[129] This is by no means an uncommon form of charity. During the temporary distress at Canton, in the summer of 1877, large tubs of gruel were to be seen standing at convenient points, ready for any poor person who might wish to stay his hunger. It is thus, and by similar acts of benevolence, such as building bridges, repairing roads, etc., etc., that the wealthy Chinaman strives to maintain an advantageous balance in his record of good and evil.
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[130] It may be necessary here to remind the reader that Chan’s spirit is speaking from Chu’s body.
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[131] We shall come by and by to a story illustrative of this extraordinary belief.
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[132] The summum bonum of many a Chinese woman.
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[133] Chinese silver, called sycee (from the Cantonese sai see “fine silk;” because, if pure, it may be drawn out under the application of heat into fine silk threads), is cast in the form of “shoes,” weighing from one to one hundred ounces. Paper imitations of these are burnt for the use of the spirits in the world below. The sharp edges of a “shoe” of sycee are caused by the mould containing the molten silver being gently shaken until the metal has set, with a view to secure uniform fineness throughout the lump.
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[134] Death is regarded as a summons from the authorities of Purgatory; lictors are sent to arrest the doomed man, armed with a written warrant similar to those issued on earth from a magistrate’s yamên.
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[135] The Milky Way is known to the Chinese under this name—unquestionably a more poetical one than our own.
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[136] See No. XIII., [note 90].
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[137] That is, of the Taoists. See No. IV., [note 46].
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[138] Predestination after the event is, luckily for China, the form of this superstition which really appeals to her all-practical children. Not a larger percentage than with ourselves allow belief in an irremediable destiny to divert their efforts one moment from the object in view; though thousands upon thousands are ready enough to acknowledge the “will of heaven” in any national or individual calamities that may befall. See No. IX., [note 69].
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