[122] Which, well cooked, are a very good substitute for asparagus.
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[123] See note 115 to the last story.
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[124] Such as are from time to time bestowed upon virtuous widows and
wives, filial sons and daughters, and others. These consist of some
laudatory scroll or tablet, and are much prized by the family of the
recipient.
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[125] See note 119 to last story.
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[126] Probably the Illicium religiosum is meant.
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[127] See No. XII., note 87.
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[128] The common application of the term “same-year-men,” is to
persons who have graduated at the same time.
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[129] This is by no means an uncommon form of charity. During the
temporary distress at Canton, in the summer of 1877, large tubs of
gruel were to be seen standing at convenient points, ready for any
poor person who might wish to stay his hunger. It is thus, and by
similar acts of benevolence, such as building bridges, repairing
roads, etc., etc., that the wealthy Chinaman strives to maintain an
advantageous balance in his record of good and evil.
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[130] It may be necessary here to remind the reader that Chan’s spirit
is speaking from Chu’s body.
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[131] We shall come by and by to a story illustrative of this
extraordinary belief.
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[132] The summum bonum of many a Chinese woman.
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[133] Chinese silver, called sycee (from the Cantonese sai see “fine
silk;” because, if pure, it may be drawn out under the application of
heat into fine silk threads), is cast in the form of “shoes,” weighing
from one to one hundred ounces. Paper imitations of these are burnt
for the use of the spirits in the world below. The sharp edges of a
“shoe” of sycee are caused by the mould containing the molten silver
being gently shaken until the metal has set, with a view to secure
uniform fineness throughout the lump.
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[134] Death is regarded as a summons from the authorities of
Purgatory; lictors are sent to arrest the doomed man, armed with a
written warrant similar to those issued on earth from a magistrate’s
yamên.
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[135] The Milky Way is known to the Chinese under this
name—unquestionably a more poetical one than our own.
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[136] See No. XIII., note 90.
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[137] That is, of the Taoists. See No. IV., note 46.
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[138] Predestination after the event is, luckily for China, the form
of this superstition which really appeals to her all-practical
children. Not a larger percentage than with ourselves allow belief in
an irremediable destiny to divert their efforts one moment from the
object in view; though thousands upon thousands are ready enough to
acknowledge the “will of heaven” in any national or individual
calamities that may befall. See No. IX., note 69.
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[139] Any disembodied spirit whose conduct for a certain term of years
is quite satisfactory is competent to obtain this reward. Thus,
instead of being born again on earth, perhaps as an animal, they
become angels or good spirits, and live for ever in heaven in a state
of supreme beatitude.
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[140] Our author occasionally ends up with a remark of this kind; and
these have undoubtedly had their weight with his too credulous
countrymen.
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[141] A.D. 1682.
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[142] The usual occupation of poor scholars who are ashamed to go into
trade, and who have not enterprise enough to start as doctors or
fortune-tellers. Besides painting pictures and fans, and illustrating
books, these men write fancy scrolls in the various ornamental styles
so much prized by the Chinese; they keep accounts for people, and
write or read business and private letters for the illiterate masses.
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[143] Kuan Chung and Pao Shu are the Chinese types of friendship. They
were two statesmen of considerable ability, who flourished in the
seventh century B.C.
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[144] Say about £10. See No. II., note 42.
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[145] The term constantly employed by Confucius to denote the man of
perfect probity, learning, and refinement. The nearest, if not an
exact, translation would be “gentleman.”
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[146] Literally, “a young lady whose beauty would overthrow a
kingdom,” in allusion to an old story which it is not necessary to
reproduce here.
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[147] The Lady of the Moon. See No. V., note 49.
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[148] See No. VIII., note 64.
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[149] Miss Lien-hsiang was here speaking without book, as will be seen
in a story later on.
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[150] The female principle. In a properly-constituted human being the
male and female principles are harmoniously combined. Nothing short of
a small volume would place this subject, the basis of Chinese
metaphysics, in a clear light before the uninitiated reader. Broadly
speaking, the yin and the yang are the two primeval forces from
the interaction of which all things have been evolved.
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[152] “From time immemorial, the Chinese have employed a combination of two sets of characters, numbering ten and twelve respectively, to form a cycle of sixty terms for the purpose of chronological notation. The period at which this cycle was invented is a subject upon which complete uncertainty prevails, but there is little doubt that it first came into use as a method of reckoning years after the reform of the calendar in B.C. 104.”—Mayers’ Reader’s Manual.
The birthday on which any person completes his cycle is considered a
very auspicious occasion. The second emperor of the present dynasty,
K‘ang Hsi, completed a cycle in his reign, with one year to spare;
and his grandson, Ch‘ien Lung (or Kien Lung) fell short of this only
by a single year, dying in the same cyclical period as that in which
he had ascended the throne.
