[90] Hu is the sound of the character for “fox;” it is also the sound of quite a different character, which is used as a surname.
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[91] The name of the Chinese type was Ch‘ên P‘ing. See Mayer’s Reader’s Manual, No. 102.
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[92] At the date at which we are writing skill in archery is still de rigueur for all Manchus, and for those who would rise in the Chinese army. Only the other day the progressive Governor-General of the Two Kiang, Shên Pao-chên, memorialised the Throne with a view to the abandonment of this effete and useless form of military drill, and received a direct snub for his pains. Two hundred odd years ago, when the Manchus were establishing their power, the dexterity of their bowmen doubtless stood them in good stead; though if we are to judge of their skill then by the ordinary practice of to-day, as seen on any Chinese parade-ground, they could never have been more than very third-rate archers after all.
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[93] Every Chinese man and woman inherits a family name or surname. A woman takes her husband’s surname, followed in official documents by her maiden name. Children usually have a pet name given to them soon after birth, which is dropped after a few years. Then there is the ming or name, which once given is unchangeable, and by which the various members of a family are distinguished. But only the father and mother and certain other relatives are allowed to use this. Friends call each other by their literary designations or “book-names,” which are given generally by the teacher to whom the boy’s education is first entrusted. Brothers and sisters and others have all kinds of nick-names as with us. Dogs and cats are called by such names as “Blackey,” “Whitey,” “Yellowy,” “Jewel,” “Pearly,” &c., &c. Junks are christened “Large Profits,” “Abounding Wealth,” “Favourite of Fortune,” &c., &c. Places are often named after some striking geographical feature; e.g., Hankow—“mouth of the Han river,” i.e., its point of junction with the Yang-tsze; or they have fancy names, such as Fuhkien—“happily established;” Tientsin—“Heaven’s ford;” or names implying a special distinction, such as Nanking—“southern capital;” Shan-tung—“east of the mountains,” &c.
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[94] The name given by foreigners in China to the imitation of the ten torture-chambers of purgatory, as seen in every Ch‘êng-huang or municipal temple. The various figures of the devil-lictors and the tortured sinners are made either of clay or wood, and painted in very bright colours; and in each chamber is depicted some specimen of the horrible tortures that wicked people will undergo in the world to come. I have given in the [Appendix] a translation of the “Yü-li-ch‘ao,” a celebrated Taoist work on this subject, which should at any rate be glanced at by persons who would understand the drift of some of these stories.
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[95] To heat the wine, which is almost invariably taken hot.
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[96] In token of their mutual good feeling.
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[97] The Chinese as a nation believe to this day that the heart is the seat of the intellect and the emotions.
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[98] The heart itself is supposed to be pierced by a number of “eyes,” which pass right through; and in physical and mental health these passages are believed to be clear.
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[99] See No. XII., [note 87].
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