[284] An official who flourished in the eighth century of our era, and
who, for his devotion to the Taoist religion, was subsequently
canonized as one of the Eight Immortals. He is generally represented
as riding on a crane.
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[285] That is, by means of the planchette-table.
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[286] Our author was here evidently thinking of his own unlucky fate.
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[287] See No. CXXXI., note 252.
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[288] See No. LXXV., note 71.
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[289] Literally, “golden oranges.” These are skilfully preserved by
the Cantonese, and form a delicious sweetmeat for dessert.
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[290] A.D. 1573–1620, the epoch of the most celebrated “blue china.”
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[291] A satirical remark of Mencius (Book I.), used by the sage when
combating the visionary projects of a monarch of antiquity.
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[292] This disgusting process is too frequently performed by native
butchers at the present day, in order to give their meat a more
tempting appearance. Water is also blown in through a tube, to make it
heavier; and inexperienced housekeepers are often astonished to find
how light ducks and geese become after being cooked, not knowing that
the fraudulent poulterer had previously stuffed their throats as full
as possible of sand.
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[293] This was the man whose destiny it was really to die just then,
and appear before the Ruler of Purgatory.
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[294] The city of Canton boasts several “cat and dog” restaurants; but
the consumption of this kind of food is much less universal than is
generally supposed.
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[295] Not in our sense of the term. It was not death, but
decapitation, or even mutilation, from which the trader begged to be
spared. See No. LXXII., note 59.
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[296] The Chinese dog is usually an ill-fed, barking cur, without one
redeeming trait in its character. Valued as a guardian of house and
property, this animal does not hold the same social position as with
us; its very name is a by-word of reproach; and the people of Tonquin
explain their filthy custom of blackening the teeth on the ground that
a dog’s teeth are white.
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[297] A celebrated scholar and statesman, who flourished towards the
close of the Ming dynasty, and distinguished himself by his
impeachment of the powerful eunuch, Wei Chung-hsien,—a dangerous step
to take in those eunuch-ridden times.
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[298] Mr. Yang was a man of tried virtue, and had he been able to
tolerate oculo irretorto, the loss of his money, the priest would
have given him, not merely a cure for the bodily ailment under which
he was suffering, but a knowledge of those means by which he might
have obtained the salvation of his soul, and have enrolled himself
among the ranks of the Taoist Immortals. “To those, however,” remarks
the commentator, “who lament that Mr. Yang was too worldly-minded to
secure this great prize, I reply, ‘Better one more good man on earth,
than an extra angel in heaven.’”
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[299] Alchemy was widely cultivated in China during the Han dynasty by
priests of the Taoist religion, but all traces of it have now long
since disappeared.
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[300] See No. XXII., note 143.
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[301] These are used, together with a heavy wooden bâton, by the
Chinese washerman, the effect being most disastrous to a European
wardrobe.
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[302] For thus interfering with the appointments of Destiny.
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[303] To provide coffins for poor people has ever been regarded as an
act of transcendent merit. The tornado at Canton, in April, 1878, in
which several thousand lives were lost, afforded an admirable
opportunity for the exercise of this form of charity—an opportunity
which was very largely availed of by the benevolent.
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[304] For usurping its prerogative by allowing Chia to obtain
unauthorized wealth.
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[305] See No. XIV., note 97.
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[306] See No. LIV., note 293.
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[307] The God of Literature.
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[308] See No. LXXVII., note 76.
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[309] See No. XXVI., note 182.
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[310] A fleshy protuberance on the head, which is the distinguishing
mark of a Buddha.
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[311] The eighteen personal disciples of Shâkyamuni Buddha. Sixteen of
these are Hindoos, which number was subsequently increased by the
addition of two Chinese Buddhists.
