174 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



the shrine is the name of the god written in Chinese characters. A 

 good illustration of this is the common household god, the essential 

 part of which consists of written characters meaning "The Throne 

 of Heaven, Earth, Rulers, Relatives (ancestors), and Scholars." 

 This is really the enlarged family of benefactors. Heaven protects 

 us and gives us light and rain, the earth gives us food, the rulers give 

 us laws and protection, the ancestors assist and protect us, and the 

 scholars give precious instruction to our children. The word chiin 

 meaning rulers also includes the emperor, and after the founding of 

 the republic some families in West China substituted for the word 

 chiin the word ktio meaning country, which is more in harmony with 

 the new nationalism. I have also seen kitchen gods that consisted of 

 a red scroll with the names of the kitchen god and his spouse down 

 the center. On the right is a phrase meaning "the ruler (or lord) 

 who gives orders among men," and on the left is a phrase meaning 

 "the god who is ears and eyes of heaven above." 



Occasionally one will see in a shrine, instead of an image, the name 

 of the god or the goddess written on paper or wood or carved on 

 wood or stone. In such a shrine the god is worshiped and re- 

 garded as present. Sometimes one will see in a shrine a large, 

 smooth river stone on which the picture of the god has been drawn 

 or painted, and which is being worshiped. The picture of the god 

 T'ai-shan-shih-kan-tang is sometimes painted on the convex side of 

 a large wooden dipper, which is hung up above the front door to 

 keep out demons. 



In West China an observer is impressed by the large number of 

 images of the gods. They are frequently seen in the homes, in way- 

 side shrines, and in the temples. Some are carved on stone cliffs be- 

 side well-traveled roads or above rivers. 



The people of West China regard the images of the gods as real 

 deities, although a few regard them as mere statues. In the summer 

 of 1925 a Ta-yung-fa-ssu, one of the greatest Buddhists of all China, 

 visited Mount Omei and granted me an interview. He stated that 

 there were very few Chinese in West China who regarded the images 

 as mere statues, but that the number of such people was larger in 

 East China and in Japan. I have never met a Buddhist or a Taoist 

 priest who did not regard the images of gods as real, living deities. 

 The spirit of skepticism and unbelief has increased greatly in West 

 China in recent years, so that there is an increasing number who do 

 not believe what practically everybody of all ages and walks of life be- 

 lieved in 1900 and even later — namely, that the images of the gods are 

 actual, living deities. 



