Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Vol. 1 (of 2)-10
Ching Hsing, of Wên-têng, was a young fellow of
some literary reputation, who lived next door to a Mr.
Ch‘ên, their studios being separated only by a low wall.
One evening Ch‘ên was crossing a piece of waste ground
when he heard a young girl crying among some pine-trees
hard by. He approached, and saw a girdle hanging
from one of the branches, as if its owner was just
on the point of hanging herself. Ch‘ên asked her
what was the matter, and then she brushed away her
tears, and said, “My mother has gone away and left
me in charge of my brother-in-law; but he’s a scamp,
and won’t continue to take care of me; and now there
is nothing left for me but to die.” Hereupon the girl
began crying again, and Ch‘ên untied the girdle and
bade her go and find herself a husband; to which she
said there was very little chance of that; and then
Ch‘ên offered to take her to his own home—an offer
which she very gladly accepted. Soon after they
arrived, his neighbour Ching thought he heard a
noise, and jumped over the wall to have a peep, when
lo and behold! at the door of Ch‘ên’s house stood
this young lady, who immediately ran away into the
garden on seeing Ching. The two young men pursued
her, but without success, and were obliged to return
each to his own room, Ching being greatly astonished
to find the same girl now standing at his door. On
addressing the young lady, she told him that his neighbour’s
destiny was too poor a one for her,[344] and that she
came from Shantung, and that her name was Ch‘i
A-hsia. She finally agreed to take up her residence
with Ching; but after a few days, finding that a great
number of his friends were constantly calling, she
declared it was too noisy a place for her, and that she
would only visit him in the evening. This she continued
to do for a few days, telling him in reply to his
inquiries that her home was not very far off. One
evening, however, she remarked that their present liaison
was not very creditable to either; that her father was a
mandarin on the western frontier, and that she was
about to set out with her mother to join him; begging
him meanwhile to make a formal request for the celebration
of their nuptials, in order to prevent them from
being thus separated. She further said that they started
in ten days or so, and then Ching began to reflect that
if he married her she would have to take her place in the
family, and that would make his first wife jealous; so
he determined to get rid of the latter, and when she
came in he began to abuse her right and left. His wife
bore it as long as she could, but at length cried out it
were better she should die; upon which Ching advised
her not to bring trouble on them all like that, but to go
back to her own home. He then drove her away, his
wife asking all the time what she had done to be sent
away like this after ten years of blameless life with
him.[345] Ching, however, paid no heed to her entreaties,
and when he had got rid of her he set to work at once
to get the house whitewashed and made generally clean,
himself being on the tip-toe of expectation for the
arrival of Miss A-hsia. But he waited and waited, and
no A-hsia came; she seemed gone like a stone dropped
into the sea. Meanwhile emissaries came from his late
wife’s family begging him to take her back; and when
he flatly refused, she married a gentleman of position
named Hsia, whose property adjoined Ching’s, and who
had long been at feud with him in consequence, as is
usual in such cases. This made Ching furious, but he
still hoped that A-hsia would come, and tried to console
himself in this way. Yet more than a year passed
away and still no signs of her, until one day, at the
festival of the Sea Spirits, he saw among the crowds of
girls passing in and out one who very much resembled
A-hsia. Ching moved towards her, following her as she
threaded her way through the crowd as far as the temple
gate, where he lost sight of her altogether, to his great
mortification and regret. Another six months passed
away, when one day he met a young lady dressed in
red, accompanied by an old man-servant, and riding on
a black mule. It was A-hsia. So he asked the old
man the name of his young mistress, and learnt from
him that she was the second wife of a gentleman named
Chêng, having been married to him about a fortnight
previously. Ching now thought she could not be A-hsia,
but just then the young lady, hearing them talking,
turned her head, and Ching saw that he was right.