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[312] Literally, “wind and water,” or that which cannot be seen and
that which cannot be grasped. I have explained the term in my Chinese
Sketches, p. 143, as “a system of geomancy, by the science of which
it is possible to determine the desirability of sites,—whether of
tombs, houses, or cities, from the configuration of such natural
objects as rivers, trees, and hills, and to foretell with certainty
the fortunes of any family, community, or individual, according to the
spot selected; by the art of which it is in the power of the
geomancer to counteract evil influences by good ones, to transform
straight and noxious outlines into undulating and propitious curves,
and rescue whole districts from the devastations of flood or
pestilence.”
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[313] As a rule, only the daughters of wealthy families receive any
education to speak of.
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[314] A reprehensible proceeding in the eyes of all respectable
Chinese, both from a moral and a practical point of view; “for when
brothers fall out,” says the proverb, “strangers get an advantage over
them.”
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[315] Chinese tradesmen invariably begin by giving short weight in
such transactions as these, partly in order to be in a position to
gratify the customer by throwing in a trifle more and thus acquire a
reputation for fair dealing.
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[316] It was only his soul that had left the house.
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[317] See No. LVI., note 322.
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[318] See No. CXXIII., note 234.
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[319] A common saying is “Foxes in the north; devils in the south,” as
illustrative of the folk-lore of these two great divisions of China.
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[320] In no country in the world is adulteration more extensively
practised than in China, the only formal check upon it being a
religious one—the dread of punishment in the world below.
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[321] The text has here a word (literally, “mud”) explained to be the
name of a boneless aquatic creature, which on being removed from the
water lies motionless like a lump of mud. The common term for a
jelly-fish is shui-mu, “water-mother.”
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[322] See No. LXXIII., note 62.
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[323] There is a widespread belief that human life in China is held at
a cheap rate. This may be accounted for by the fact that death is the
legal punishment for many crimes not considered capital in the West;
and by the severe measures that are always taken in cases of
rebellion, when the innocent and guilty are often indiscriminately
massacred. In times of tranquillity, however, this is not the case;
and the execution of a criminal is surrounded by a number of
formalities which go far to prevent the shedding of innocent blood.
The Hsi-yüan-lu (see No. XIV., note 100) opens with the words,
“There is nothing more important than human life.”
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[324] See No. LXVIII., note 30.
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[325] This story is inserted chiefly in illustration of the fact that
all countries have a record of some enormous bird such as the roc of
the “Arabian Nights.”
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[326] See No. XXXV., note 217.
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[327] The term here used refers to a creature which partakes rather of
the fabulous than of the real. The Kuang-yün says it is “a kind of
lion;” but other authorities describe it as a horse. Its favourite
food is tiger-flesh. Incense-burners are often made after the “lion”
pattern and called by this name, the smoke of the incense issuing from
the mouth of the animal, like our own gargoyles.
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[328] The Law of Inheritance, as it obtains in China, has been ably
illustrated by Mr. Chal. Alabaster in Vols. V. and VI. of the China
Review. This writer states that “there seems to be no absolutely
fixed law in regard either of inheritance or testamentary dispositions
of property, but certain general principles are recognised which the
court will not allow to be disregarded without sufficient cause.” As a
rule the sons, whether by wife or concubine, share equally, and in
preference to daughters, even though there should be a written will in
favour of the latter.
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[329] This has reference to the “seed-time and harvest.”
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[330] See No. I., note 36.
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[331] Clouds being naturally connected in every Chinaman’s mind with
these fabulous creatures, the origin of which has been traced by some
to waterspouts. See No. LXXXI., note 84.
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[332] “Boat-men” is the solution of the last two lines of the enigma.
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[333] The commentator actually supplies a list of the persons who
signed a congratulatory petition to the Viceroy on the arrest and
punishment of the criminals.
