[27] See No. LIII., [note 288.]
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[28] This method of arranging a matrimonial difficulty is a common one in Chinese fiction, but I should say quite unknown in real life.
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[29] This term, while really including all literary men, of no matter what rank or standing, is more usually confined to that large section of unemployed scholarship made up of (1) those who are waiting to get started in an official career, (2) those who have taken one or more degrees and are preparing for the next, (3) those who have failed to distinguish themselves at the public examinations, and eke out a small patrimony by taking pupils, and (4) scholars of sufficiently high qualifications who have no taste for official life.
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[30] Unless under exceptional circumstances it is not considered creditable in China for widows to marry again. It may here be mentioned that the honorary tablets conferred from time to time by His Imperial Majesty upon virtuous widows are only given to women who, widowed before the age of thirty, have remained in that state for a period of thirty years. The meaning of this is obvious: temptations are supposed to be fewer and less dangerous after thirty, which is the equivalent of forty with us; and it is wholly improbable that thirty years of virtuous life, at which period the widow would be at least fifty, would be followed by any act that might cast a stain upon the tablet thus bestowed.
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[31] Literally, a “pig old-woman dragon.” Porpoise (Fr. porc-poisson) suggests itself at once; but I think fresh-water dolphin is the best term, especially as the Tung-t‘ing lake is many hundred miles inland. The commentator explains it by t‘o, which would be “alligator” or “cayman,” and is of course out of the question. My friend, Mr. L. C. Hopkins, has taken the trouble to make some investigations for me on this subject. He tells me that this fish, also called the “river pig,” has first to be surrounded and secured by a strong net. Being too large to be hauled on board a boat, it is then driven ashore, where oil is extracted from the carcase and used for giving a gloss to silk thread, &c.
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[32] Literally, in the utter absence of anybody.
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[33] In passing near to the women’s quarters in a friend’s house, it is etiquette to cough slightly, that inmates may be warned and withdraw from the doors or windows in time to escape observation. Over and over again at interviews with mandarins of all grades I have heard the rustling of the ladies’ dresses from some coigne of vantage, whence every movement of mine was being watched by an inquisitive crowd; and on one occasion I actually saw an eye peering through a small hole in the partition behind me.
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[34] Literally, “bald”—i.e., without the usual width and ornamentation of a Chinese lady’s sleeve.
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[35] Small waists are much admired in China, but any such artificial aids as stays and tight lacing are quite unknown. A certain Prince Wei admitted none but the possessors of small waists into his harem; hence his establishment came to be called the Palace of Small Waists.
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