And now, finding that she had actually married another
man, he was overwhelmed with rage, and cried out in a
loud voice, “A-hsia! A-hsia! why did you break
faith?” The servant here objected to his mistress
being thus addressed by a stranger, and was squaring
up to Ching, when A-hsia bade him desist; and, raising
her veil, replied, “And you, faithless one, how do you
dare meet my gaze?” “You are the faithless one,”
said Ching, “not I.” “To be faithless to your wife is
worse than being faithless to me,” rejoined A-hsia; “if
you behaved like that to her, how should I have been
treated at your hands? Because of the fair fame of
your ancestors, and the honours gained by them, I was
willing to ally myself with you; but now that you have
discarded your wife, your thread of official advancement
has been cut short in the realms below, and Mr. Ch‘ên is
to take the place that should have been yours at the head
of the examination list. As for myself, I am now part of
the Chêng family; think no more of me.” Ching hung
his head and could make no reply; and A-hsia whipped
up her mule and disappeared from his sight, leaving him
to return home disconsolate. At the forthcoming examination,
everything turned out as she had predicted;
Mr. Ch‘ên was at the top of the list, and he himself
was thrown out. It was clear that his luck was gone.
At forty he had no wife, and was so poor that he was
glad to pick up a meal where he could. One day he
called on Mr. Chêng, who treated him well and kept
him there for the night; and while there Chêng’s second
wife saw him, and asked her husband if his guest’s name
wasn’t Ching. “It is,” said he, “how could you guess
that?” “Well,” replied she, “before I married you, I
took refuge in his house, and he was then very kind to
me. Although he has now sunk low, yet his ancestors’
influence on the family fortunes is not yet exhausted;[346]
besides he is an old acquaintance of yours, and you
should try and do something for him.” Chêng consented,
and having first given him a new suit of clothes,
kept him in the house several days. At night a slave-girl
came to him with twenty ounces of silver for him,
and Mrs. Chêng, who was outside the window, said,
“This is a trifling return for your past kindness to me.
Go and get yourself a good wife. The family luck is
not yet exhausted, but will descend to your sons and
grandchildren. Do not behave like this again, and so
shorten your term of life.” Ching thanked her and
went home, using ten ounces of silver to procure a
concubine from a neighbouring family, who was very
ugly and ill-tempered. However, she bore him a son,
and he by-and-by graduated as doctor. Mr. Chêng
became Vice-President of the Board of Civil Office,[347]
and at his death A-hsia attended the funeral; but when
they opened her chair on its return home, she was gone,
and then people knew for the first time that she was not
mortal flesh and blood. Alas! for the perversity of
mankind, rejecting the old and craving for the new?[348]
And then when they come back to the familiar nest, the
birds have all flown. Thus does heaven punish such
people.
A certain labourer’s son, named Ma T‘ien-jung, lost
his wife when he was only about twenty years of age, and
was too poor to take another. One day when out hoeing
in the fields, he beheld a nice-looking young lady leave
the path and come tripping across the furrows towards
him. Her face was well painted,[349] and she had altogether
such a refined look that Ma concluded she must have
lost her way, and began to make some playful remarks
in consequence. “You go along home,” cried the
young lady, “and I’ll be with you by-and-by.” Ma
doubted this rather extraordinary promise, but she
vowed and declared she would not break her word;
and then Ma went off, telling her that his front door
faced the north, etc., etc. In the evening the young
lady arrived, and then Ma saw that her hands and face
were covered with fine hair, which made him suspect at
once she was a fox. She did not deny the accusation;
and accordingly Ma said to her, “If you really are one
of those wonderful creatures you will be able to get me
anything I want; and I should be much obliged if you
would begin by giving me some money to relieve my
poverty.” The young lady said she would; and next
evening when she came again, Ma asked her where the
money was. “Dear me!” replied she, “I quite forgot
it.” When she was going away, Ma reminded her of
what he wanted, but on the following evening she made
precisely the same excuse, promising to bring it another
day. A few nights afterwards Ma asked her once more
for the money, and then she drew from her sleeve two
pieces of silver, each weighing about five or six ounces.
They were both of fine quality, with turned-up edges,[350]
and Ma was very pleased and stored them away in a
cupboard. Some months after this, he happened to
require some money for use, and took out these pieces;
but the person to whom he showed them said they were
only pewter, and easily bit off a portion of one of them
with his teeth. Ma was much alarmed, and put the
pieces away directly; taking the opportunity when
evening came of abusing the young lady roundly.