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[153] Bride and bridegroom drink wine together out of two cups joined
by a red string, typical of that imaginary bond which is believed to
unite the destinies of husband and wife long before they have set eyes
on each other. Popular tradition assigns to an old man who lives in
the moon the arrangement of all matches among mortals; hence the
common Chinese expression, “Marriages are made in the moon.”
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[154] The bill of sale always handed to the purchaser of a child in China, as a proof that the child is his bonâ fide property and has not been kidnapped, is by a pleasant fiction called a “deed of gift,” the amount paid over to the seller being therein denominated “ginger and vinegar money,” or compensation for the expense of rearing and educating up to the date of sale. This phrase originates from the fact that a dose of ginger and vinegar is administered to every Chinese woman immediately after the delivery of her child.
We may here add that the value of male children to those who have no
heirs, and of female children to those who want servants, has fostered
a regular kidnapping trade, which is carried on with great activity in
some parts of China, albeit the penalty on discovery is instant
decapitation. Some years ago I was present in the streets of Tientsin
when a kidnapper was seized by the infuriated mob, and within two
hours I heard that the man had been summarily executed.
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[155] The power of recalling events which have occurred in a previous
life will be enlarged upon in several stories to come.
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[156] There is nothing in China like an aristocracy of birth. Any man
may raise himself from the lowest level to the highest; and as long as
he and his family keep themselves there, they may be considered
aristocratic. Wealth has nothing to do with the question; official
rank and literary tastes, separate or combined, these constitute a
man’s title to the esteem of his fellows. Trade is looked upon as
ignoble and debasing; and friendly intercourse between merchants and
officials, the two great social divisions, is so rare as to be almost
unknown.
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[157] The medium, without whose good offices no marriage can be arranged. Generally, but not always, a woman.
This system of go-betweens is not confined to matrimonial engagements.
No servant ever offers himself for a place; he invariably employs some
one to introduce him. So also in mercantile transactions the broker
almost invariably appears upon the scene.
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[158] See No. II., note 41.
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[159] The so-called “golden lilies” always come in for a large share
of criticism. See No. XII., note 86. This term originated with an
emperor who reigned in the fifth century, when, in ecstasies at the
graceful dancing of a concubine upon a stage ornamented with lilies,
he cried out, “Every footstep makes a lily grow.”
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[160] A common custom; e.g. in the case of a little child lying
dangerously ill, its mother will go outside the door into the garden
or field, and call out its name several times, in the hope of bringing
back the wandering spirit.
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[161] This process must be regularly gone through night and morning,
otherwise the bandages become loose, and the gait of the walker
unsteady.
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[162] I have explained before that any great disparity of means is
considered an obstacle to a matrimonial alliance between two families.
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[163] This is a not unusual arrangement in cases where there are other
sons in the bridegroom’s family, but none in that of the bride’s,
especially if the advantage of wealth is on the side of the latter.
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[164] Such is the Chinese rule, adopted simply with a view to the
preservation of harmony.
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[165] They are supposed never to see each other before the
wedding-day; but, after careful investigation of the subject, I have
come to the conclusion that certainly in seven cases out of ten, the
intended bridegroom secretly procures a sight of his future wife. I am
now speaking of the higher classes; among the poor, both sexes mix
almost as freely as with us.
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[166] This would still be considered a creditable act on the part of a
Chinese widow. It is, however, of exceedingly rare occurrence.
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[167] Being nearly dead from hanging.
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[168] This is occasionally done, great influence or a heavy bribe
being brought to bear upon the Examiners, of whom there are only two
for the Master’s degree, and the second of these, or
Assistant-Examiner, holds but a subordinate position. See Appendix
A, and No. LXXV., note 426.
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[169] Admission to the Han-lin, or Chinese National Academy, is the
highest honour obtainable by a scholar. Its members are employed in
drawing up Government documents, histories, etc.
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[170] Besides the numerous secret societies so much dreaded by the
Government, membership of which is punishable by death, very intimate
friends are in the habit of adopting each other as sworn brothers,
bound to stand by one another in cases of danger and difficulty, to
the last drop of blood. The bond is cemented by an oath, accompanied
by such ceremonies as fancy may at the moment dictate. The most
curious of all, however, are the so-called “Golden Orchid” societies,
the members of which are young girls, who have sworn never to enter
into the matrimonial state. To such an extent have these sisterhoods
spread in the Kuang-tung Province, that the authorities have been
compelled to prohibit them under severe penalties.
