[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.