THE CHINESE: THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 679 



of an everlasting future. Yet who shall say what Life is ? What is 

 the value of a system of philosophy which denies or discards the only 

 rational solution of the very first problem and condition of our own 

 existence ? Edinburgh Review. 







THE CHINESE: THEIE MANKEKS AND CUSTOMS. 



THE manners and customs of the Chinese an extensive subject, 

 and our canvas a narrow one. 



But where to begin ? Domestic life, religion, war, courts of justice, 

 schools, literature, are all alike almost unknown. Be chance our guide. 

 A paper is lying open on our table : it is the " Times." Let us follow 

 the order of its articles and commence at once with the article of births, 

 marriages, and deaths. 



Births will afford us but little subject for remark. Let us, how- 

 ever, suppose that the solemn bath appointed for the third day is over, 

 which would seem to be almost a Chinese baptism, and the mother to 

 be convalescent. If the offspring be a girl, there will probably be no 

 rejoicing, but, if a boy, the mother will go in state to the temple fre- 

 quented by her family and offer thanks to Tien How, the queen of 

 heaven. The only time it was our fortune while in China to see a 

 native lady of any standing was on such an occasion. A wife of 

 Howqua, the son of the celebrated Hong merchant, had gone to the 

 Temple of Honam to return thanks for the birth of a son. The shrine 

 in the temple which she was visiting had been founded by the elder 

 Howqua in honor of his ancestors : it was a lofty hall with roof open 

 to the beams, closed in the rear and at the sides, but in front opening 

 with richly carved doors on a raised terrace surrounded by a stone 

 balustrade and overlooking a square, turfed inclosure containing two 

 or three fine specimens of the Chinese banyan, or Ficus religiosa, and 

 a pond of water covered with the broad green leaves and rose-tipped 

 flowers of the lotus, the sacred plant of Buddha, who is often repre- 

 sented as seated on its open flower. Crossing this pond and skirting 

 it were a bridge and gallery of massive stone carving, corresponding 

 with the balustrades and communicating with the terrace. On the op- 

 posite side of the gallery was seen the rear of another shrine, colored 

 of a deep vermilion like the one in front, with its high arched roof 

 sweeping down like the curved outline of a Tartar tent (from which 

 the Chinese style of architecture is supposed to be borrowed), and 

 adorned with dragons, birds, and dolphins in glazed pottery of the 

 brightest colors. Down either side stretched a line of gloomy clois- 

 ters communicating with the rest of the building. At one end of the 

 terrace were two or three small tables arranged with viands placed 



