fail to observe batches of prisoners with chains on them sitting in the street outside the prisons, many of them engaged in plying their particular trades.return to text

[429]The judge in a Chinese court is necessarily very much dependent on his secretaries; and, except in special cases, he takes his cue almost entirely from them. They take theirs from whichever party to the case knows best how to “cross the palm.”return to text

[430]The whole story is of course simply a satire upon the venality and injustice of the ruling classes in China.return to text

[431]In BookV.of Mencius’ works we read that Shun, the perfect man, stood with his face to the south, while the Emperor Yao (seeNo. VIII.,note 63) and his nobles faced the north. This arrangement is said to have been adopted in deference to Shun’s virtue; for in modern times the Emperor always sits facing the south.return to footnote anchor 431return to footnote anchor 511return to footnote anchor 663

[432]Name of a celebrated play.return to text

[433]These are about as big as a cheese-plate and attached to a short stick, from which hangs suspended a small button of metal in such a manner as to clash against the face of the gong at every turn of the hand. The names and descriptions of various instruments employed by costermongers in China would fill a good-sized volume.return to text

[434]SeeNo. XXIII.,note 154.return to text

[435]A famous official who lived in the reign of Hung Wu, first Emperor of the Ming dynasty (A.D.1368–1399). I have not been able to discover what was the particular act for which he has been celebrated as “loyal to the death.”return to text

[436]SeeNo. II.,note 42.return to text

[437]The Chinese, fond as they are of introducing water, under the form of miniature lakes, into their gardens and pleasure-grounds, do not approve of a running stream near the dwelling-house. I myself knew a case of a man, provided with a pretty little house, rent free, alongside of which ran a mountain-rill, who left the place and paid for lodgings out of his own pocket rather than live so close to a stream which he averredcarried all his good luck away. Yet this man was a fair scholar and a graduate to boot.return to text

[438]That Chinaman thinks his a hard lot who cannot “eat till he is full.” It may be noticed here that the Chinese seem not so much to enjoy the process of eating as the subsequent state of repletion. As a rule, they bolt their food, and get their enjoyment out of it afterwards.return to text

[439]The full explanation and origin of this saying I have failed to elucidate. Dragons are often represented with pearls before their mouths; and these they are supposed to spit out or swallow as fancy may take them. The pearl, too, is said to be the essence of the dragon’s nature, without which it would be powerless; but this is all I know about the subject.return to footnote anchor 439return to footnote anchor 686

[440]Such is the common belief in China at the present day. There is a God of Thunder who punishes wicked people; the lightning is merely a mirror, by the aid of which he singles out his victims.return to text

[441]The “sea-serpent” in this case was probably nothing more or less than some meteoric phenomenon.return to text

[442]The following is merely a single episode taken from a long and otherwise uninteresting story. Miss Fêng-hsien was a fox; hence her power to bestow such a singular present as the mirror here described, the object of which was to incite her lover to success—the condition of their future union.return to text

[443]Besides the all-important aspirate, this name is pronounced in a differenttonefrom the first-mentioned “Tung;” and is moreover expressed in writing by a totally different character. To a Chinese ear, the two words are as unlikely to be confounded as Brown and Jones.return to text

[444]The Four Seas are supposed by the Chinese to bound the habitable portions of the earth, which, by the way, they further believe to be square. In the centre of all is China, extending far and wide in every direction, the eye of the universe, the Middle Kingdom. Away at a distance from her shores lie a number of small islands, wherein dwell such barbarous nations as the English, French, Dutch, etc.return to text

[445]The commentator, I Shih-shih, adds a note to this story which might be summed up in ourown—“The [wo]man that deliberates is lost.”return to text

[445]The commentator, I Shih-shih, adds a note to this story which might be summed up in ourown—

“The [wo]man that deliberates is lost.”

return to text

[446]Buddhist priests not unusually increase the revenue of their monastery by taking pupils; and it is only fair to them to add that the curriculum is strictly secular, the boys learning precisely what they would at an ordinary school and nothing else.return to text

[447]These consist simply of thin slips of wood dipped in brimstone, and resemble those used in England as late as the first quarterofthe present century. They are said to have been invented by the people of Hang-chou, the capital of Chekiang; but it is quite possible that the hint may have first reached China from the west. They were calledyin kuang“bring light,” (cf.lucifer),fa chu“give forth illumination,” and other names. Lucifer matches are now generally spoken of astzŭ lai huo“self-come fire,” and are almost universally employed, except in remote parts where the flint and steel still hold sway.return to text

[448]The whole point of the story hinges on this.return to text

[449]Beside which lived Hsi Shih, the famous beauty of the fifth century after Christ.return to text