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[334] When the soul of the Emperor T‘ai Tsung of the T‘ang dynasty was
in the infernal regions, it promised to send Yen-lo (the Chinese
Yama or Pluto) a melon; and when His Majesty recovered from the
trance into which he had been plunged, he gave orders that his promise
was to be fulfilled. Just then a man, named Liu Ch‘üan, observed a
priest with a hairpin belonging to his wife, and misconstruing the
manner in which possession of it had been obtained, abused his wife so
severely that she committed suicide. Liu Ch‘üan himself then
determined to follow her example, and convey the melon to Yen-lo; for
which act he was subsequently deified. See the Hsi-yu-chi, Section
XI.
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[335] As the Chinese believe that their disembodied spirits proceed to
a world organised on much the same model as the one they know, so do
they think that there will be social distinctions of rank and
emolument proportioned to the merits of each.
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[336] A dying man is almost always moved into his coffin to die; and
aged persons frequently take to sleeping regularly in the coffins
provided against the inevitable hour by the pious thoughtfulness of a
loving son. Even in middle life Chinese like to see their coffins
ready for them, and store them sometimes on their own premises,
sometimes in the outhouses of a neighbouring temple.
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[337] See No. LXXIII., note 62.
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[338] The Chinese distinguish sixteen vital spots on the front of the
body and six on the back, with thirty-six and twenty non-vital spots
in similar positions, respectively. They allow, however, that a severe
blow on a non-vital spot might cause death, and vice versâ.
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[339] Certain classes of soothsayers are believed by the Chinese to be
possessed by foxes, which animals have the power of looking into the
future, &c., &c.
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[340] The Yü Li or Divine Panorama.
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[341] The Divine Ruler, immediately below God himself.
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[342] See No. XXVI., note 182.
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[343] See Author’s Own Record (in Introduction), note 28.
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[344] The three worst of the Six Paths.
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[345] That the state of one life is the result of behaviour in a
previous existence.
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[346] Lit.—the skin purse (of his bones).
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[347] Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.
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[348] Violent deaths are regarded with horror by the Chinese. They
hold that a truly virtuous man always dies either of illness or old
age.
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[349] Good people go to Purgatory in the flesh, and are at once passed
up to Heaven without suffering any torture, or are sent back to earth
again.
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[350] The Supreme Ruler.
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[351] See No. I., note 36.
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[352] Supposed to be the gate of the Infernal Regions.
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[353] Hades.
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[354] Literally, “ten armfuls.”
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[355] To Heaven, Earth, sovereign, and relatives.
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[356] Held to be a great relief to the spirits of the dead.
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[357] It is commonly believed that if the spirit of a murdered man can
secure the violent death of some other person he returns to earth
again as if nothing had happened, the spirit of his victim passing
into the world below and suffering all the misery of a disembodied
soul in his stead. See No. XLV., note 267.
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[358] A very common trick in China. The drunken bully Lu Ta in the
celebrated novel Shui-hu saved himself by these means, and I have
heard that the Mandarin who in the war of 1842 spent a large sum in
constructing a paddle-wheel steamer to be worked by men, hoping
thereby to match the wheel-ships of the Outer Barbarians, is now
expiating his failure at a monastery in Fukien. Apropos of which, it
may not be generally known that at this moment there are small
paddle-wheel boats for Chinese passengers, plying up and down the
Canton river, the wheels of which are turned by gangs of coolies who
perform a movement precisely similar to that required on the
treadmill.
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[359] In order that their marriage destiny may not be interfered with.
It is considered disgraceful not to accept the ransom of a slave girl
of 15 or 16 years of age. See No. XXVI., note 185.
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[360] The soil of China belongs, every inch of it, to the Emperor.
Consequently, the people owe him a debt of gratitude for permitting
them to live upon it.
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[361] Do their duty as men and women.
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[362] A Chinaman may have three kinds of fathers; (1) his real father,
(2) an adopted father, such as an uncle without children to whom he
has been given as heir, and (3) the man his widowed mother may marry.
The first two are to all intents and purposes equal; the third is
entitled only to one year’s mourning instead of the usual three.
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