CUSTOMS 249 



fails it is attributed to his bad luck. And 

 so this thing, not worthy to be called a 

 principle, is instilled as a part of Chinese 

 education and recognized as fundamental 

 in shaping character. 



It is not unusual to see among the poorer 

 classes, especially the farmers, a small boy 

 with a ring in one of his ears. The pur- 

 pose of wearing the ring is to deceive the 

 evil spirits into believing that the boy is a 

 girl so that they will not take him away ; it 

 is believed that evil spirits delight more in 

 causing the death of a son, who is appre- 

 ciated in the Chinese family far more than 

 a daughter, and these spirits are supposed 

 to care nothing for girls. 



Travellers along the roads around Shang- 

 hai are familiar with the sight of holes in 

 the brick vaults built over coffins scattered 

 over the country. The holes are to allow 

 the spirits of the dead egress and ingress at 

 will. The Chinese believe that every person 

 has six ghosts and three spirits. The ghosts 

 apparently perish when the body dies, but 

 the spirits continue to live, one going to 

 purgatory to suffer the penalties due for the 

 sins committed in this life; the second spirit 

 goes into the tablet placed in the ancestral 



