ETHNOLOGY, ETC., OF CHINA. 195 
respects a connexion has been traced between the customs of the 
Chinese and those of more westerly nations.* 
Shangti and Tien of the Chinese-—The ancient Persians wor- 
shipped “the whole circle of Heaven”; they took from the 
Phoenicians the worship of “the Most High, the God of Heaven,” 
the Shangti of the Chinese, with whom also 7% and Tien (Heaven) 
must be correlatives, Heaven in the largest sense, infinitude; 7%, 
the God of Heaven. 
Sabeism.—The worship of the sun, moon, and stars seems to 
have been objects of earliest worship from Egypt to China. 
Practical Dualism.—tThe antithesis of “Father Heaven” and 
“Mother Earth,” or more generally yang and yin, originally light 
and shadow, made use of in early Chinese writings, is nothing more 
than a repetition of what has been found in ancient India, Persia, 
and Greece. | 
The Worship of Ancestors and Sacrifices to the Dead.—These were 
introduced into China by the race of Shang, from the west about 
B.C. 1600, and have continued to prevail. In the Sama-Veda, Indra 
is invoked “with invitations, as we would the mames of a father.” 
In the Vedas the sacrifice of a hundred horses is supposed to be 
sufficient to gain heaven. The Chinese have, from very early times, 
sought to propitiate Shangti by the shedding of blood of bulls and 
goats. 
Suttee.—A practice similar to that of India, happily unknown in 
China before and since, was introduced by the Tsinites about B.C. 
620; that is, nearly 400 years before that race attained imperial 
power. 
Burnt Offerings—These were made by the Chinese as by the 
Jews, entire animals being consumed in a pile of fire, the fire bemg 
obtained for the purpose by means of boring wood, as is still 
practised in Burmah and also in New Holland. 
Soma Spirit—Prepared from the Sarcostemma brevistigma, 
N. O. Asclepiadacee. “The drink of Indra” and of “the gods” 
of Vedic India, “ the liquor of immortality” in ancient China. 
Fasting and Bathing.—These observances are mentioned by 
Mencius (B.C. 450) “as a proper preparation for sacrificing to God,” 
which also is according to Jewish law. 
* This subject has been well discussed by Mr. John Chalmers in his 
brochure on “ The Origin of the Chinese,” published at Hong-kong, 1866, to 
which work I am indebted for much that is given in these notes. 