“It’s all your bad luck,” retorted she; “real gold
would be too much for your inferior destiny.”[351] There
was an end of that; but Ma went on to say, “I
always heard that fox-girls were of surpassing beauty;
how is it you are not?” “Oh,” replied the young lady,
“we always adapt ourselves to our company. Now you
haven’t the luck of an ounce of silver to call your
own; and what would you do, for instance, with a
beautiful princess?[352] My beauty may not be good
enough for the aristocracy; but among your big-footed,
burden-carrying rustics,[353] why it may safely be called
‘surpassing.’”
A few months passed away, and then one day the
young lady came and gave Ma three ounces of silver,
saying, “You have often asked me for money, but in
consequence of your weak luck I have always refrained
from giving you any. Now, however, your marriage is
at hand, and I here give you the cost of a wife, which
you may also regard as a parting gift from me.” Ma
replied that he wasn’t engaged, to which the young lady
answered that in a few days a go-between would visit
him to arrange the affair. “And what will she be
like?” asked Ma. “Why, as your aspirations are for
‘surpassing’ beauty,” replied the young lady, “of
course she will be possessed of surpassing beauty.”
“I hardly expect that,” said Ma; “at any rate three
ounces of silver will not be enough to get a wife.”
“Marriages,” explained the young lady, “are made in
the moon;[354] mortals have nothing to do with them.”
“And why must you be going away like this?” inquired
Ma. “Because,” answered she, “we go on
shilly-shallying from day to day, and month to month,
and nothing ever comes of it. I had better get you
another wife and have done with you.” Then when
morning came, she departed, giving Ma a pinch of
yellow powder, saying, “In case you are ill after we
are separated, this will cure you.” Next day, sure
enough, a go-between did come, and Ma at once asked
what the proposed bride was like; to which the former
replied that she was very passable-looking. Four or
five ounces of silver was fixed as the marriage present,
Ma making no difficulty on that score, but declaring
he must have a peep at the young lady.[355] The
go-between said she was a respectable girl, and would
never allow herself to be seen; however it was arranged
that they should go to the house together, and await
a good opportunity. So off they went, Ma remaining
outside while the go-between went in, returning in a
little while to tell him it was all right. “A relative
of mine lives in the same court, and just now I saw
the young lady sitting in the hall. We have only got
to pretend we are going to see my relative, and you
will be able to get a glimpse of her.” Ma consented,
and they accordingly passed through the hall, where he
saw the young lady sitting down with her head bent
forward while some one was scratching her back. She
seemed to be all that the go-between had said; but
when they came to discuss the money, it appeared the
young lady only wanted one or two ounces of silver,
just to buy herself a few clothes, etc., at which Ma was
delighted, and gave the go-between a present for her
trouble, which just finished up the three ounces his
fox-friend had provided. An auspicious day was chosen,
and the young lady came over to his house; when lo!
she was hump-backed and pigeon-breasted, with a short
neck like a tortoise, and boat-shaped feet, full ten inches
long. The meaning of his fox-friend’s remarks then
flashed upon him.
END OF VOL. I.
THOS. DE LA RUE AND CO., PRINTERS, BUNHILL ROW, LONDON.
FOOTNOTES
[1] “How can a statement as to customs, myths, beliefs, &c., of a
savage tribe, be treated as evidence, where it depends on the
testimony of some traveller or missionary, who may be a superficial
observer, more or less ignorant of the native language, a careless
retailer of unsifted talk, a man prejudiced or even wilfully
deceitful?”—Tylor’s Primitive Culture, Vol. I., p. 9.
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[2] Said of the bogies of the hills, in allusion to their clothes.
Here quoted with reference to the official classes, in ridicule of the
title under which they hold posts which, from a literary point of
view, they are totally unfit to occupy.
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[3] A celebrated statesman (B.C. 314) who, having lost his master’s
favour by the intrigues of a rival, finally drowned himself in
despair. The Annual Dragon Festival is said by some to be a “search”
for his body.
