[2] The raised brick or mud platform, heated by a fire, used as a bed in North China.
[3] It was on the occasion of this visit that Mr. Hsi was ordained pastor.
[4] Yamen=law courts or Mansion House.
[5] From Fire and Sword in Shansi, by Dr. E. H. Edwards.
[6] The Precious Regulations, a book written under the Sung Dynasty. Its main tenets are derived from Buddhism, though some writers inscribe the book among the Taoist documents. Its sub-title explains its contents: "A precious record of examples published by the mercy of Yu Di (the Jade Emperor to whom is entrusted the superintendence of the world, the Jupiter of the Taoists), that men and women may repent them of their faults and make atonement for their sins." It includes a description of the Ten Courts of Hell and the judgments pronounced therein.
[7] Vermicelli—cut with a knife.
[8] The space between two beams in a Chinese building.
[9] The polite term for the wife of an official.
[10] This remarkable custom is declared by Marco Polo to be peculiar to North China.
[11] Sewing-machine.