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[171] A Chinaman loves to be buried alongside of his ancestors, and
poor families are often put to great straits to pay this last tribute
of respect and affection to the deceased. At all large cities are to
be found temporary burial grounds, where the bodies of strangers are
deposited until their relatives can come to carry them away. Large
freights of dead bodies are annually brought back to China from
California, Queensland, and other parts to which the Chinese are in
the habit of emigrating, to the great profit of the steamer-companies
concerned. Coffins are also used as a means of smuggling, respect for
the dead being so great that they are only opened under the very
strongest suspicion.
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[172] See No. XIV., note 104. The price of an elaborate Chinese coffin
goes as high as £100 or £150.
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[173] The never-failing resource of an impecunious Chinaman who has
any property whatever bearing an exchange value. The pawn-shop proper
is a licensed institution, where three per cent. per month is
charged on all loans, all pledges being redeemable within sixteen
months. It is generally a very high brick structure, towering far
above the surrounding houses, with the deposits neatly packed up in
paper and arranged on the shelves of a huge wooden skeleton-like
frame, that completely fills the interior of the building, on the top
of which are ranged buckets of water in case of fire, and a quantity
of huge stones to throw down on any thieves who may be daring enough
to attempt to scale the wall. [In Peking, houses are not allowed to be
built above a certain height, as during the long summer months ladies
are in the habit of sitting to spin or sew in their courtyards, very
lightly clad.] Pawning goods in China is not held to be so disgraceful
as with us; in fact, most people, at the beginning of the hot weather,
pawn their furs and winter clothes, these being so much more carefully
looked after there than they might be at home.
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[174] Nominally of three years’—really of twenty-eight
months’—duration.
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[175] These are entitled to receive from Government a small allowance
of rice, besides being permitted to exercise certain petty functions,
for which a certain charge is authorized. See Appendix A.
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[176] One of the strangers was the disembodied spirit of Hsiu’s
father, helping his son to take vengeance on the wicked Shên.
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[177] An intermediate step between the first and second degrees, to
which certain privileges are attached.
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[178] A.D. 1400
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[179] The first of the sixteen maxims which form the so-called Sacred
Edict, embodies these two all-important family ties. The doctrine of
primogeniture is carried so far in China as to put every younger
brother in a subordinate position to every elder brother. All
property, however, of whatever kind, is equally divided among the
sons. [The Sacred Edict was delivered by the great Emperor K‘ang Hsi,
and should be publicly read and explained in every city of the Empire
on the first and fifteenth of each month.]
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[180] Ordinary devils being unable to stand for any length of time the
light and life of the upper world, the souls of certain persons are
often temporarily employed in this work by the authorities of
Purgatory, their bodies remaining meanwhile in a trance or cataleptic
fit.
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[181] Their family name.
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[182] The Chinese corrupted form of Bodhisatva. Now widely employed to
designate any deity of any kind.
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[183] The usual similitude for a Chinese tatterdemalion.
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[184] The surnames Chang, Wang, and Li, correspond in China to our
Brown, Jones, and Robinson.
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[185] Slavery, under a modified form, exists in China at the present
day. All parents, having absolute power over their children, are at
liberty to sell them as servants or slaves to their wealthier
neighbours. This is not an infrequent occurrence in times of distress,
the children even going so far as to voluntarily sell themselves, and
exposing themselves in some public thoroughfare, with a notice affixed
to a kind of arrow on their backs, stating that they are for sale, and
the amount required from the purchaser. This I have seen with my own
eyes. The chief source, however, from which the supply of slaves is
kept up is kidnapping. [See No. XXIII., note 154.] As to the condition
of the slaves themselves, it is by no means an unhappy one. Their
master has nominally the power of life and death over them, but no
Chinaman would ever dream of availing himself of this dangerous
prerogative. They are generally well fed, and fairly well clothed,
being rarely beaten, for fear they should run away, and either be lost
altogether or entail much expense to secure their capture. The girls
do not have their feet compressed; hence they are infinitely more
useful than small-footed women; and, on reaching a marriageable age,
their masters are bound to provide them with husbands. They live on
terms of easy familiarity with the whole household; and, ignorant of
the meaning and value of liberty, seem quite contented with a lot
which places them beyond the reach of hunger and cold. Slaves take the
surnames of their masters, and the children of slaves are likewise
slaves. Manumission is not uncommon; and Chinese history furnishes
more than one example of a quondam slave attaining to the highest
offices of State.
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[186] No Chinese wine-party is complete without more or less amusement
of a literary character. Capping verses, composing impromptu odes on
persons or places, giving historical and mythological allusions, are
among the ordinary diversions of this kind.
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[187] The Chinese night lasts from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., and is divided
into five watches of two hours each, which are subdivided into five
“beats” of the watchman’s wooden tom-tom.
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[188] The rôles of women are always played in China by men, dressed
up so perfectly, small feet and all, as to be quite undistinguishable
from real women.
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