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[4] A poem addressed by San-lü to his Prince, after his disgrace. Its
non-success was the immediate cause of his death.
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[5] That is, of the supernatural generally.
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[6] A poet of the T‘ang Dynasty whose eyebrows met, whose nails were
very long, and who could write very fast.
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[7] “You know the music of earth,” said the Taoist sage,
Chuang-tzŭ; “but you have not heard the music of heaven.”
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[8] That is, to the operation of some influence surviving from a
previous existence.
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[9] This is another hit at the ruling classes. Chi K‘ang, a celebrated
musician and alchemist (A.D. 223–262), was sitting one night alone,
playing upon his lute, when suddenly a man with a tiny face walked in,
and began to stare hard at him, the stranger’s face enlarging all the
time. “I’m not going to match myself against a devil!” cried the
musician, after a few moments, and instantly blew out the light.
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[10] When Liu Chüan, Governor of Wu-ling, determined to relieve his
poverty by trade, he saw a devil standing by his side, laughing and
rubbing his hands for glee. “Poverty and wealth are matters of
destiny,” said Liu Chüan; “But to be laughed at by a devil——,” and
accordingly he desisted from his intention.
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[11] A writer who flourished in the early part of the fourth century,
and composed a work in thirty books entitled Supernatural
Researches.
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[12] The famous poet, statesman, and essayist, who flourished A.D.
1036–1101.
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[13] “And his friends had the habit of jotting down for his unfailing
delight anything quaint or comic that they came across.”—The World
on Charles Dickens: 24th July 1878.
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[14] It is related in the Historical Record that when T‘ai Po and Yü
Chung visited the southern savages they saw men with tattooed bodies
and short hair.
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[15] A fabulous community, placed by geographers to the west of the
Dragon city—wherever that may be. So called because the heads of the
men are in the habit of leaving their bodies, and flying down to
marshy places to feed on worms and crabs. A red ring is seen the night
before the flight encircling the neck of the man whose head is about
to fly. At daylight the head returns.
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[16] A quotation from the admired works of Wang Po, a brilliant
scholar and poet, who was drowned at the early age of twenty-eight,
A.D. 675.
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[17] I have hitherto failed in all attempts to identify this
quotation.
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[18] The cross-road of the “Five Fathers” is here mentioned, which the
commentator tells us is merely the name of the place.
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[19] The past, present, and future life, of the Buddhist system of
metempsychosis.
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[20] A certain man, who was staying at a temple, dreamt that an old
priest appeared to him beneath a jade-stone cliff, and, pointing to a
stick of burning incense, said to him, “That incense represents a vow
to be fulfilled; but I say unto you, that ere its smoke shall have
curled away, your three states of existence will have been already
accomplished.” The meaning is that time on earth is as nothing to the
Gods.
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[21] This remark occurs in the fifteenth of the Confucian Gospels,
section 22.
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[22] The birth of a boy was formerly signalled by hanging a bow at the
door; that of a girl, by displaying a small towel—indicative of the
parts that each would hereafter play in the drama of life.
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[23] See note 42 to No. II.
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[24] Literally, “ploughing with my pen.”
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[25] The patra or bowl, used by Buddhist mendicants, in imitation of
the celebrated alms-dish of Shâkyamuni Buddha.
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[26] Literally, “scratched my head,” as is often done by the Chinese
in perplexity or doubt.
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[27] Alluding to the priest Dharma-nandi, who came from India to
China, and tried to convert the Emperor Wu Ti of the Liang Dynasty;
but, failing in his attempt, he retired full of mortification to a
temple at Sung-shan, where he sat for nine years before a rock, until
his own image was imprinted thereon.
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[28] The six gâti or conditions of existence, namely: angels, men,
demons, hungry devils, brute beasts, and tortured sinners.
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[29] Literally, “putting together the pieces under the forelegs (of
foxes) to make robes.” This part of the fox-skin is the most valuable
for making fur clothes.
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[30] The work of a well-known writer, named Lin I-ch‘ing, who
flourished during the Sung Dynasty.