[450]I fear that the translation of this “Singing-girl’s Lament” falls so considerably below the pathetic original as to give but a poor idea of the real merit of the latter as a lyric gem.return to text

[451]The Chinese have precisely the same mania as our Browns, Joneses, and Robinsons, for scribbling and carving their names and compositions all over the available parts of any place of public resort. The literature of inn walls alone would fill many ponderous tomes.return to text

[452]The examination, which lasts nine days, has been going on all this time.return to text

[453]That is, his own body, into which Ch‘u’s spirit had temporarily passed, his own occupying, meanwhile, the body of his friend.return to text

[454]That is, for being born again, the sole hope and ambition of a disembodied shade.return to text

[455]SeeNo. LXXI.,note 403.return to text

[456]SeeNo. LXI.,note 346.return to text

[457]His own spirit in Ch‘u’s body had met her in a disembodied state.return to text

[458]Such is the invariable custom. Large presents are usually made by those who can afford the outlay, and the tutor’s name has ever afterwards an honourable place in the family records.return to text

[459]SeeNo. XLVIII.,note 274.return to text

[460]The elaborate gilding and wood-work of an ordinary Chinese temple form a very serious item in the expense of restoration. Public subscriptions are usually the means employed for raising sufficient funds, the names of subscribers and amount given by each being published in some conspicuous position. Occasionally devout priests—black swans, indeed, in China—shut themselves up in boxes studded with nails, one of which they pull out every time a certain donation is given, and there they remain until every nail is withdrawn. But after all it is difficult to say whether they endure these trials so much for the faith’s sake as for the funds from which they derive more of the luxuries of life, and the temporary notoriety gained by thus coming before the public. A Chinese proverb says, “The image-maker doesn’t worship Buddha. He knows too much about the idol;” and the application of this saying may safely be extended to the majority of Buddhist priests in China.return to text

[461]This is the title generally applied to the Manchu commanders of Manchu garrisons, who are stationed at certain of the most important points of the Chinese Empire, and whose presence is intended as a check upon the action of the civil authorities.return to text

[462]SeeNo. VI.,note 52.return to text

[463]The moral being, of course, that Buddha protects those who look after his interests on earth.return to text

[464]It is related in theFamily Sayings, an apocryphal work which professes to give conversations of Confucius, that a number of one-legged birds having suddenly appeared in Ch‘i, the Duke of Ch‘i sent off to ask the Sage what was the meaning of this strange phenomenon. Confucius replied, “The bird is theshang-yang, and portends beneficial rain.” And formerly the boys and girls in Shantung would hop about on one leg, crying, “Theshang-yanghas come;” after which rain would be sure to follow.return to text

[465]Speaking in the unknown tongue, like the Irvingites and others.return to text

[466]This is a clever hit. The “personal” name of a man may not be uttered except by his father or mother, grandfather, grandmother, uncles, etc. Thus, the mere use of the personal name of thehead of a familyproves conclusively that the spirit of someone of his ancestors must be present.return to text

[467]I consider the whole of the above a curious story to be found in a Chinese work exactly 200 years old, but no part of it more so than the forcible removal of some part of the clothing, which has been so prominent a feature in theséancesof our own day. It may be added that in many a court-yard in Peking will be found one or more trees, which cause the view from the city wall to be very pleasing to the eye, in spite of the filth and ruins which a closer inspection reveals.return to text

[468]The arrangement being that of the hobby-horse of by-gone days.return to text

[469]The couches of the north of China are brick beds, heated by a stove underneath, and covered with a mat. Upon one of these is generally a dwarf table and a couple of pillows; and here it is that the Chinaman loves to recline, his wine-kettle, opium-pipe, or teapot within reach, and a friend at his side, with whom he may converse far into the night.return to text

[470]SeeNo. LXXIII.,note 418. Chang Fei was the bosom-friend of the last, and was his associate-commander in the wars of the Three Kingdoms. Chou Kung was the first Emperor of the Chou dynasty, and a pattern of wisdom and virtue. He is said by the Chinese to have invented the mariner’s compass; but the legend will not bear investigation.return to text

[471]Mr. Li had, doubtless, taken a “drop too much” before he started on his mountain walk.return to text

[472]Of whom I can learn nothing.return to text

[473]The following extract from a long and otherwise tedious story tells its own tale. Wang is the modest man, and the young man from Yü-hang the braggart. Sung is merely a friend of Wang’s.return to text

[474]This is one of our author’s favourite shafts—a sneer at examiners in general, and those who rejected him in particular.return to text

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