[279] Of what date, our author does not say, or it would be curious to try and hunt up the official record of this case as it appeared in the government organ of the day. The unfortunate man was in all probability insane.
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[280] A.D. 1675. His full name was Wu San-kuei.
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[281] Such is the literal translation of a term which I presume to be the name of some particular kind of jade, which is ordinarily distinguished from the imitation article by its comparative coldness.
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[282] A.D. 1682; that is, three years after the date of our author’s preface. See [Introduction].
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[283] A curious note here follows in the original, not however from the pen of the great commentator, I Shih-shih:—“In 1696 a severe earthquake occurred at P‘ing-yang, and out of seventeen or eighteen cities destroyed, only one room remained uninjured—a room inhabited by a certain filial son. And thus, when in the crash of a collapsing universe, filial piety is specially marked out for protection, who shall say that God Almighty does not know black from white?”
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[284] Or “Director of Studies.”
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[285] The Chinese distinguish five degrees of homicide, of which accidental homicide is one (see Penal Code, Book VI.) Thus, if a gun goes off of itself in a man’s hand and kills a bystander, the holder of the gun is guilty of homicide; but were the same gun lying on a table, it would be regarded as the will of Heaven. Similarly, a man is held responsible for any death caused by an animal belonging to him; though in such cases the affair can usually be hushed up by a money payment, no notice being taken of crimes in general unless at the instigation of a prosecutor, at whose will the case may be subsequently withdrawn. Where the circumstances are purely accidental, the law admits of a money compensation.
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[286] Women in China ride à califourchon.
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[287] Which, although tolerably stout and strong, is hardly capable of sustaining a man’s weight.
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[288] The Chinese acknowledge seven just causes for putting away a wife. (1) Bad behaviour towards the husband’s father and mother. (2) Adultery. (3) Jealousy. (4) Garrulity. (5) Theft. (6) Disease. (7) Barrenness. The right of divorce may not, however, be enforced if the husband’s father and mother have died since the marriage, as thus it would be inferred that the wife had served them well up to the time of their death; or if the husband has recently risen to wealth and power (hence the saying, “The wife of my poverty shall not go down from my hall”); or thirdly, if the wife’s parents and brothers are dead, and she has no home in which she can seek shelter.
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