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[31] Alluding to an essay by Han Fei, a philosopher of the third
century B.C., in which he laments the iniquity of the age in general,
and the corruption of officials in particular. He finally committed
suicide in prison, where he had been cast by the intrigues of a rival
minister.
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[32] Confucius (Gospel xiv., sec. 37) said, “Alas! there is no one
who knows me (to be what I am).”
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[33] The great poet Tu Fu (A.D. 712–770) dreamt that his greater
predecessor, Li T‘ai-po (A.D. 699–762) appeared to him, “coming when
the maple-grove was in darkness, and returning while the frontier-pass
was still obscured;”—that is, at night, when no one could see him;
the meaning being that he never came at all, and that those “who know
me (P‘u Sung-ling)” are equally non-existent.
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[34] “Thus, since countless things exist that the senses can take
account of, it is evident that nothing exists that the senses can
not take account of.”—The “Professor” in W. H. Mallock’s New Paul
and Virginia.
This passage recalls another curious classification by the great
Chinese philosopher Han Wên-kung. “There are some things which possess
form but are devoid of sound, as for instance jade and stones; others
have sound but are without form, such as wind and thunder; others
again have both form and sound, such as men and animals; and lastly,
there is a class devoid of both, namely, devils and spirits.”
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[35] I have never seen any of these works, but I believe they treat,
as implied by their titles, chiefly of the supernatural world.
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[36] The tutelar deity of every Chinese city.
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[37] That is, he had taken the first or bachelor’s degree. I shall not
hesitate to use strictly English equivalents for all kinds of Chinese
terms. The three degrees are literally, (1) Cultivated Talent, (2)
Raised Man, and (3) Promoted Scholar.
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[38] The official residence of a mandarin above a certain rank.
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[39] The Chinese Mars. A celebrated warrior, named Kuan Yü, who lived
about the beginning of the third century of our era. He was raised
after death to the rank of a God, and now plays a leading part in the
Chinese Pantheon.
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[40] Catalepsy, which is the explanation of many a story in this
collection, would appear to be of very common occurrence amongst the
Chinese. Such, however, is not the case; in which statement I am borne
out by my friend, Dr. Manson, of Amoy, who, after many years’ practice
among the natives of that port, and also of Formosa, informs me that
he has never even heard of a single instance of this strange
complaint.
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[41] One of the twenty-four solar terms. It falls on or about the 5th
of April, and is the special time for worshipping at the family tombs.
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[42] The common European name for the only Chinese coin, about twenty
of which go to a penny. Each has a square hole in the middle, for the
convenience of stringing them together; hence the expression “strings
of cash.”
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[43] The belief that the human eye contains a tiny being of the human
shape is universal in China. It originated, of course, from the
reflection of oneself that is seen on looking into the pupil of
anybody’s eye, or even, with the aid of a mirror, into one’s own.
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[44] Which will doubtless remind the reader of Alice through the
Looking-glass, and what she saw there.
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[45] The all-important item of a Chinese marriage ceremony; amounting,
in fact, to calling God to witness the contract.
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[46] That is, of the religion of Tao, or, as it is sometimes called,
Rationalism. It was founded some six centuries before the Christian
era by a man named Lao-tzŭ, “Old boy,” who was said to have been
born with white hair and a beard. Originally a pure system of
metaphysics, it is now but a shadow of its former self, and is
corrupted by the grossest forms of superstition borrowed from
Buddhism, which has in its turn adopted many of the forms and beliefs
of Taoism, so that the two religions are hardly distinguishable one
from the other.
“What seemed to me the most singular circumstance connected with the
matter, was the presence of half-a-dozen Taoist priests, who joined in
all the ceremonies, doing everything that the Buddhist priests did,
and presenting a very odd appearance, with their top-knots and cues,
among their closely shaven Buddhist brethren. It seemed strange that
the worship of Sakyamuni by celibate Buddhist priests, with shaved
heads, into which holes were duly burned at their initiation, should
be participated in by married Taoist priests, whose heads are not
wholly shaven, and have never been burned.”—Initiation of Buddhist
Priests at Kooshan, by S. L. B.
