Hao-Khieou-Tchouan.—This celebrated Chinese novel was translated into French by M. Guillard d'Arcy in 1842, and appeared under the title, "Hao-Khieou-Tchouan; ou, La Femme Accomplie." The first translation of the romance into any European tongue was a Portuguese rendering; and the English version of Percy is based upon the Portuguese text. The work is rich in poetical quotations.
Heï-song-ché-tchoo.—"One day when the Emperor Hiuan-tsong of the Thang dynasty," says the Tao-kia-ping-yu-che, "was at work in his study, a tiny Taoist priest, no bigger than a fly, rose out of the inkstand lying upon his table, and said to him: 'I am the Genius of ink; my name is Heï-song-ché-tchoo [Envoy of the Black Fir]; and I have come to tell you that whenever a true sage shall sit down to write, the Twelve Divinities of Ink [Long-pinn] will appear upon the surface of the ink he uses.'" See "L'Encre de Chine," by Maurice Jametel. Paris. 1882.
Hoa-tchao.—The "Birthday of a Hundred Flowers" falls upon the fifteenth of the second spring-moon.
Jade.—Jade, or nephrite, a variety of jasper,—called by the Chinese yuh,—has always been highly valued by them as artistic material.... In the "Book of Rewards and Punishments," there is a curious legend to the effect that Confucius, after the completion of his Hiao-King ("Book of Filial Piety"), having addressed himself to Heaven, a crimson rainbow fell from the sky, and changed itself at his feet into a piece of yellow jade. See Stanislas Julien's translation, p. 495.
Kabit.—A poetical form much in favor with composers of Hindoo religious chants: the kabit always consists of four verses.
Kao-ling.—Literally, "the High Ridge," and originally the name of a hilly range which furnished the best quality of clay to the porcelain-makers. Subsequently the term applied by long custom to designate the material itself became corrupted into the word now familiar in all countries,—kaolin. In the language of the Chinese potters, the kaolin, or clay, was poetically termed the "bones," and the tun, or quartz, the "flesh" of the porcelain; while the prepared bricks of the combined substances were known as pe-tun-tse. Both substances, the infusible and the fusible, are productions of the same geological formation,—decomposed feldspathic rock.
Kasí (or Varanasi).—Ancient name of Benares, the "Sacred City," believed to have been founded by the gods. It is also called "The Lotos of the World." Barth terms it "the Jerusalem of all the sects both of ancient and modern India." It still boasts two thousand shrines, and half a million images of divinities. See also Sherring's "Sacred City of the Hindoos."
Kiang-kou-jin.—Literally, the "tell-old-story-men." For a brief account of Chinese professional story-tellers, the reader may consult Schlegel's entertaining introduction to the Mai-yu-lang-toú-tchen-hoa-koueï.
Kin.—The most perfect of Chinese musical instruments, also called "the Scholar's Lute." The word kin also means "to prohibit"; and this name is said to have been given to the instrument because music, according to Chinese belief, "restrains evil passions, and corrects the human heart." See Williams's "Middle Kingdom."
Kouei.—Kouei, musician to the Emperor Yao, must have held his office between 2357 and 2277 B.C. The extract selected from one of his songs, which I have given at the beginning of the "Story of Ming-Y," is therefore more than four thousand years old. The same chant contains another remarkable fancy, evidencing Chinese faith in musical magic:—