[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.
[return to footnote anchor 63]
[return to Vol. II. footnote anchor 25]
[return to Vol. II. footnote 76]
[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.
[return to footnote anchor 64]
[return to footnote anchor 148]
[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.
[return to text]
[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.
[return to text]
[67] The last emperor of the Ming dynasty. Began to reign A.D. 1628.
[return to text]
[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.
[return to text]
[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.
[return to footnote anchor 69]
[return to footnote anchor 138]
[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.
[return to text]
[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.
[return to text]