Taoist priests are credited with a knowledge of alchemy and the black
art in general.
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[47] A celibate priesthood belongs properly to Buddhism, and is not a
doctrine of the Taoist church.
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[48] The “angels” of Taoism—immortality in a happy land being the
reward held out for a life on earth in accordance with the doctrines
of Tao, for which, as Mr. Chalmers says, “three terms suggest
themselves—the Way, Reason, and the Word; but they are all liable
to objection.”
Taoist priests are believed by some to possess an elixir of
immortality in the form of a precious liquor; others again hold that
the elixir consists solely in a virtuous conduct of life.
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[49] The beautiful wife of a legendary chieftain, named Hou I, who
flourished about 2,500 B.C. She is said to have stolen from her
husband the elixir of immortality, and to have fled with it to the
moon.
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[50] The name of a celebrated pas seul of antiquity.
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[51] This form of sport may still be seen in the north of China. A
hare being started, two Chinese greyhounds (which are very slow) are
slipped from their leash in pursuit. But, as the hare would easily run
straight away from them, a falcon is released almost simultaneously.
The latter soars to a considerable height, and then swoops down on the
hare, striking it a violent blow with the “pounce,” or claw. This
partially stuns the hare, and allows the dogs to regain lost ground,
by which time the hare is ready once more, and off they go again. The
chase is ended by the hare getting to earth in a fox’s burrow, or
being ultimately overtaken by the dogs. In the latter case the heart
and liver are cut out on the spot, and given to the falcon; otherwise
he would hunt no more that day. Two falcons are often released, one
shortly after the other. They wear hoods, which are removed at the
moment of flying, and are attached by a slip-string from one leg to
the falconer’s wrist. During the night previous to a day’s hunting,
they are not allowed to sleep. Each falconer lies down with one falcon
on his left wrist, and keeps up an incessant tapping with the other on
the bird’s head. This is done to make them fierce. Should the quarry
escape, a hare’s skin is thrown down, by which means the falcons are
secured, and made ready for a further flight. Occasionally, but
rarely, the falcon misses its blow at the hare, with the result of a
broken or injured “arm.”
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[52] Abstinence from wine and meat, and celibacy, are among the most
important dogmas of the Buddhist church, as specially applied to its
priesthood. At the door of every Buddhist monastery may be seen a
notice that “No wine or meat may enter here!” Even the laity are not
supposed to drink wine.
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[53] Having renewed his youth by assuming the body of the young man
into which his soul had entered.
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[54] One of the “Six Boards” at the capital, equivalent to our own War
Office, Board of Works, etc.
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[55] The Chinese names for two stars: βγ Aquila and α Lyra.
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[56] Lanterns very prettily made to resemble all kinds of flowers are
to be seen at the Chinese New Year.
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[57] This is, as with us, obligatory on all friends invited to a
marriage.
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[58] The accompaniment of all weddings and funerals in China.
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[59] The soberest people in the world, amongst whom anything like
sottishness is comparatively unknown, think it no disgrace, but rather
complimentary, to get pleasantly tipsy on all festive occasions; and
people who are physically unable to do so, frequently go so far as to
hire substitutes to drink for them. Mandarins especially suffer very
much from the custom of being obliged to “take wine” with a large
number of guests. For further on this subject, see No. LIV., note 292.
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[60] The wedding-party was, of course, composed entirely of foxes;
this animal being believed by the Chinese to be capable of appearing
at will under the human form, and of doing either good or evil to its
friends or foes. These facts will be prominently brought out in
several of the stories to follow.
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[61] Lineal descendants of Confucius are to be found at this day near
their founder’s mausoleum in Shantung. The head of the family is a
hereditary kung or “duke,” and each member enjoys a share of the
revenues with which the family has been endowed, in well-merited
recognition of the undying influence of China’s greatest sage.
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[62] More or less proficiency in the art of poetry is an absolutely
essential qualification for all who present themselves at the great
competitive tests by which successful candidates are admitted to
Chinese official life. [See .] The following anecdote is
given by the London correspondent of the Leeds Mercury:—
“The new Chinese ambassador in this country is a man of considerable
literary ability, and perhaps one of the few diplomatists since the
days of Matthew Prior (Lord Lytton alone excepted) who has achieved
distinction as a poet. Shortly after his arrival in this country, he
expressed a wish to become acquainted with the principal English
poets, and as Mr. Browning is more accessible and more a man of the
world than the Poet Laureate, an arrangement was made the other day by
which the two should be brought in contact with one another. After the
mutual courtesies, Mr. Browning having learnt that His Excellency was
also a poet, expressed a desire to know how much he had published.
“Only three or four volumes,” was the reply, through the interpreter.
“Then,” said Mr. Browning, “I am a greater offender than His
Excellency, and unequal to him in self-restraint. What kind of poetry
does His Excellency write: pastoral, humorous, epic or what?” There
was a pause for a short time. At length the interpreter said that His
Excellency thought his poetry would be better described as the
“enigmatic.” “Surely,” replied Mr. Browning, “there ought then to be
the deepest sympathy between us, for that is just the criticism which
is brought against my own works; and I believe it to be a just one.””
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[63] One of the two celebrated but legendary rulers of China in the
golden ages of antiquity. Yao—who died B.C. 2258—nominated as his
successor a young and virtuous husbandman named Shun, giving him both
his daughters in marriage. At the death of Shun, these ladies are said
to have wept so much that their tears literally drenched the bamboos
which grew beside their husband’s grave; and the speckled bamboo is
now commonly known as the bamboo of Shun’s wives.
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[64] Volumes have been written by Chinese doctors on the subject of
the pulse. They profess to distinguish as many as twenty-four
different kinds, among which is one well known to our own
practitioners—namely, the “thready” pulse; they, moreover, make a
point of feeling the pulses of both wrists.
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[65] The Chinese believe that wicked people are struck by the God of
Thunder, and killed in punishment for some hidden crime. They regard
lightning merely as an arrangement by which the God is enabled to see
his victim.
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[66] Chinese “chess” is similar to, but not identical with, our game.
The board is divided by a river, and the king is confined to a small
square of moves on his own territory. The game par excellence in
China is wei-ch‘i, an account of which I contributed to the Temple
Bar Magazine for January, 1877.
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[67] The last emperor of the Ming dynasty. Began to reign A.D. 1628.
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[68] The trade of fortune-teller is one of the most flourishing in
China. A large majority of the candidates who are unsuccessful at the
public examinations devote their energies in this direction; and in
every Chinese city there are regular establishments whither the
superstitious people repair to consult the oracle on every imaginable
subject; not to mention hosts of itinerant soothsayers, both in town
and country, whose stock-in-trade consists of a trestle-table, pen,
ink, and paper, and a few other mysterious implements of their art.
The nature of the response, favourable or otherwise, is determined by
an inspection of the year, month, day and hour at which the applicant
was born, taken in combination with other particulars referring to the
question at issue.
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[69] A firm belief in predestination is an important characteristic of
the Chinese mind. “All is destiny” is a phrase daily in the mouth of
every man, woman, and child, in the empire. Confucius himself, we are
told, objected to discourse to his disciples upon this topic; but it
is evident from many passages in the Lun Yü, or Confucian Gospels,
[Book VI. ch. 8., Book XIV. ch. 38, &c.] that he believed in a certain
pre-arrangement of human affairs, against which all efforts would be
unavailing.
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[70] An appliance of very ancient date in China, now superseded by
cheap clocks and watches. A large clepsydra, consisting of four copper
jars standing on steps one above the other, is still, however, to be
seen in the city of Canton, and is in excellent working order, the
night-watches being determined by reference to its indicator in the
lower jar. By its aid, coils of “joss-stick,” or pastille, are
regulated to burn so many hours, and are sold to the poor, who use
them both for the purpose of guiding their extremely vague notions of
time, and for the oft-recurring tobacco-pipe.
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[71] “Paper men” are a source of great dread to the people at large.
During the year 1876 whole provinces were convulsed by the belief that
some such superstitious agency was at work to deprive innocent persons
of their tails; and the so-called “Pope” of the Taoist religion even
went so far as to publish a charm against the machinations of the
unseen. It ran as follows:—“Ye who urge filthy devils to spy out the
people!—the Master’s spirits are at hand and will soon discover you.
With this charm anyone may travel by sunlight, moonlight, or starlight
all over the earth.” At one time popular excitement ran so high that
serious consequences were anticipated; and the mandarins in the
affected districts found it quite as much as they could do to prevent
lynch-law being carried out on harmless strangers who were unlucky
enough to give rise to the slightest suspicion.
Taoist priests are generally credited with the power of cutting out
human, animal, or other figures, of infusing vitality into them on the
spot, and of employing them for purposes of good or evil.
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[72] Watchmen in China, when on their nightly rounds, keep up an
incessant beating on what, for want of a better term, we have called a
wooden gong. The object is to let thieves know they are awake and on
the look-out.
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[73] This is a characteristic touch. Only the most intimate of friends
ever see each other’s wives.
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[74] Where the women of the family live, and into which no stranger
ever penetrates. Among other names by which a Chinese husband speaks
of his wife, a very common one is “the inner [wo]man.”
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[75] Until which he would be safe, by virtue of his degree, from the
degrading penalty of the bamboo.
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[76] This is the instrument commonly used for flogging criminals in
China, and consists of a strip of split bamboo planed down smooth.
Strictly speaking there are two kinds, the heavy and the light;
the former is now hardly if ever used. Until the reign of K‘ang Hsi
all strokes were given across the back; but that humane Emperor
removed the locus operandi lower down, “for fear of injuring the
liver or the lungs.”
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[77] See No. VII., note 54.
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[78] It is a principle of Chinese jurisprudence that no sentence can
be passed until the prisoner has confessed his guilt—a principle,
however, not unfrequently set aside in practice.
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[79] Wooden frames covered with a semi-transparent paper are used all
over the northern provinces of China; in the south, oyster-shells, cut
square and planed down thin, are inserted tile-fashion in the long
narrow spaces of a wooden frame made to receive them, and used for the
same purpose. But glass is gradually finding its way into the houses
of the well-to-do, large quantities being made at Canton and exported
to various parts of the empire.
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[80] Every Taoist priest has a magic sword, corresponding to our
“magician’s wand.”
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[81] In China, a man has the right to slay his adulterous wife, but he
must slay her paramour also; both or neither. Otherwise, he lays
himself open to a prosecution for murder. The act completed, he is
further bound to proceed at once to the magistrate of the district and
report what he has done.
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[82] The importance of male offspring in Chinese social life is hardly
to be expressed in words. To the son is confided the task of
worshipping at the ancestral tombs, the care of the ancestral tablets,
and the due performance of all rites and ceremonies connected with the
departed dead. No Chinaman will die, if he can help it, without
leaving a son behind him. If his wife is childless he will buy a
concubine; and we are told on page 41, vol. xiii., of the Liao Chai,
that a good wife, “who at thirty years of age has not borne a child
should forthwith pawn her jewellery and purchase a concubine for her
husband; for to be without a son is hard indeed!” Another and a common
resource is to adopt a nephew; and sometimes a boy is bought from
starving parents, or from a professional kidnapper. Should a little
boy die, no matter how young, his parents do not permit even him to be
without the good offices of a son. They adopt some other child on his
behalf; and when the latter grows up it becomes his duty to perform
the proper ceremonies at his baby father’s tomb. Girls do not enjoy
the luxury of this sham posterity. They are quietly buried in a hole
near the family vault, and their disembodied spirits are left to
wander about in the realms below uncared for and unappeased. Every
mother, however, shares in the ancestral worship, and her name is
recorded on the tombstone, side by side with that of her husband.
Hence it is that Chinese tombstones are always to the memory either of
a father or of a mother, or of both, with occasionally the addition of
the grandfather and grandmother, and sometimes even that of the
generation preceding.
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